Results 341-360 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Digital Services Bill 2023: Second Stage (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am very pleased to bring this Bill before the House today with my colleague the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Calleary. The purpose of the Bill is to fully implement in Ireland Regulation 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Single Market for Digital Services,...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, was involved in extensive consultation before increasing the supports for both parents and childcare providers in the most recent budgetary decisions. He has delivered significant reductions in the cost of childcare for parents. He has also significantly increased core funding for childcare providers, having listened to the sector, and will continue to do so....

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: It is a very welcome initiative that my Department and the Department of Justice are working closely on this issue. We will continue to work with business organisations until we see shoplifting figures reduce significantly. We need to protect retail staff and their businesses. Much of this is organised crime that needs a comprehensive policing response. We will support businesses to...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: Right across the health sector, as we have heard already this morning, the inability to attract and recruit the skills and staff necessary is impacting on services. In most cases it is not a financial issue but a lack of capacity to get the skills we need from home and abroad and I suspect that it is the same in Deputy Higgins's constituency. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I agree it is not acceptable that elderly people would be sitting in ambulances waiting to get into hospital. Effectively the ambulance becomes a remote bed which, for all sorts of reasons, is not the way the system should work. I am glad to hear that the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, was in Donegal speaking to practitioners and I expect he will come back to Deputy MacLochlainn with an answer...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: There are two different issues here. One is the short-term response to what we learned from what happened recently in Midleton and east Cork in terms of flooding. Cork County Council is doing a pretty detailed piece of work on what it can do in the short term to reduce the risk of flooding in east Cork in the future including clearing rivers, making sure that appropriate dredging is taking...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I know St. Teresa's Gardens quite well from my time as Minister for housing. From what I can remember, there was a plan at that time for a playing pitch to be developed in partnership with a series of community groups and sports clubs. I do not have a briefing on it but I will try to get one for the Deputy. It is appropriate and absolutely necessary that in urban areas like Dublin 8 young...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: First, the Deputy needs to check those figures because my understanding is that in Cork county alone, hundreds have applied-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: There is a difference between money being paid out and approvals for the scheme.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: The Government has made the scheme clear and viable. People who are refurbishing a home that is vacant will get €50,000 in grant aid support and if it is a derelict property, they will get €70,000 from the State. I know, because I am familiar with the Cork cases, that there are hundreds of applications for those schemes-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: -----in Cork county. Deputy Tóibín should check his figures.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: No, approvals.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I know there are serious pressures in UHL and that is why the Government is committed to providing significantly more beds there and to increasing resources and staff. Again, I will ask the Minister for health to contact the Deputy directly on this matter but I am aware of the pressure that the hospital has been under in terms of patient care.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I may be wrong, but I am told that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, may have dealt with this issue by way of amendment in the Finance Bill. I will come back to the Deputy with the detail but I think the issue may have been addressed, or at least partially addressed, in the Finance Bill.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: As the Deputy knows, we cannot make a funding decision of that type on the hoof on the floor of the Dáil. I will certainly raise the issue for the Deputy with the Minister concerned. Perhaps he could get back to the Deputy on the timeline around funding decisions.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I have spoken to the Taoiseach on a number of occasions about his meeting with the businesses and households in Leitrim who were hit by the devastating weather event. We are anxious to be as helpful as we can. Supports from the Department of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, are open to households. I asked Mircrofinance Ireland to send an official down to Leitrim to speak to businesses to...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is obviously a big concern to me. I know VMware well. It is a fantastic company with a skilled workforce who have done an amazing job for quite a long time in Cork. VMware has been acquired by a company called Broadcom. We knew that when the acquisition or merger took place, there would be an impact. The workforce also knew that....

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: The first thing to say is that I welcome the agreement at COP28. I recognise, because I am not sure it has got enough recognition, the role played by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, in getting a final agreement from the EU side. He was central to EU negotiations, particularly in the context of climate finance. To the Deputy's question, we are always looking for new ways in which we can...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: To explain, the Taoiseach had to leave because he is on his way to a European Council meeting. I hope the House understands that and I am happy to-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: ------fill in for him, but for that particular question, I ask the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to give an accurate answer.