Results 1-20 of 32,030 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: Will the Minister convene a group to develop a circular economy strategy for the food sector? The climate committee will be starting to consider that issue. The facts are there. The Minister will know well that food waste is over 1 million tonnes and accounts for 5% of our global emissions. Half of compostable waste does not find its way to compostable outlets. Excess packaging in the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Industry (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: First, I welcome what the Minister of State has said, but so long as there is no clear picture of what a revenue stream from sound environmental farming will mean in ten or 20 years' time, this uncertainty and unease will continue. We know, for example, that raising water levels on certain lands has huge carbon dividends. We know that benchmarking and reducing emissions by sequestration or...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Industry (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: Is it not the case that if we are to see a significant scaling-up of activity, and I think that is necessary, there are going to have to be substantial rewards linked to them? Surely, on a no-regrets basis, we should be making those substantial rewards available so that a step change can be considered by people who want a long-term commercial and prosperous family future. We need to take a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Industry (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: 61. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will outline the potential of a carbon farming initiative in the transformation of the sustainability profile of the farming sector. [18080/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Industry (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: The Minister knows that farmers worry that their transition to a sustainable model of farming will not sustain prosperous family farms into the long term. There are many in this House and outside it who want to fan the fears of farmers. I believe a clear pathway to a carbon farming approach could reassure many farmers. To date, the detail in that regard is scanty, which creates uncertainty.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Programmes (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: 16. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she has considered the scope for promoting engaging activities and positive health measures as a part of the welfare programmes promoted by her Department to the pensioners whom she supports with regular financial payments and occasional urgent need payments as part of a more joined-up approach to positive ageing. [18076/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Programmes (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: The Minister's Department probably has the most extensive network connecting to people who have left the workforce. We know that staying connected and active is the key to the well-being of people have left the workforce. Will the Minister consider the opportunity she has for promoting engaging activities among people who have left the workforce because it is a huge gulf?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Programmes (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: The Minister will have often heard the phrase "a stitch in time saves nine". Does the Minister agree that setting up a commission on care is already too late in the cycle? The reality is that if people stay connected and active after they retire, they will have many years of good health and not come into the caring system at all. As Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan just asked about, the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Programmes (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: Activation is not just about work; it can be in someone's community doing all sorts of things.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Programmes (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: We are missing a beat here. We are too siloed in the way we think of this. We see people who are over a certain age as a caring problem, and not as an opportunity. Activation should be just as relevant to someone who has left the workforce as it is to someone who is aged 64 and wants to work for another year. It can be activation throughout the community in all sorts of unpaid positions...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Programmes (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: It is the University of the Third Age.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Programmes (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: They do..

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: I have a good deal of experience of dealing with cases. What often happens is that the medical certification does not deal with the fact that a person must be unable to work for 12 months or more. Doctors often think that by listing illnesses, they have fulfilled their requirement. It would be useful if a message could clarify to medical professionals the exact form of certification...

Acknowledgement and Apology to the Families and to the Victims of the Stardust Tragedy: Statements (23 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: As the Taoiseach and the two Ministers have said, this has been a tragedy of harrowing proportions for the families. It was a Valentine's night that turned to anguish. You can only imagine the panic of people experiencing the chains and padlocks blocking their exits, the lights failing and the darkness as that tragedy ensued. The initial determination of arson was seen as a further slap in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Ireland's Climate Change Assessment Report: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: I thank the witnesses for their presentation. The overall picture is encouraging in my view as they are saying this is necessary, achievable and worthwhile. The key missing ingredient is for us to be able to make it something like a question of national pride that we deliver this. This is where we are struggling. It is getting everyone on the same page to understand that all of our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Ireland's Climate Change Assessment Report: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: If we had a circular strategy for food we would be inviting everyone in, and farmers, producers and retailers would be sitting around the table. We would be looking at the entire food chain and food waste. Would this be an environment in which we could get a more collective collaborative approach? I feel it would be but perhaps I am naive.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Ireland's Climate Change Assessment Report: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: One thing surprised me when we had scientists before the committee talking about rewetting land and various things that would improve the biodiversity of land and its capacity to absorb carbon. They could not give us a relatively simple matrix that would allow us to say that if we paid farmers to do X, there would be a certain benefit on the other side of the equation from which the farmers...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Ireland's Climate Change Assessment Report: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: Could we not make an act of faith on it? The worst that can happen is that we will have overpaid a few farmers, while we would have got the benefit anyway. Can science not give us a rule of thumb to go and apply?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Ireland's Climate Change Assessment Report: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: We do so every day.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Expenditure (23 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: 56. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has considered the extent of unclaimed benefits across different Government programmes; if he would consider establishing a cross-government initiative to better promote take-up of these schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15267/24]