Results 181-200 of 2,946 for at speaker:Michael Ring

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Social Enterprise Sector (16 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: The Social Enterprise Development Fund is a €1.6m fund which was established in 2018 by Social Innovation Fund Ireland (SIFI) in partnership with Local Authorities Ireland.  It is funded by IPB Insurance and by my Department.  Through the Dormant Accounts Fund, my Department provides match funding for all philanthropic donations raised by SIFI.  While the...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: The Government is aware of the challenges currently faced by community and voluntary organisations like Men's Sheds and is committed to working closely with the sector in managing through these.  My Department has provided consistent support to the The Irish Men’s Sheds Association under the Scheme to Support National Organisations (SSNO) with an allocation of...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Development Initiatives (16 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: The government has published a Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business to ease the COVID-19 restrictions and reopen Ireland’s economy and society in a phased manner. There is no set date for the reopening of all community centres in Ireland. The timing of this will differ for each community centre, as it will be dependent on the services each centre provides and also the size of the...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: LEADER Programmes (16 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: LEADER is a multi-annual programme with a total budget of €250 million over the period 2014-2020.  €225 million of this funding has been allocated as core funding to the 29 Local Action Groups (LAGs) that deliver the LEADER programme around the country. This funding is allocated to the LAGs for the full period of the programme rather than on an annual basis, to allow full...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Covid-19 Pandemic (9 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: In response to the Deputy, as of 29th May, 17,100 volunteers have signed up for Covid-19 volunteering with 47,270 hours being the number of hours volunteered. The reports available at the following link provide the detailed breakdown in each county. There are two reports: - New volunteers who registered from 8thMarch (by county). That report picks those who picked Covid (15,025) and then...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (9 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: The Government is aware of the challenges currently faced by community and voluntary organisations and is committed to working closely with the sector in managing through these. Community facilities are funded from a range of different sources across different Government Departments and agencies. Supports provided by my Department help people to participate in the development of their...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: LEADER Programmes (9 Jun 2020)

Michael Ring: A total of €168.7 million has been allocated to the Local Action Groups (LAGs) around the country for core project funding under the 2014-2020 LEADER programme. Table 1 below provides a breakdown of the amount allocated to projects for each LAG under the 2014-2020 LEADER programme, the value of projects approved to date, and the amount paid to date in respect of projects. The figures...

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

Michael Ring: ...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 cannot break European...

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: ...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 correct that some groups submitted...

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 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: 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: ..., 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. Particularly in the context of equality, he has certainly...

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: 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 welcome the opportunity to address the Chamber today to update Deputies on the work of my Department as part of the national efforts to address the challenges presented by Covid-19. Community organisations, charities, social enterprises and the volunteers who assisted them have been an integral part of our country's response to the pandemic. While elements of our society and economy...

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...