Results 1,241-1,260 of 16,746 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Dormant Accounts Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 395 and 396 together. The main purpose of the Dormant Accounts Acts is to reunite account holders with their funds. Unclaimed funds are transferred to the Dormant Accounts Fund, which is managed by the National Treasury Management Agency. The beneficial owner has a right to reclaim their money at any time. Legislation governing Dormant Accounts established...

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: It is important to acknowledge this Bill came about as a result of Mr. Johnny O'Meara and his family in memory of his partner and their mum, Michelle Batey. I thank Mr. O'Meara and Deputy Alan Kelly who stood and worked with him along with other organisations throughout this process. I thank all Deputies for their contributions to this debate and look forward to bringing the Bill to the Seanad.

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputies O'Reilly and Wall. I do not propose to accept amendments Nos. 7, 8 and 14. To accept them would remove the ability of any future Minister for Social Protection to make regulations to clarify the circumstances where a couple may be living apart for more than two years due to medical circumstances. This definition is linked to the regulation-making power inserted into...

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: If one part of the couple said something different to what had been signed up to, for whatever reason, there would have to be further investigations. I assure the Deputy that I would not want any intrusion into a relationship and the Department does not intend to intrude. If evidence was presented by a member of the couple that contradicted what the other member of the couple had said, that...

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Yes.

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Yes.

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I am pretty sure. It is a standard provision in such legislation. I assure the Deputy that the Department is not going to stick its nose in where that is not necessary.

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputy Wall for the amendment. Amendments Nos. 18 to 20, inclusive, are grouped together. I do not propose to accept these amendments, which are possibly irrelevant owing to other related amendments being ruled out of order. I wrote to Deputies Wall, Quaide, Coppinger and O'Reilly on this issue after Committee Stage. There are provisions in the Bill removing the eligibility of...

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: This is an area the Leas-Cheann Comhairle has also expressed an interest in. On Deputy O'Reilly's comment about the lady whose partner passed away while she was expecting, we have based the qualifications on the 2010 civil partnership Act and the issue from the Department of Justice. I am writing to the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, to highlight this case and also on the points reflected in...

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputies for their remarks. I will speak to the amendments first and then speak to some of the queries that were raised, which were dealt with on Committee Stage. Amendments Nos. 1 and 2, and 21 to 23, inclusive, are grouped together. As I said during the Committee Stage debate, it is not appropriate to include commitments to producing reports in primary legislation,...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Ar son an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Buttimer, agus mé féin, gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste as ucht an deis a bheith anseo inniu. I thank the committee for the invitation to attend to discuss and seek approval for a Further Revised Estimate 2025 for the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. As committee members will be aware, with the welcome...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: First, I will respond to the Deputy's overall remarks about our key priorities. The key scaffolding document for the Department is Our Rural Future. We are involved in a sensitive consultation about rewriting Our Rural Future at the moment. We have had public meetings, including an online meeting yesterday. The document will be published at the end of this year or early next year. We have...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I do not have the breakdown of the figure. I would be happy to provide it to the Deputy. However, we should not forget that rural towns are important too. They are the important anchors for rural communities. We need healthy rural towns to feed healthy rural communities and vice versa. I will have to come back to the committee with that figure.

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: That is there, but equally, there is evidence to show fantastic life in some areas. I was in Feohanagh in Limerick last Thursday evening where we reopened a former parochial house that has been repurposed as a community hub. That is being supported by my Department through the community centres investment fund, CCIF, and LEADER, driven by a local group of volunteers. To see the vibrancy...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I absolutely endorse everything the Deputy said about Galway Rural Development. It is a super organisation. I have met its members twice in the past six months since I took up office, most recently in Mountbellew where they have done a lot of fantastic work. They are also really good in the remit of my other Department, the Department of Social Protection, around community employment, the...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: It goes back to the work we do with Pobal, which has the statistics from censuses. Pobal uses that data and various income data and it is our main provider of such analysis. I am happy to engage with the Deputy on that space.

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputy Aird. The LIS is a major priority for me. It is important to put it into context. Since the scheme was re-introduced in 2017 by the former Minister, Michael Ring, some 4,816 roads around the country have been improved. That involved an investment by the Department of nearly €170 million. We know the backlog that exists and we are trying to address it. We are...