Results 3,821-3,840 of 7,283 for speaker:Josepha Madigan

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Museum (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: Funding is always an issue for the museum. I will negotiate with the Minister for Finance in respect of my budget for culture this year and how it will be of value to the National Museum of Ireland. As we know, under Project Ireland 2040 significant funding will be invested in the museum. We do not as yet know from the National Museum of Ireland what the detailed plans or costings are for...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Museum (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: The commemorations will be of major significance in the next number of years. The National Museum of Ireland, along with all the national cultural institutions, will have a major role to play in how we tell the story and commemorate it properly. The Department is developing specific proposals for a co-ordinated, cross-governmental commemorative programme for 2020 and indicative plans for...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Museum (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: -----to coincide with the conclusion of the commemorations during the decade of centenaries, which celebrates the foundation of the State.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cultural Policy (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: My Department provides significant capital support for the enhancement and protection of cultural spaces under Project Ireland 2040, the Government's long-term overarching strategy for investment in Ireland’s public infrastructure. Under the programme, the Department was allocated almost €1.2 billion for capital expenditure over a ten-year period to 2027. As the Deputy will be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Wildlife Conservation (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: My Department, through its National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, is responsible for implementing the Wildlife Act 2018, the primary legislation underpinning the protection of biodiversity and nature in Ireland. The Wildlife Act 2018 affords protection to a range of habitats and species and provides for regulation and control of activities that impinge on biodiversity, such as hunting...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Wildlife Conservation (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: The Deputy mentioned the corncrake. The population of corncrakes in Ireland has been monitored annually since 1993 but it is critically low, with an estimated 83% decline between 1978 and 2018 with only 153 calling males remaining. The breeding range population declined by 86% between 1972 and 2018. Since 2005 the population has remained stable and there are nine special areas of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Museum (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: As I have previously advised the House, decisions on the curation and presentation of temporary or permanent exhibitions within national cultural institutions are operational matters for the relevant cultural institutions. However, I understand that the National Museum of Ireland is at the initial stages of planning a major new history of Ireland gallery which will eventually cover the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Inland Waterways Development (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: There would be a collaborative approach on the canals. Waterways Ireland is ultimately guided by a three-year aquatic weed management plan. It is informed by operational needs and best international practice. The plan considers both the protected and invasive aquatic weed species and pays due cognisance to the need for biosecurity during all aquatic weed control operations in order to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Culture Night (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: Culture Night has grown from a relatively small-scale cultural event staged only in Dublin in 2006 to the significant national cultural event it now is, with more than 400,000 people visiting museums, galleries, historic houses, artists’ studios and cultural centres across the country on the night. I have been very impressed at the variety of events I have been able to attend on...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Culture Night (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: I hope that funding for Sligo will continue. The allocation of €4,500 this year is the same as the amount allocated last year. I have no doubt it will be put to good use on Friday night. While in Sligo in March, I visited the Hawk's Well Theatre, which has received capital grants from the Department. The Hawk's Well Theatre is a 340-seat theatre which hosts a diverse programme of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Culture Night (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: I agree with the Deputy. At the Hawk's Well Theatre this Friday, Rafeef Ziadah and Sorcha Fox will perform "Sendiana", which is about exile and terror. I expect it to be really powerful. Sligo Global Kitchen at the Model will bring communities together to enjoy a global food experience. The Yeats Society in Sligo will host "Sisters, Sisters, Sisters" by storyteller Imelda Ryan Jones....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Inland Waterways Development (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 11 together. The Barrow blueway is a planned upgrade to provide a multi-use shared leisure route connecting Lowtown in County Kildare to St. Mullins in County Carlow, a distance of 115 km of off-road, flat, accessible, public space. Waterways Ireland is now moving forward with plans to develop the Barrow Canal towpath as a 46 km blueway from...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Inland Waterways Development (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: I note what the Deputy has said on the planning and his acknowledgement of the 46 km part of the project. This will be of great benefit to the area. In future it would be good to see if we can roll out the full blueway but at least we have this element of it. Planning permission for the remainder of the route from Athy to St. Mullins was refused mainly on the grounds of the impact it would...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hedge Cutting Season (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: First I wish to acknowledge the Deputy's comments on the recent traditional music festival. I also give my thanks to Mary and Mícheál Harty. As the Deputy knows, the provisions under section 7 of the Heritage Act 2018 allow for the making of regulations relating to burning and cutting hedgerows. Section 7(1) of the Heritage Act 2018 provides that, as Minister for Culture,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hedge Cutting Season (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: The Deputy is trying to create a very false and misleading narrative of rural Ireland versus urban Ireland.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hedge Cutting Season (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: I refute it in the strongest possible terms. This is not remotely antidemocratic. There were very good reasons that I did not extend the regulations this year. Hedgerows provide a very important wildlife habitat. As already stated, they provide food, shelter, corridors of movement and nesting and hibernation sites for many of our native fauna. I also refer to the national biodiversity...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hedge Cutting Season (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: I am not remotely out of touch with the rural situation. As the Deputy knows, my mother is from Clonmel, which is located in his constituency, and my father is from Mayo. I know a great deal about rural issues. This Government is hugely supportive of rural Ireland in terms of job creation, broadband and infrastructure-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Hedge Cutting Season (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: -----the rural regeneration and development fund, investment in national parks and reserves and, specifically, hedge cutting. Among the findings in the report I mentioned earlier is that the decline in the numbers of bees, butterflies and other insects has largely resulted from the effects of monoculture and the drive to ever-higher levels of productivity, characterised by loss or neglect of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Funding (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: With respect to the Deputy, Fianna Fáil is no position to lecture the Government on funding for the arts or artists' pay and conditions.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Funding (19 Sep 2019)

Josepha Madigan: Between 2001 and 2008, Fianna Fáil cut funding for the arts from €206 million to €139 million, a significant reduction of €67 million or 33%. Taking budget 2019 into account, there has been a 37% increase in arts funding since 2011. Unlike the unsustainable spending of Fianna Fáil when in government, including in respect of the arts, current funding is...