Results 13,201-13,220 of 15,805 for speaker:Michael Ring

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: We will need to get written responses to the issues Deputy Conway-Walsh and others raised because I do not have the time. I want to be associated with her words of sympathy to Alan Duffy and his family. Regarding what happened in America, the Deputy asked me what I had done on racism. My Department funds national organisations that fight against racism. I am totally appalled at what...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: I thank Deputy Feighan for his kind comments regarding his town of Boyle. I was glad to hear him speaking about the schemes, including the town and village scheme and the rural regeneration scheme, because it annoys me sometimes when I hear people knocking rural Ireland, not being factual about rural Ireland and not being truthful about the previous Government regarding the investment of...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: I thank the Deputy for his comments about the Department, in particular with regard to funding for community groups. Deputy Noonan has given me an opportunity, for which I have waited a long time, to compliment a colleague of mine, the Minister of State, Deputy David Stanton. He has shown great bravery, courage and commitment to the role in the Department of Justice and Equality....

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: The Deputy is correct. I did not get the chance to publish the new policy on rural Ireland, although I have it ready and I want to put on the record that I am hopeful that I will publish it in the next fortnight. When I was drawing up that new policy, one of the big issues I looked at was the pilot scheme I carried out for towns and villages. We picked six towns and villages and we gave...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: I refer to the mná tí in the Gaeltacht areas. I know my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Senator Kyne, has been talking to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, to see if anything can be done. I will respond to Deputies Sherlock and Conway-Walsh about this. Deputy Conway-Walsh raised LEADER as well but she has the same...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: I thank Deputy Cairns for her comments. As I said earlier, my Department is represented on several groups, along with the Department of Justice and Equality, that address migrant, immigration and Traveller rights issues. All of the issues that Deputy Cairns has raised arise at these forums. We have the Roma strategy and strategies for the different groups. We fund these from my...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: The State will not be able to fund everything and there is no point in pretending. We have a great many organisations and groups. Let us consider the community services programme and the funding that my Department provides. We can see all the groups. People would be amazed with all the groups. Maybe that is one of the things we should be looking at. We have a €5 million...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: I do not have responsibility. I will raise the issue at Cabinet and ask the relevant Minister to respond to the Deputy. All I can do is raise the matter at Cabinet. I must say that meat plants are important to rural Ireland and to the agricultural sector. It is very important that we have meat plants but it is equally important that they operate in a safe manner. I will raise the...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: I am always concerned about what is happening in rural Ireland and I can stand over my record. The investment made by this Department in rural Ireland has been substantial over the last number of years. There is no doubt about the fact that my Department has helped to create jobs in the context of the rural regeneration scheme. One can go to many parts of rural Ireland where people would...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: I can use the same statistics as the Deputy. There are more people working and living in rural Ireland now than since the foundation of the State.

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: We do not fund free legal aid. That is a matter for the Department of Justice and Equality. I have overall responsibility with regard to Pobal, but it deals directly with the Department of Justice and Equality. The Deputy wrote to the Minister for Justice and Equality. I will ask my officials to raise the Deputy's concerns with the Minister again. I am glad the Deputy raised the issue...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: On the town and village renewal scheme, on this occasion I am examining the scheme in the context of social distancing in public realms. In light of the rules around social distancing we need to introduce new rules and regulations. I have asked the local authorities to make provision for this when submitting their plans. The Deputy raised the issue of the stability package. He is...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: The Deputy is referring to the outdoor recreational scheme. I have worked with Waterways Ireland and I must compliment it on fantastic projects in Leitrim and in the Border counties with which we have collaborated. That has worked out very well. This is a fantastic scheme. One thing that has worked very well in the past few months when people have been restricted to 2 km and 5 km is the...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: I will try to answer the Deputy's questions as quickly as I can. In regard to the stability fund, all I can say is that Pobal is dealing with the applications. Over 1,000 applications were received and it is going through them at the moment. These organisations are in difficulty and I want to try to get the funding out as quickly as possible. I have asked Pobal to prioritise this and deal...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: On that report, as the Deputy knows six towns were picked. I looked for one in Galway and one in the Gaeltacht. We got an initial report back. We sent it back because we wanted them to find what they were actually seeking. I hope to have the report published in the next two weeks. I did not want to publish it; I was waiting for the new Government to come in and do so. I will publish it...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: It might have been talked about, but nobody did anything. It was me who did it last year. I put the funding in place. I gave €100,000 each to the local authorities. A lot of people talk over there and over here, but I did it.

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: I thank Deputy Harkin for her comments. I will make two points regarding community centres. We tried to fund them, where possible, through the Dormant Accounts Fund. That was not so much for the day-to-day running, because the community services programme does that where we pay for the manager and staffing. That is already there and we did not cut that back in any way. We have actually...

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: I have to be honest.

Covid-19 (Rural and Community Development): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: I ask the Acting Chairman for just one second. If one scheme has caused me nothing but trouble in my Department, it has been LEADER. I have done everything in my power to make it easier for the LEADER companies to operate. I have changed every rule they asked to have changed. If a change is within the rules and it can be made at central government, I would not be afraid to make it. I...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: CLÁR Programme (3 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: The CLÁR programme provides funding for small scale infrastructure projects in designated rural areas that have experienced significant levels of de-population.  Details of the designated CLÁR areas can be found on my Department's pages on the gov.ie website at www.gov.ie/en/collection/ab7580-clar-funding-area-maps/. 0; There are no designated CLÁR...