Results 11,541-11,560 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: I am unsure of the Deputy's question.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: That is why we asked the commission to consider the issue of nurses' pay. It made recommendations which the Government is willing to implement for some of the reasons outlined by the Deputy.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: I discussed the matter with the Minister, Deputy Murphy, this morning. He plans to bring draft proposals to the committee and work with other parties to get this right. We are trying to get the balance right between ensuring we have a functioning short-term letting market, where appropriate, and preventing the short-term letting system from undermining the broader and more important rental...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: Planning for winter 2018-19 has begun at hospital and local level. The Department of Health is working with the HSE to ensure these local and regional plans are consolidated and supported through policies and plans at national level to ensure the most effective response to the winter challenges to unscheduled care provision. The budget allocated an additional €10 million to prepare...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: That Bill will not be brought forward in this session. Fire safety inspections have uncovered issues and problems, which led to safety concerns. We have learned lessons from the past. The way in which schools are built now is quite different from former practices and does not rely solely on contractors and their design teams. We will uncover the mistakes of the past and fix them. That is...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: The criteria for DEIS status are applied equally across the country.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: It is decided on the basis of CSO statistics on issues such as deprivation, single parents and so on.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: With regard to healthcare facilities, at this point there is no reason to believe hospitals are affected but we are going to take a precautionary approach and the HSE is determining what projects have been-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: -----completed by Western Building Systems. We will, of course, follow up to ensure there are no issues. I am told by the Department of Health that it does not expect significant issues.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: I also have schools in my constituency affected by this and of course parents are asking questions. This is why a specific communications unit has been established in the Department to liaise with teachers and principals and ensure information is available on request to establish dates for when the inspections will take place in the coming days. Three contract teams have been taken on to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: In some cases, obviously, this will not be the case because we will err the side of safety always, which is what we must do. We will know more as these audits take place and we will ensure the communications on when and how the audits take place are available for principals and parents.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: It is important to say that price is not the sole determinant.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: No school will be left on its own. There is already a group of people in the Department whose job it is to work with schools when necessary and to work with the education and training boards, other local educational institutions and other institutions that can help accommodate, if necessary, students and staff in a way that protects their safety and ensures their education can continue....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: I am not going to commit to individual amendments to legislation on the floor of the House. The Deputy will have the opportunity to make the case and the Minister is more than capable of responding comprehensively to it. We are putting more resources into emergency accommodation and housing assistance payments because there is a temporary crisis to which we need to respond in a...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: This is a temporary arrangement where the State has to support families through homelessness while we put in place long-term solutions. We have a five-year housing strategy which we are two years into. The most challenging element of that in terms of human impact is around homelessness, in particular family homelessness. We are more than conscious of that. We work with, fund and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: I am less interested in the party political slagging match and much more interested in reassuring parents, families, teachers and principals that we can fix this. We are talking about a different era of standards and inspection systems which have changed quite dramatically since 2014. We are talking about pre-Grenfell, after which the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, undertook the inspection...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: Under the current regulations, in terms of pre-2014 buildings and certification around that, the contractor and contractors’ design team were fully responsible for ensuring quality and certifying that the buildings were constructed in accordance with the works requirements and building regulations at the time. Since then, under current regulation, an independent assigned certifier is...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: I said that the Government will be open to any constructive suggestions. It will consider them and follow a policy that is in the best interests of people living in the midlands. I do not want to get into an argument with the Deputy over where the 15,000 extra jobs have come from, but they are jobs in the midlands, not Dublin, which people in the midlands can drive to and work at. We are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: I will look into that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Oct 2018)

Simon Coveney: We have had this exchange on many occasions in this House. I acknowledge that homelessness is one of the greatest challenges this Government faces, and we are determined to resolve it. I hope there will co-operation and constructive opposition from people on the other side of this House. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government published the monthly homeless report for...