Results 61-80 of 2,060 for speaker:Joe O'Brien

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Transport (1 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Brien: I hope the situation for those young people in Pallaskenry will be resolved soon. It is clear the Department is engaging with them. I agree on the need for an integrated system and with the point the Deputy made about school buses doing their drop and then doing a return journey without passengers. That is certainly not efficient, in a variety of ways. Other Departments are also...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Schools Building Projects (1 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity, on behalf of the Department of Education, to outline to the Dáil the current position in relation to the large-scale capital building projects for Holy Family Community School, Rathcoole, and the Clondalkin schools campus. The projects are included in the Department's construction programme which will be...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Schools Building Projects (1 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Brien: Under Project Ireland 2040, the Department of Education is investing well in excess of €5 billion over the period 2021-25 to add capacity and develop and upgrade school facilities across the country for the almost 1 million students and over 100,000 staff who learn and work in our schools every day. The Department of Education has a strong track record of delivery of school building...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Schools Building Projects (1 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Brien: I am happy to do that. I have only updates on two schools in my information here.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Post Office Network (1 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Brien: I welcome the opportunity to outline the position on this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and Minister of State, Deputy Chambers. An Post is a commercial State company with a mandate to act commercially and, as such, day-to-day operational matters, including decisions in relation to the size, distribution and future of the network, are matters for the board and...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Post Office Network (1 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Brien: I appreciate the Deputy's passionate advocacy for the retention of the situation with the post office in Roscommon town. I reiterate that An Post has outlined that its change in business model of the six offices I have mentioned, including Roscommon, will not in any way change the range or extent of the services offered by An Post in those selected locations. The company remains committed...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Dental Services (1 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to address the issue of participation of dentists in the dental treatment services scheme in County Galway. The dental treatment services scheme, DTSS, provides dental care free of charge to medical card holders aged 16 and over. Services available annually and on demand include an examination, including preventative advice, two fillings, emergency...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Dental Services (1 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Brien: The Minister has made substantial additional investments in oral healthcare services in recent years, but I take the Deputy's point about the lived reality he outlined, especially regarding people with intellectual disabilities trying to negotiate complex administrative systems which are not always very user friendly. I will certainly take that point back to the Minister. I will also ask...

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad: International Protection (1 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Brien: I first want to apologise to the House for my delay this morning. There was an unexpected event that I did not plan for, so I apologise to everyone for the delay that has caused. I thank Senator Crowe for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. As the Senator will be aware, the international protection system is currently undergoing a...

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad: International Protection (1 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Brien: The Department has made significant investment in staff, technology and re-engineering processes at the IPO and that investment is delivering. Over the course of the past year, we tripled the number of monthly decisions for processing times for applicants from safe countries, reduced under ten weeks, with numbers arriving from them dropping considerably, too. To my own knowledge, when...

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad: Health Promotion (1 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Brien: I thank the Senator for raising this genuinely very important issue. The Government is committed to supporting positive ageing across the life course, as well as ensuring that older people can continue to live independently in their homes and communities for as long as possible. This commitment is enshrined in the national positive ageing strategy, which provides a blueprint for promoting...

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad: Health Promotion (1 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Brien: I acknowledge that tremendous work is being done across the country to ensure communities are fully inclusive of our older citizens. The older people’s councils that have been established in every local authority by Age Friendly Ireland to ensure that older people have a voice in local decision-making, the Senior Citizens Parliament and the national network of Active Retirement...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Development Projects (30 Jan 2024)

Joe O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for his question. My Department’s mission is to promote rural and community development and support vibrant, inclusive and sustainable communities throughout Ireland. The underlying basis for all funding delivered through my Department's community development programmes is to enable communities to identify and address their own needs in this context. In effect,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Development Projects (30 Jan 2024)

Joe O'Brien: Decisions on particular allocations for the community animation aspect of SICAP are rolled out to the local development companies. Based on the need presenting to them, they will decide what level of worker should be involved. It is the individual community worker who is engaged under SICAP. The programme is responsive in that sense. There is no set, defined allocation by central...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Development Projects (30 Jan 2024)

Joe O'Brien: It is important to mention the PPNs in this regard. In many respects, they are the most comprehensive network of community and voluntary organisations around the country. We fund their support workers as well to build their own capacity. I do not want to leave the PPNs out of this discussion because they are playing a key role. I also do not want to leave out the empowering communities...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (30 Jan 2024)

Joe O'Brien: This issue has come up before. I am not passing the buck, but when a local authority approves a housing development, it needs to, and it is now within the guidelines and part of good practice that it should, facilitate space and infrastructure for a community hall and playing facilities and pitches. That is not always easy to do, but that is where it starts and that is where the line of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (30 Jan 2024)

Joe O'Brien: I will again mention the local authorities. If good proposals are brought to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and me for the development of projects that will help communities, we will certainly look at them. They will be rigorously analysed, assessed and evaluated. Big projects on substantial areas of land, as mentioned by the Deputy, need the backing of the local authority as well. We...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Offshore Islands (30 Jan 2024)

Joe O'Brien: To give the Deputy some figures, the cost of heavy and light cargo contracts for 2022 was €2.2 million. It is important to remember that cargo services are procured on the open market through e-tenders and competition is open, fair and transparent. The contracts are generally of a three-year duration, sometimes a little more, but there is a clause to review on an annual basis. What...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Offshore Islands (30 Jan 2024)

Joe O'Brien: I want to confirm that what the Department will do with the action plan is part of a bigger policy and desire to reinvigorate and keep life in the islands. The action plan has a particular focus on improving housing, water, infrastructure, health services, education services, high-speed broadband, outdoor amenities, sustainable tourism and reviewing transport costs. From speaking to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Schemes (30 Jan 2024)

Joe O'Brien: My Department's community services programme, CSP, supports more than 430 community-based organisations to provide local services through a social enterprise model. The CSP contribution per full-time equivalent position is not aligned with the minimum wage and does not meet the full salary cost of supported posts. It is an annual contribution that must be co-funded by the organisations...