Results 3,721-3,740 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: We have made a commitment to strengthen the wording to allay concerns on this issue. I ask members not to misrepresent the contents of the plan. We are here to engage with the facts. Senator Hopkins referred to Ballinasloe and other towns. In my previous job in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, as it was then known, we went to great lengths to engage with all the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: I will again try to respond to the points raised. As there is a lot of commonality in the issues raised, I will not go back over absolutely everything. The Chairman is absolutely right when he says we need to have regions that can compete with Dublin. That is what we are trying to do in striking a balance and enabling the regions to compete. That said, Dublin, Cork, Galway and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: Yes, in some case we do, rightly so. However, I cannot detail every project. The idea is that the plan will set out what we want to achieve in the regions and different areas and what we need to do to make it happen. One will then list the various projects. That is where the national investment plan comes in, as well as other strategies, including what the local authorities need to do to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: I agree. I have not finished-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: One needs to have what the Deputy calls the flowery wording, as well as the detail. I am happy to agree with him in that regard. We need to strengthen the wording on the regions, particularly the northern regions, including the north west. We are happy to do so. We are agreed that they include counties Monaghan and Cavan. We will strengthen the wording on the regions generally to reflect...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: I want to make a point because it is very important, particularly in the context of the regions. One could look at Combilift in the Deputy's region. That company's expansion and the associated growth in jobs are down to further education and training. The company has worked with the Department to develop new educational methods locally. There are so many opportunities in the regions to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: May I finish my point, please? It is wrong to say one will go nowhere in this country without a degree. That is wrong and not fair. I spent a lot of time working on the skills strategy, focusing on further education and training. Cavan-Monaghan is one of the best areas when it comes to opportunities in that regard. Education is a journey, but there is so much potential in the regions,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: I am only answering the questions I was asked. Its number one priority is to win jobs for Ireland. Governments have intervened and asked it to create a regional balance, with 50% of the jobs created outside the major cities. We do not always achieve that every year but there is some good progress being made. It also has to win jobs for the country as a whole and it is quite successful at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: I will, but I am conscious that everybody wants to come in.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: I am not here to defend IDA Ireland.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: There are umpteen task forces. We have regional action plans with which I was involved. I was involved in the Action Plan for Jobs. It is about having a plan, making decisions and implementing hundreds of actions every year to make it happen. That is why I believe in the national planning framework. We will not get investment and jobs in these different regions if we do not have a plan...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: I know from working with the people in IDA Ireland that they are not necessarily obsessed with which county gets those jobs. Many counties have their own strategies that help secure them. IDA Ireland will bring jobs to different places but it has to get them into the country first. I am critical of IDA Ireland in my own county as well at times. The Deputy should not get me wrong.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: I want to make sure I have answered all the existing questions first. I must check my notes. I think I have covered most things. It is all about the local authorities having local area and county development plans. They are essential. People say there is difficulty with zoning of land for enterprises. They are decisions made by local councillors. My Department is very proactive in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: I have recently seen a proposal in Arklow for a key bit of land to be set aside to win jobs and investment. That is something that will work, that we encourage and that can happen in many towns and villages in a planned way. We are not going to win IDA Ireland investment in every town and village. We have to make some decisions and choices. We are trying to co-ordinate it through the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: I am not here to announce them today. That is not my job.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: That is why we are here today; it is to hear that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: I am not saying anyone is being parochial. I am not here to announce projects. I cannot do that as it is not my job. That is all I am saying. I was actually agreeing with Deputy Smyth on some of the projects.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: And vice versa.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: I said at the start and have said repeatedly that the document sets out what we want to achieve, where we want to achieve it and the ambition behind it. The ten-year capital investment plan and the further capital investment plans that will come after it will dictate the infrastructure that will be funded. We are saying what we think is needed and identifying the areas we want to develop....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Damien English: The plan is to publish them together early in January. There is a book of evidence outlining the reasons many of the infrastructural projects mentioned by the Deputy have to happen. Under different laws there are many step-by-step procedures one has to go through. All of the projects cannot be named because that would not be the right way to do it. They will be linked. I want people to...