Results 61-80 of 40,868 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: The temporary scheme of paid leave was developed by the Department of Health for certain public health sector employees who were unfit for work after a Covid-19 infection. That scheme is due to end on 31 March, which is the end of this month, but I will raise the issue with the Minister and ask him come back to the Deputy directly rather than giving him a stale answer here. I understand...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: There is a lot in the Deputy's question. I will try to answer the various elements of it. First, I am glad the Deputy is noticing progress in Cork. That is always important in terms of the scale of development there.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: The mid-west has had a great year too. If we look at the performance of Limerick and the mid-west more generally, three of the biggest IDA Ireland announcements in the country this year happened just outside Limerick, involving Analog Devices, Eli Lilly and Verizon. Thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of euro of investment will be coming to the mid-west over the next few years. We...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: I hear the Deputy's frustration. I assure him there is no lack of ambition in this regard in my Department or that of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. The Minister has done an extraordinary piece of work over the last number of years to make this prospect a reality. We have had our first round of auctions and 3 GW of draft supply contracts are in place. One of those projects is off the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: I accept what the Deputy is saying in raising issues to which the Government needs to respond. What I do not accept is the characterisation that the Government's response is that there is nothing to see here. There is a lot to see here. We see it and we are trying to respond to it. That is why staffing numbers in the HSE have grown by 22% in the past four years. That is why we are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: Deputy Sherlock knows that when a health system-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: -----is escalated into pressurised management situations, you need to prioritise the patients who need beds most.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: That is what is happening in Limerick today. Is that welcome? It certainly is not.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: We have surge capacity using other beds in the region as best we can. This is a temporary arrangement-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: -----that we will move beyond as quickly as we can.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. To be fair, he has been really consistent in raising it for many months now and in keeping the Government focused and under pressure in respect of an adequate response. The European Commission has made a non-binding recommendation on the recognition of Covid-19 as an occupational disease. It did not make a recommendation, however, regarding long...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: -----quickly the regional long Covid clinics which have been promised.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: From a Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment perspective, we will keep this issue under close review.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: We are not singing any song. The Deputy should stop trying to misrepresent the position here. This is a situation where a very significant hospital in the country is under a lot of pressure. We are putting in place significant resources to respond to that pressure. Of course I acknowledge, as does the Government, the difficulties that staff and patients faced yesterday and face today and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: First of all, many hospitals in the country are performing really well and do not have patients on trolleys whereas they would have in the past. They have seen waiting lists come down significantly on what they were in the past. That is happening because of good management, more staff and more resources. We have a larger health budget now than ever before, and rightly so because our...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: With facts.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Deputy for again raising this issue. As we know, University Hospital Limerick is currently caring for an exceptionally high number of unwell medical patients in the hospital. The emergency department has seen its highest week of emergency presentations since the beginning of this year. UHL is currently at its highest state of escalation. Surge capacity has been opened there...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Staff (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: My Department has not paid severance or redundancy in excess of €200,000 in the years specified by the Deputy. Regarding the Agencies under the remit of my Department, with the exception of Enterprise Ireland, no agencies have paid exit, severance or redundancy payments of €200,000 or greater in the years specified by the Deputy. Enterprise Ireland has paid no exit,...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Staff (6 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: My Department paid severance and redundancy to Ministerial Personal Staff and Ministerial Advisers on the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil under the terms laid out by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and statutory entitlements under the Redundancy payments Acts 1967-2014. Additionally, my Department paid severance and redundancy to Ministerial Personal Staff...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Environmental Policy (5 Mar 2024)

Simon Coveney: It is not my intention to introduce additional penalties on businesses that fail to reduce carbon emissions. This Government's approach is to ensure that their are clear, medium-term incentives for businesses to decarbonise and support available from State agencies to do so, rather than a purely punitive approach. Businesses already face strong financial incentives to invest in their own...