Results 4,421-4,440 of 15,805 for speaker:Michael Ring

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Charities Regulation (1 May 2018)

Michael Ring: The Charities Regulatory Authority was established in October 2014 pursuant to the Charities Act 2009. The Authority is the State organisation responsible for registering and regulating all of Ireland’s charities. Its role is to provide effective and robust regulation in accordance with the 2009 Act. My Department has been assigned overall policy responsibility for the Charities...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Town and Village Renewal Scheme (1 May 2018)

Michael Ring: A pilot scheme to encourage residential occupancy in rural towns and villages is currently being developed as part of the Town and Village Renewal Scheme which is administered by my Department. The pilot will consider ways in which properties that are currently not in use in town centres can be renovated to allow them to be used for residential purposes. This will help to rejuvenate town...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Services Programme (1 May 2018)

Michael Ring: The Community Services Programme (CSP) supports around 400 community organisations to provide local services through a social enterprise model with funding provided as a contribution to the cost of a manager and an agreed number of full-time equivalent positions. Some €46 million will be provided under the programme in 2018. The organisation in question submitted a business plan...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Services Programme (1 May 2018)

Michael Ring: The Community Services Programme (CSP) supports some 400 community organisations to provide local services through a social enterprise model, with funding provided as a contribution to the cost of a manager and an agreed number of full-time equivalent positions. Some €46 million will be provided to social enterprises under the programme in 2018. My Department continues to accept...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Development Initiatives (1 May 2018)

Michael Ring: Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs) have been established in all 31 local authority areas since Autumn 2015. They were established for the purpose of bringing about a more joined-up approach to local and community development in their respective areas. They typically comprise between 15 and 19 members, with stakeholders drawn from public bodies, as well as local development,...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: RAPID Programme (1 May 2018)

Michael Ring: There is an allocation of €6 million for RAPID in 2018, an increase of €1 million on last year. Of this, €3.5 million is ring-fenced for the Dublin North East Inner City (DNEIC) area. The funding is being used towards addressing specific community structural issues including community engagement, social employment and community development, and to support local...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: I congratulate the Chairman. This is my first appearance before the committee since he took up his role and I wish him well. I welcome the new committee members and thank previous members for their contribution in the past. I am very pleased, despite some delays, to be able to attend the committee today to discuss the Revised Estimate for the Department for 2018. The Estimate for this...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: Programme A refers to the town and village scheme, the Leader programme, the rural recreation scheme, the CLÁR programme and the LCDCs. If members have questions on any of these programmes, I will be delighted to answer them, if I can.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: Deputy Ó Cuív asked a fair question. He identified early last year, when I took over this job, that there would be a shortfall for the Leader programme, and he was correct. I will give some figures on Leader itself and then I will answer the Deputy's question. There was a €908,000 spend in January and one of €330,000 in February. The spend in March rose to...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: Yes.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: I accept that. The Deputy has raised an issue with the programme itself previously. We made changes to the schemes. The other figures I want to give are on the amount of schemes that have been approved, the value of them and what is coming down the line. Up to the end of the year, we had 900 schemes approved, to the value of €26,292,771 and we have 285 now waiting to be approved,...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: That is a fact.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: The Chairman asked a question about the groups. I hope to have a forum with the local action group, LAG, companies in June or July. I will certainly have discussions with them about what the roadblocks are. Deputy Ó Cuív was being fair when he agreed that we had made changes. The programmes are up and running. I want to spend the money. The Deputy is correct, in that I must be...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: The Deputy is correct. I have seen a number of grant aid requests from programmes in various counties. In Carlow, for example, requests relating to a number of community halls have come through. In Waterford, funding has been requested for food hubs, which will be long lasting and will create jobs. These will be pilot schemes. Like the Deputy, I would not like to see Leader companies...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: In terms of the Leader programme, the Deputy's county is a credit. I will cite the figures for Kerry.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: Kerry has 119 approvals to the value of €2,124,935 and a further 33 projects amounting to almost €1.5 million ready for approval. I am going to visit Kerry to see how it is operating its programme so well. It has almost €3.5 million worth of projects approved. It is ahead of the posse. Once Kerry County Council gets funding under LIS, CLÁR and town and village...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: I am open to correction, but my understanding is that these figures relate to the Kerry Leader programme. That is the name of it. From my understanding, it is for Kerry only. We can check that, and we will send the information to the Deputy if I am wrong. I think it is for Kerry only, but we will check it for the Deputy.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: I will respond first to Deputy Martin Kenny, who was speaking in the Dáil when I gave the figures. Up to 900 projects have been approved, with approximately €26 million spent. A total of 285 projects are awaiting approval. In the Deputy's county, Leitrim, there were 20 approvals for a total spend of €498,000. A further 25 projects are waiting to be approved for spending...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: In the Galway east programme, there has been nothing, not even an application. Nothing has been approved. In Galway west, six were approved to the value of €92,554.17, and seven are waiting to be approved to the value of €81,679.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: Six projects have been approved.