Results 21-40 of 11,487 for speaker:Niall Collins

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (21 May 2024)

Niall Collins: No.

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (21 May 2024)

Niall Collins: The proposed amendment No. 7 is in keeping with the policy intentions of the Bill, and we were minded to include a very similar amendment which came up on Committee Stage in the other House. The Department sought legal advice to ensure that the proposed wording did not create any unintended consequences. The advice was that the insertion of this wording may, taken at its highest, impose an...

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (21 May 2024)

Niall Collins: I have spoken to it already.

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (21 May 2024)

Niall Collins: Amendment No. 15 is an ordinary provision that is completely in line with existing legislation, including the HEA Act. The document specified here could be any communication between the Minister and the board in the ordinary way of ministerial instructions being communicated. There is nothing extraordinary here. The board complying with an instruction of the Minister is mitigated in the...

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (21 May 2024)

Niall Collins: Amendment No. 18 deals with section 40 which addresses compliance with the conditions of funding for research and innovation. The agency is already limited by the objects in section 8 and the functions in section 9 and these guide every aspect of its operation. The objects and functions will support and guide all the co-operation it undertakes and this is already captured in section 35(1)....

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (21 May 2024)

Niall Collins: The Senator mentioned ethics and integrity. In section 8(a), the first object to which the agency shall have regard is "to promote the attainment and maintenance of excellence in the standard and quality of research and innovation undertaken".When we flip back to the definitions, "standard and quality", in respect of research and innovation, is defined as "the standard and quality of the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Exemptions (21 May 2024)

Niall Collins: 211. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider a reduction in VAT on safety clothing (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22481/24]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Exemptions (21 May 2024)

Niall Collins: 217. To ask the Minister for Finance if stamp duty exemptions can be granted to those who start farming at 35 years of age, if working full time; if conditions (details supplied) will suffice for an exemption and other reliefs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22663/24]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (21 May 2024)

Niall Collins: 275. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on a school project (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22342/24]

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Correspondence (21 May 2024)

Niall Collins: 394. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on matters raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22588/24]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Boards (21 May 2024)

Niall Collins: The funding allocated by SOLAS to the ETBs in respect of the Youthreach Programme (including learner allowances) for the years 2021 - 2023 is as set out in the table. SOLAS is not in a position to report on the funding provided to the Programme to date in 2024. This detail will be available in August when SOLAS has completed its mid year review of the ETB funding position. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Pay (16 May 2024)

Niall Collins: My officials are continuing to engage with colleagues in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform regarding the application of this pay award to workers in section 39 bodies who are delivering training funded by the Education and Training Boards.

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Niall Collins: Regarding amendments Nos. 85a and 90a, in accordance with Article 29.6 of the Constitution, it is a matter for the Oireachtas to determine the effects of any international agreement in the State. It would not be appropriate to delegate a power to the agency to make secondary legislation purporting to give effect to the decisions of the International Court of Justice or of the European Court...

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Niall Collins: I restate that the standard for funding awards will be the highest standard of research ethics and integrity and that all of the relevant legal frameworks will apply. Ireland has favoured retaining the civilian focus of the framework programmes and maintaining a clear separation between civilian and defence research. As part of our Department's consultation on the next framework programme,...

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Niall Collins: For amendment No. 94, this provision is already tied into and limited by the functions of the agency. Therefore, there is no need to restate this as proposed. This is already how the section of the Bill will operate and, therefore, we do not propose to accept the amendment.

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Niall Collins: In conclusion, the functions define the role and remit of the agency within which it needs to operate and deliver on.

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Niall Collins: Section 51 contains a clause which gives the Minister powers to prescribe bodies to be added to the list contained therein. That will provide a complete description of all agencies and bodies that the agency will be charged with co-operating with as part of a cohesive overall national research and innovation ecosystem. Work is under way to scope and map the additions. When this work is...

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Niall Collins: I have nothing further to add.

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Niall Collins: Government amendment No. 104: In page 51, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: “Confirmation of acts done or purporting to have been done 71.(1) All acts done, or purporting to have been done, by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in performing the functions of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment under sections...

Seanad: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Niall Collins: This is a minor technical amendment which, the Department has been advised, it would be prudent to make in order to ensure clarity and the continuity of the statute in advance of the enactment of the Research and Innovation Bill. There was a technical oversight within the transfer order of 2020. The operation of one of the amendments to the existing statute preceding the 2020 order was...