Results 541-560 of 1,030,865 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Marian Harkin OR speaker:Catherine Murphy)

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Catherine Murphy: It does give personnel freedom to talk about their pay and conditions, whereas they could not do so before. That is a pretty good idea because that has been so absent in terms of hearing about something before it gets to a crisis, and we see the number of personnel who are walking away. Some 60% of the budget relates to staff and allowances. Is money returned to the Exchequer when it...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Catherine Murphy: Could it be an advantage - if the Department wanted to buy a helicopter, for example - that if it did not fully recruit its staff, that money could be deployed to something else like that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Catherine Murphy: Yes. That would be capital. In what other areas could the Department spend money that is not spent on payroll on the current side?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 - Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Defence
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 12: Stock Management in the Defence Forces (23 May 2024)

Catherine Murphy: So, instead of payroll, it went to fuel.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: As the Deputy will be aware, the rent-a-room scheme is under the remit of the Minister for Finance, my colleague Deputy McGrath. However, I acknowledge that my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are the main users of the scheme. Therefore, I am very conscious of the need to safeguard our students in digs accommodations, which are typically more informal...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (23 May 2024)

Mairead Farrell: The Minister mentioned a cliff edge. Has he read my legislation and where does he thinks it would result in a cliff edge? It would not provide an equal level of protection as someone in a typical tenancy because I have recognised that these students would be living in someone's home. However, it would have ensured they could not be made homeless overnight. I think that is reasonable. It...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: No. The Department will consider and will have regard to absolutely everything. One of the things we do not want to do, by virtue of the introduction of any measure, is for people are already participating in the scheme to feel threatened. In many cases these are retired people and will have to make a declaration of interests. I stayed in digs myself when I was in college and the person I...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (23 May 2024)

Mairead Farrell: I totally get that, and that is why I put together reasonable legislation that was regularly mentioned by the Minister's predecessor. Because of the housing crisis and the disastrous response by the Government, people do not realistically have much other choice than to go into digs. Digs are fantastic and it can benefit both the person living in them and the homeowner. My Bill is very...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Again, this is a matter in the first instance for the Minister for housing. I am sure there are very good elements in the Deputy's Bill and I am not saying there are not. I understand what the Deputy is saying. However, I would caution against the kind of narrative - I am not suggesting for one minute that Deputy Farrell is saying it - that digs are somehow a last resort. They should not...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions (23 May 2024)

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Costs (23 May 2024)

Education Costs

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Costs (23 May 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 6. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he is considering further funding to abolish higher education tuition fees and move to a fully free public education system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19521/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Costs (23 May 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have never thought that fees for higher education made any sense. Why on earth would one ration access to higher education, college or university? But when we are looking at absolutely chronic skills and labour shortages in just about every sector of our society at the moment, is it not time to remove all obstacles to people getting trained, skilled and educated in key areas where we need...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Costs (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett for raising matters on the cost of supporting students and higher education tuition fees. As the Deputy will be aware and will appreciate, at this time it is not possible to provide an indication of the measures that may be introduced in budget 2025. However, in advance of budget 2025, I will be publishing an options paper which will set out the various...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Costs (23 May 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: These are under-pressure, slow and incremental moves by the Government. We are in a very serious situation, however, and we need a bit of bold and radical thinking. Take, for example, the area of special needs which I and others have been campaigning on, particularly over recent times because of such a dire situation there. There is a lack of teachers, special education teachers,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Strong demand for craft apprenticeships, which is a good thing, reflecting a very buoyant construction sector, has resulted in a 25% increase in craft apprenticeship registrations since 2019. My Department is overseeing the implementation of a plan put in place by the National Apprenticeship Office which has, to date, nearly halved the number of craft apprentices waiting more than six...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (23 May 2024)

Mairead Farrell: The Minister's own Department and SOLAS recently produced the Report on the Analysis of Skills for Residential Construction & Retrofitting 2023-2030. That report estimated that we need to increase the size of the construction sector by 50,831 new entrants by the year 2030 if we are to meet our targets. What is interesting is that the report used 2019 as its base year. Between 2019...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I agree with an awful lot of what the Deputy said, having grown up in a house where we always had craft apprentices related to the construction sector. When the wheels came off the wagon in this country in 2008 and 2010 to 2011, we did not have the certainty to provide a great many of these young women and young men with gainful employment. People who would ordinarily have gone into this...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (23 May 2024)

Mairead Farrell: I totally agree with the Minister's first point about people having certainty. In addition, that again shows us the role of the State. At the end of the day, the State is the largest employer, and that is a very important point. Of course people were concerned about certainty after the crash, but I am looking at those who are in the system right now and who feel like they are not heard or...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I think the Deputy needs to take solace and comfort from the fact that a substantial amount of additional money, €67 million, was put into this in the previous budget. One of the identifiers is the number of additional tutors now working in this area who were not working in it previously and whom we need to sign off people in order that they can become skilled craftspersons in their...