Results 221-240 of 2,283 for speaker:Matt Shanahan

Committee on Drugs Use: Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Matt Shanahan: Has the group looked at any kind of programme for schools - primary schools - to drive a programme of education for young children who are not going to be offered drugs - I am talking age five, six, seven or eight here – to try and give them the awareness and understanding of what they may face in the future if they dabble or get addicted? That is what we are all afraid of.

Committee on Drugs Use: Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Matt Shanahan: I thank the guests. I will go to Dr. Ivers for a moment please. Will she just speak about the kind of success rates she sees in terms of treating people with addiction, trying to get them through the system, the recovery rates, and any concerns she has about the rise of harder drugs particularly the likes of fentanyl and crystal meth, which is already here but the question is where it is...

Committee on Drugs Use: Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Matt Shanahan: Due to the addictive nature of the harder drugs, it will obviously be harder for people to get off these. That has been seen worldwide. Where does Dr. Ivers think we in Ireland are on that graph at the moment? Are we in the early stages? Have we even started looking at this?

Committee on Drugs Use: Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Matt Shanahan: This is slightly nuanced around that. I think this is what Mr. Reid is reflecting but is it a case that the policing position regarding decriminalistation is that this is going to essentially normalise drug use in society and open the floodgates to informal drug use right across society? Despite everything the assembly has done, we have not been provided with the empirical evidence that...

Committee on Drugs Use: Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Matt Shanahan: We talk about what Portugal is doing and we know there are changes, trends, etc. Whether you say there is merit or not to it, the policing position is that you cannot tell them otherwise and you cannot prove otherwise. They are also aware of the ability of the State to fund all the different sectors which will have to be funded to provide this purely health-led approach and they have have...

Nature Restoration Law: Motion [Private Members] (12 Jun 2024)

Matt Shanahan: The European Union has been working on the nature restoration law for many years and we know the law is a community attempt to halt habitat slide and restore biodiversity loss, which is an obvious imperative. The law is primarily intended to target habitats that contribute to carbon capture and storage. While initial targets up to 2030 can be delivered from our bank of State land, the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Care Services (11 Jun 2024)

Matt Shanahan: 851.To ask the Minister for Health if he is aware of the current situation in Waterford city and county regarding the lack of respite facilities; if he is aware that currently St. Patrick's care facility has only one bed available (details supplied); if he is aware that families in the Waterford area have been informed that they will only be given one week’s respite; if he agrees that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (30 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: 205. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if, in relation to the recent Supreme Court findings (details supplied) concerning the right of the bereaved partner to receive social welfare entitlements after the death of their loved one and in support of their family obligations, she will provide an update as to the specific steps the Government is taking to recognise...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Businesses: Discussion (Resumed) (29 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: I thank all the guests for coming in this morning. It is great to be having these conversations. I say a special thanks to the lads from Amazon who brought some committee members out to see a factory. That was a real eye opener. Maybe committee members could get an invitation from Google and Microsoft to go out and meet those guys as well. As speakers already highlighted, there is so...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Businesses: Discussion (Resumed) (29 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: Private business is good at looking at opportunities, so that is less of a worry. The worry is how the State will continue to be able to support this space. If a forklift driver in their 50s is told, "We need you to reskill because we are going to put in robots here to deal with logistics and plant", what reskilling will such people do that will potentially keep them in a job? The issue of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Businesses: Discussion (Resumed) (29 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: I have a note here that the new global arms race appears to involve generative AI. The witnesses already highlighted some of the concerns. We have infrastructural concerns in Ireland, particularly given that we are exposed with transatlantic cables and so on. Will AI prevent hacking in the future or will it ensure it happens far more frequently? There is the issue of how AI might be used...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Aviation Industry (29 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: 49. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the key policy achievements realised and new initiatives taken by his Department to date and during 2024 in relation to regional aviation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24240/24]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Aviation Industry (29 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: 50. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide an outline of the spending in aviation in his Department to date and during 2024; to provide an account of any overspend or underspend noted by his Department in this Government programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24241/24]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Airport Policy (29 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: 51. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the main sectors of analysis his Department is applying to the present Waterford airport runway extension review; the number of similar reviews using the same analysis template that have taken place in his Department over the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24242/24]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Airport Policy (29 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: 52. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will outline, regarding the Waterford airport runway extension business review, the way in which the exposure of the Exchequer being capped at maximum €12 million liability is captured in the present review report; to detail any other projects reviewed by his Department requesting Government funding where a similar...

Ireland's Recognition of the State of Palestine: Statements (28 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: Ireland has a deeply felt understanding of the desire of people for the recognition of their own place, culture and existence. Eight hundred years of occupation and a great deal of repression did nothing to quell the Irish desire for freedom, self-determination, self-rule and the international recognition of our civil rights. The Irish State as it is today is often used as an international...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises (23 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: I welcome the extension of the increased cost of business, ICOB, scheme and the changes to the PRSI and VAT thresholds, which is something I and my colleagues in the Regional Group brought to Government some weeks back in a Private Member's motion. I wish to ask about the participation rate. How many businesses are accessing ICOB? What consideration has been given to those businesses that...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises (23 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: As the Minister knows, some of the burden in costs is due to the environment of increased costs inflation, but a large part has been brought about by the progressive costs introduced by the Government. I have advocated for quite some time to Deputy Varadkar, when he was Taoiseach, and to Deputy Coveney, when he was Minister, and now I am saying it to Deputy Burke as Minister, as I have said...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises (23 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: 50. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the main supports to the SME sector his Department is proposing, including additions to the increased cost of business scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23223/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Small and Medium Enterprises (23 May 2024)

Matt Shanahan: It is refreshing to see three Ministers from the Department taking questions. It shows the importance of the Department. My question relates to the main supports for the SME sector the Department is proposing, including additions to the increased cost of business scheme.