Results 601-620 of 15,374 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Voluntary Sector (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The schemes do superb work. I compliment the Deputy and all the volunteers who run them and are on the boards. I have the report into the future of the rural social scheme, which I am considering at the moment. We will be making some announcements imminently around that. Again, on making it easier to get participants, I believe, as I have discussed with the Deputy previously, that the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rural Schemes (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I cannot comment on the exact area of Ballynoe but what Deputy Quaide has described sounds exactly like a prime property for the town and village renewal scheme or the RRDF. For instance, in Drumshanbo in County Leitrim I visited a former Garda station that has been acquired and is being developed into a fantastic facility. Throughout Leitrim on a recent visit I saw former State properties...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rural Schemes (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I cannot comment on the HSE plans for the building as I do not have those details. I will say that this year, the building and land acquisition measure under the town and village renewal scheme allows local authorities to purchase up to three vacant buildings. The total fund available is up to €500,000. I would certainly encourage Deputy Quaide to have a discussion with the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Schemes (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputy Collins. The local improvement scheme is a vital support for rural communities to improve non-public rural roads and local laneways. Since 2017 almost €170 million has been provided by the Government to local authorities under the scheme. I will repeat that figure of €170 million. In April 2024 €40 million in funding was announced for the LIS for all...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Schemes (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputy Collins. I would point out that since 2017 Cork county has received €12.9 million for the LIS. It is the third highest amount nationally. It is not the Department's role to select individual roads. That is a matter for each local authority. We are looking at local authorities on the waiting list and the individual expenditure by local authorities on the scheme. I...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Sports Organisations (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy. I heard the report and have seen the work done by many county boards across the country, led by the uachtarán of the GAA. I am very much aware that the GAA works in communities locally and nationally to address this challenge, through its national demographics committee and each county demographic officer. As I said, Our Rural Future contains a wide range of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Sports Organisations (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: We can all quote facts. There is a challenge, and I know the challenge in my county. Nevertheless, the CSO figures show a 7% increase in population in highly remote areas between 2011 and 2022. The OECD figures show that many rural and remote areas in Ireland showed some of the highest population growths between 2001 and 2021 within the OECD. I accept that within those figures, there are...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Sports Organisations (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: We had a discussion on this with an Teachta McGuinness in our first question. We will work with the Minister, Deputy James Browne, on a range of initiatives on rural housing and increasing supply through local authorities, which have been asked to supply more land through the vacant homes scheme, which is opening up closed-up communities in many rural areas. In May 2024, my Department...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rural Schemes (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy. The town centre first policy is a major cross-government policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres. Central to the town centre first approach is a range of capital support funding that includes the rural regeneration and development fund and the town and village renewal scheme. Both schemes facilitate the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: We get a sense of the national planning framework now as local authorities are being invited to submit new proposals for housing in terms of rezoning land. I would also point to the vacant property refurbishment grant, which has opened up houses. The Deputy is a rural TD as well; he can see that houses that were closed for generations have been opened up. In Waterford City and County...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Within my Department, the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, is the primary social inclusion programme. It aims to reduce poverty and promote social inclusion and equality in Ireland through supporting communities and individuals using community development approaches, engagement and collaboration. I thank and commend our SICAP teams all over the country for their...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: With my other hat on, we are absolutely focused on those child poverty figures. I am not happy with them. We will be bringing forward a number of initiatives in this year's budget. The Deputy touched on something we need to do a lot more work on, namely, rural poverty, in particular, and hidden poverty. The area of transport is one the Deputy has identified. Under the current CLÁR...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: As I said, it is not a specific focus, but it is very much part of SICAP's work through all its engagement with organisations. Many of the SICAP teams give specific local responses to specific situations and children or family situations in communities, depending on what they work with. They work closely with the Child and Family Agency and the area school completion units. That is one...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht a cheist. Our Rural Future is the Government policy for sustainable rural development in Ireland, putting forward a vision for vibrant rural places that are attractive to people, particularly young people, who wish to study, live, work and raise their families in rural Ireland. More than 170 measures are outlined in the policy to support...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I agree with the Deputy in many respects that there is a rural housing challenge. However, planning permissions have been granted for almost 6,000 one-off homes on average every year since 2020. Over 90% of those are built in rural settings. Within our Department, we have put in place a large number of policies to support the communities around that. Funding of €164 million for...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Local Improvement Scheme is an important support for rural communities in improving non-public rural roads and laneways not usually maintained by local authorities. Since its establishment in 2017, the government has provided almost €170 million to local authorities under the scheme. In April 2024, €40 million in funding was announced across all local authorities to...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The CLÁR Programme provides funding under a number of different measures for small-scale infrastructural projects in designated rural areas. This programme has gone from strength to strength in recent years. Almost €14 million was approved for over 320 projects across the country under last year's scheme. This was the largest allocation under the scheme since it was...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department supports rural development through a wide range of schemes including the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund and the Town and Village Renewal Scheme. It also delivers programmes which seek to address social and economic deprivation in communities throughout the country such as the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme, and the Community Services Programme. ...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Men's Sheds (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I believe that the emergence of Men’s Sheds and Women's Sheds has been a very positive development for communities across Ireland and I am fully committed to supporting Men's Sheds and Women's Sheds in the valuable work they do. My Department provides funding to Men's Sheds and Women’s (Sister) Sheds under various funding supports, including: The €7 million Local...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Town and Village Renewal Scheme, is one of a number of schemes delivered by my Department as part of its Rural Development Investment Programme. The Scheme was introduced in 2016, and has to date allocated over €177 million to almost 1,800 projects nationally. Of this, Cork has been allocated over €9.5 million for 94 projects. The 2025 scheme is intended to support...