Results 3,201-3,220 of 10,569 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Public Works (30 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The starting salary for a craft gardener/ horticulturist in the Office of Public Works is €36,334. The estimated cost in 2022 of recruiting an additional 12 full-time qualified horticulturists for the Office of Public Work would equate to €436,007. Please be advised that the OPW does not have any plans to recruit this number of additional horticulturalists in 2022.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Public Works (30 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Office of Public works can confirm that refurbishment works were carried out to Garda Stations in the Roscommon and Longford Garda division in 2020 and to-date in 2021. The Garda Stations and the nature of the works carried out is outlined in the table below. Garda Station Nature of Refurbishment Completed / Ongoing Ballinlough GS ...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Properties (30 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am advised by the Commissioners of Public Works (OPW) that they have been in contact with the organisation referred to and will continue to engage with them in relation to their office accommodation. The position in relation to the occupancy of this body in the property at Bow Street has not changed since the previous parliamentary question.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Electric Vehicles (25 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The installation of Electrical Vehicle (EV) charging points, in properties owned by the Commissioners of Public Works, is carried out when a request is received from a client Department or agency who occupy a particular building. The OPW will survey the site and assess the necessary civil and electrical works required. A budget estimate of cost is then provided to the client. If they wish to...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: National Monuments (23 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Irish National War Memorial Gardens are of National Significance and the Office of Public Works has been responsible for their management and maintenance, since they were built in the 1930’s. The gardens are a place of quiet serenity, reflection, and remembrance. In excess of 400,000 members of the public visit the gardens on an annual basis. Following a visual inspection by...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: National Monuments (23 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Office of Public Works (OPW) has responsibility for the day-to-day running of National Monuments in State ownership or guardianship. It has a conservation remit under the National Monuments Acts 1930 - 2004 to maintain the National Monuments in State care and an active, though non-statutory, role in facilitating presentation and public access. The approach of the OPW Heritage Services is...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (23 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: 439. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding capital funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56948/21]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Public Works (17 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am advised by the Commissioners of Public Works that the property at Prospect Avenue, Westport, Co. Mayo was sold at auction on the 23rdJuly 2021, with the sale closing on 27thSeptember 2021. The property was formerly used by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) as an Intreo Office. It closed in November 2017 when the DSP relocated to its new Intreo Centre on James Street, Westport....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: As is the case with confirmation processes we have recently been through, for example, in Blackpool in Cork, a small urban village in an old part of Cork city, which my colleague, the Minister, will be familiar with, just when we thought everything was ready to go, we were taken into a judicial review process at the last minute. None of us knows the length of time it will take to get through...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The OPW submitted Crossmolina flood relief scheme documentation to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for statutory confirmation under the Arterial Drainage Acts 1945 and 1995 on 28 September 2020. As part of this process, stakeholders were afforded a formal opportunity to provide comments on the environmental element of the proposed works. Following this consultation,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: As was the case when another Deputy asked a question, I will respond in the same light. The OPW is at the mercy of a planning process and we have to adhere to it. We are the same as anybody who is applying for permission. In this case, we are applying for permission under the Arterial Drainage Acts and we have to go through a consent process. If we do not go through that process and have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I do not disagree with the Deputy for one minute. While this issue has not fallen on the OPW, the OPW is gladly taking on this responsibility because it is our bread and butter. We require the input of other Departments to ensure that everybody plays a responsible role in this, because the issue of how our coast will change is a societal problem. As the Deputy quite rightly said, our coast...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I do not think it is one of the most urgent issues; it is the most urgent issue, in my book, because of the number of people who live on our coast. Our largest urban centres, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford are all coastal. We also have a relationship with Northern Ireland, and Belfast and Derry are coastal. We are an island and the sea is rising around us. If we are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The only commitment that I can give the Deputy is that from my perspective, for the last year this is the issue that has preoccupied me most in the OPW, in terms of exercising my Government colleagues to ensure that it is raised. While a lot of air, hot and cold, was spewed at COP23, COP24, COP25 and COP26, the issue of how Ireland is going to deal with its coastal defences and the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank the Deputy. Through the CFRAM, programme, detailed engineering analysis, assessment and extensive public consultation was undertaken for 300 communities throughout the country, including 90 coastal areas, that were identified as the most likely to be impacted by future coastal and fluvial flooding. One key output of the CFRAM programme is the flood risk management plans, FRMPs, that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I can provide a more comprehensive answer to the Deputy in writing. I was in County Louth last year, shortly after I was appointed, and met the Louth county manager. I fully appreciate the concerns that exist. The Deputy is correct. The counties of Louth, Meath, Dublin, Wexford, Wicklow and down into Waterford and east Cork are particularly exposed. The speed at which we are responding...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The short answer is "No". For instance, what we will require in Dundalk are hard defences, flood embankments, walls, rock armour, coastal protection, demountable barriers, road raising, sluice gates, tanking, channel conveyancing improvements and road changes. There is a massive amount of work to be done in Dundalk alone, not to mention Drogheda, Baltray and Greenore. These are massive...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank the Deputy for her question. I hope to visit Galway in the next couple of weeks. I know there is a significant amount of anxiety in respect of the situation there. The OPW has developed a climate change sectoral adaptation plan for flood risk management that was approved by the Government in October 2019. The plan identifies on a national scale how climate change could impact...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Office of Public Works (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The rent being paid by the Commissioners of Public Works in respect of the offices at Block 1, Miesian Plaza, is in accordance with the terms of the lease. However, the Office of Public Works, OPW, has previously acknowledged in reply to parliamentary questions that an issue arose on which they should have engaged with the landlord and sought to recalibrate the rental rate as a result of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Office of Public Works (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Deputy will appreciate that I am not getting involved in a commercial negotiation on the floor of the Dáil. The Deputy has served as a Minister in the Government so she will know it would not be appropriate for me to do that. I have said in my reply today and in previous replies that the Deputy is correct that the OPW regrets that the issue arose in the first place. The OPW never...