Results 681-700 of 11,765 for speaker:Niall Collins

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Wastewater Treatment (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this matter. The Deputy will understand that the progression of wastewater infrastructure at local level is a matter for Uisce Éireann. As I previously stated, however, Uisce Éireann is aware of the difficulty with wastewater treatment in Dunmanway and is currently reviewing the situation with the intention of providing a solution. This...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Post Office Network (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: I welcome the opportunity to outline the position on the matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Éamon Ryan and the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers. An Post is a commercial State company with a mandate to act commercially and, as such, day-to-day operational matters, including decisions on the size, distribution and future of the network, are matters for the board and the management...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Post Office Network (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: I have listened with interest to the points the Deputy raised. As indicated earlier, decisions relating to post offices are operational matters for An Post and are not matters for the Minister or where the Minister has a statutory function. An Post, as he will know, plays an important role in serving the needs of business and domestic customers alike. This is at the forefront of An...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Wastewater Treatment (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: The Minister would like to thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for allowing me to have the opportunity to outline the position regarding the water treatment issues in Dunmanway on his behalf. As the Deputy will understand, the supply of public water and the provision of water services in general are matters for Uisce Éireann in the first instance. However, the Department of...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: International Protection (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: I will make the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the relevant Ministers aware of the Deputy's input. He will also be aware that changes were made in December last year that will come into effect in March of this year in terms of beneficiaries of temporary protection. Ireland is, and always has been, a welcoming place. The Irish people are fundamentally aware of, and support, the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: International Protection (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As Deputies will be aware, Ireland has welcomed more than 103,000 arrivals from Ukraine, with 76,000 people currently living in State accommodation and 58,000 of those in fully serviced accommodation. The Deputy will also be aware that the number of international protection applicants continues to grow. He clearly pointed out the difference in...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: I thank the Chair and members of the committee for the opportunity to speak to them this evening to present the 2024 Revised Estimates for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. My officials have provided a briefing on our Estimate to the secretariat of the committee which hopefully will be of assistance to members. The Estimate we are presenting...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: On rates of pay to apprentices, fundamentally, the apprenticeship relationship is employer-employee. The rates are in many instances set by sectoral agreements within the different sectors. Obviously, there are supports there for apprentices when they go on their off-the-job training, similar to many other students. We do not have a direct input on the rates of pay. It is a national...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: I will take that question on subhead B15, which relates to miscellaneous grants and services. It is made up of an allocation of €0.75 million under Housing for All, €0.6 million for accommodation, €0.55 million for Traveller apprenticeships, which are bursaries, and €0.2 million for what is described here as HE funding. I will supply the committee with a full...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: I will get that information for the Deputy.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: The reduction under subhead C4 reflects a transfer to subhead B12. The provision is all being kept within research activity. It is just a recategorisation and relates to moneys for the Irish Research Council, IRC. There is no net reduction in expenditure. There is a good deal to go through on student accommodation. I will give the Deputy a high-level summary. As of November 2023, the...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: We are writing to them. The Minister, Deputy Harris, has either written in the last day or two or is about to write to each TU to get them to tell us what their requirements are in the medium to long term. As members know, an exercise was carried out last year whereby €1 million was provided across all the TUs to help them to do a proper assessment of what their medium to long-term...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: The Housing Finance Agency has a facility available to it. The first thing is that we need to know exactly what they want and how much they need. The picture has been unclear and we want to go about it by taking a structured approach. As part of that exercise, we are also looking at streamlining design in terms of how we are going to approach this. The proposal is to write to them. They...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: The OECD skills strategy has been published and we are looking at it. We will get back to the Deputy with a note on that. There is a grid that provides information on student accommodation. Since 2016, 14,079 purpose-built student accommodation beds have been built and work is under way on-site on an additional 7,023 bed spaces, of which 3,040 are publicly owned. Planning permission for...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: We will get the Deputy an exact note after the meeting and I will give her what information I have with me now. There are two bundles, the first of which is higher education PPP bundle 1. The six buildings which are being delivered by public private partnership bundle 1 are located at the Technological University Dublin campuses in Tallaght and Blanchardstown, the Munster Technological...