Results 15,761-15,780 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme provides funding for the development of new outdoor recreational infrastructure and for the maintenance and promotion of existing outdoor recreational infrastructure in rural Ireland. In February 2020, Louth County Council were approved for funding of €200,000 under the 2019 Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme for the development and...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Appointments to State Boards (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Since September 2014 the Public Appointments Service (PAS) has responsibility for managing an open, accessible, rigorous and transparent system to support Ministers in making appointments to State boards. Under the Guidelines for Appointments to State Boards, these board positions are advertised and recruited through the dedicated website, www.stateboards.ie. This process enables...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Appointments to State Boards (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Public Appointments Service (PAS) is the centralised provider of recruitment and assessment services for the Civil Service, including management of the process to identify people for consideration for appointment to State Boards. The website www.stateboards.ie is the channel used by the PAS to both inform the public of vacancies on State Boards and to collate expressions of interest...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Local Improvement Scheme (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) is just one of a number of initiatives funded under my Department's Rural Development Investment Programme. A total of €58 Million has been allocated under the Scheme since it was reintroduced in 2017 and this funding has benefited over 10,000 landowners and residents across 2,400 road projects. This has made a real difference to the landowners...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Library Projects (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Carlow County Council submitted an application to my Department for funding in respect of Carlow Central Library in August 2020. However, as the Libraries Capital Programme 2016 - 2021 is fully committed, the Council were advised to consider making an application for funding to the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) which is administered by the Department of Housing, Local...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Appointments to State Boards (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: My Department actively promotes gender balance on the State Boards under its auspices. Since September 2014 the Public Appointments Service (PAS) has responsibility for managing an open, accessible, rigorous and transparent system to support Ministers in making appointments to State boards. Under the Guidelines for Appointments to State Boards, these board positions are advertised and...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Remote Working (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Government’s ambitious new five year policy for rural Ireland, Our Rural Future, commits to the development of a pilot scheme to support the use of rural pubs as community spaces and hubs for local services. I have met with the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) and my officials are currently working with VFI to develop the pilot project. Through the pilot, it is envisaged that a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Chair, Deputy Naughten, and the committee members for the invitation to meet with them today and provide an update on the topic of rural development. The timing of our meeting could hardly be better, as I recently launched Our Rural Future, the new five year policy for rural Ireland, developed by my Department in collaboration with colleagues across Government and State agencies,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputy Carey for raising these issues. Clare has been successful in its rural regeneration and development funding in past calls. A total of €9.8 million has been allocated to County Clare since the fund was opened. There were a number of projects this time. The one the Deputy specifically referred to is Kilmihil. I would say that anybody who has been unsuccessful should...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for the questions. There are 150 commitments in this programme but it is a five-year plan. In a couple of weeks, I will outline the commitments for this year. Obviously, as the Chairman said, I am happy to go through those with the committee at a later stage. We will not be able to do it all in one year. We will develop a work programme. However, I did not want to set...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Town Centre First initiative is something we feed into, and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, chairs that committee. People talk about the Scottish model but we have the best model here in this country and it is Westport. What they did in Westport all those years ago - Senator Burke will be able to tell us about it - is they got a plan and they stuck to it. It was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter . The Department has explained the issue of procurement, in fairness. The employment services here have been outsourced since the mid-1990s. We have spoken to a number of the local employment service contractors and have explained the matter to them. We have been procuring employment services since the 1990s. The strong legal advice we have from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: First, the The New York Times, which is a prestigious paper, described Irish rural policy as being the most ambitious in Europe. Somebody, therefore, thinks our plan is a good one.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: It will help people in rural Ireland. This is a one-off chance to capture and capitalise on remote working. It is the decentralisation of people, not buildings. I am really excited about it. Much work is going into it and it contains many exciting actions that will make a difference. The Deputy is not the only person living in the middle of nowhere. I live in the middle of nowhere too...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Chairman and Deputy Donnelly. First, I reiterate, and I did not make this up, the legal advice is that the requirement is that we must go out to tender and it must be a competitive procurement process. What I am doing initially is expanding the service. These regions that do not currently have a service will get one. We want to expand the service there and we have engaged with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Go raibh maith agat Senator Garvey. I must say she looked exceedingly well on television last night when she discussed railways with former Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, in Clare. The remote working hub in Ennistymon is a great example. We highlight it as one of the real success projects in Clare. We held it up as an example so other communities and towns could see that what is being done there...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I take the Senator's point on water and wastewater provision in towns. I have met Irish Water and highlighted to it that there are towns and villages which cannot develop. They are full up and they need to expand. It is something we have also raised with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I have met Irish Water officials on this matter because it has been brought to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Senator. We are working on the portal for the one-stop-shop and we are going to work harder on it because we must get it up and running. It is an important and good resource for people when they want to know where to go. There are so many different sources of funding that people will want to see clearly how it is possible to maximise the benefits of the supports available. ...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Senator is correct. Rural businesses need to do that, especially now with their doors closed. To apply, they need to go to their local enterprise office, LEO, where they can get a trading online voucher. Around this time last year, when I was the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, my then Department strongly promoted that scheme. People from many businesses have told me...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Senator for his kind words. He is right about community development associations. They need a few bob to keep going. They have no way of getting money at present. We have helped them through the Covid fund. These are only small amounts, and it makes a big difference. We will work on that because the Senator is correct. It is not a great deal in the larger scale of things,...