Results 23,241-23,260 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: I will respond first to the Senator's final question. While heritage officers are a matter for local authorities, I understand there are a significant number of them. I will revert to the Senator with an exact figure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: We will ask the local authorities for the information the Senator seeks. The Heritage Council works very well with heritage officers. The reason Heritage Week is such a success is that the Heritage Council is able to connect to local communities through heritage officers. On the N59 project from Mayo through Connemara to Galway city, this matter is being considered by Galway County...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: We will continue to manage each one and pay out compensation to those people who cannot cut turf on their bogs.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: There are some.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: There is no doubt that there are pressures on some bogs. We keep talking to the people involved but there is a very good compensation scheme for those who cannot continue to cut turf in the bogs and there is also a relocation scheme.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: Yes, we can provide that to Senator. A total of €5.1 million was spent on turf compensation in 2016, which is a considerable amount of funding.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: I will first address the arts in education. I increased resources for the Arts Council by 8%, to €65 million, in 2017. The Arts Council has, in turn, increased its funding for the children-related initiatives from €3.1 million to €3.7 million. I thank Deputy Niamh Smyth for her comments. We are working very closely with the Departments of Education and Skills and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: No. I will give the Deputy the details of this. First, €1.25 million was allocated to Cruinniú na Cásca, our annual cultural day. There were cruinnithe right across the country. There was a very successful one here in Dublin.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: No. The money for Cruinniú na Cásca came out of the Creative Ireland budget. There were 750 events, of which 200 were funded by Creative Ireland on behalf of the local authorities. The local authority partnership received €1 million from my Department and a further €1 million from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government. I will finish...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: No, let me finish.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: If I could just finish, in respect of the events and festivals partnerships at which we had stands such as, for example, Electric Picnic. Again, we were getting involved and putting out the message about the importance of the arts. There were many other events. I have a list of them here that I can give to the committee. We spent €490,000 in that area. We spent €400,000...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: No. To be fair-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: -----that is not correct. I do not know if the Deputy was listening but I told her that local authorities received €1 million. That is a lot of money for local authorities.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: The committee has all of that. I just want that message to go out. It is not the case that €5 million was spent on public relations.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: More than €38.6 million has been provided in 2017 to support the two North-South implementation bodies: An Foras Teanga, comprising Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency, and Waterways Ireland. These provisions are also subject to the approval of the North-South Ministerial Council. Total gross expenditure for programme D up to 30 June 2017 was €16.192 million, or 42%...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: No. There is no executive in the North, so I have had no meetings.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: Waterways Ireland and Foras na Gaeilge are continuing to operate. Waterways Ireland is continuing to invest in its projects. We have continued to fund it from our side. I think the biggest chunk of Waterways Ireland's budget comes from my Department. I understand the civil servants are given certain temporary powers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: I am not sure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Estimates For Public Services 2017: Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (4 Oct 2017)

Heather Humphreys: No. I understand that no Minister from Westminster with responsibility for that has been appointed. I do not have a counterpart in Northern Ireland whom I can speak. My officials will continue to meet their counterparts in the North when needed. That is it.