Results 1-20 of 5,474 for speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh

Weather-Related Supports for Farmers: Statements (Resumed) (24 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I welcome this opportunity to discuss some of the issues impacting on farming. I thank the Minister for his statement. In particular, I welcome his remarks around the well-being of farmers. There is not much we can do about the weather in the short term, but there are many actions we can take to serve the financial stability and viability of farms and to alleviate the financial stress that...

Support for Carers: Motion [Private Members] (24 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I wish the Minister of State well in her new job. It is a really important role, particularly when it comes to carers. She knows that carers, and family carers in particular, comprise one of the most neglected groups of people in the State. They save us hundreds of millions of euro, and we pay lip service to their efforts. There are many things we can do. There is not a TD in this House...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 58. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the projected expenditure on capital projects for 2025 and 2026 in terms of GNI*; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17726/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I thank the Minister for his reply to Question No. 57. I am very interested to see whether what he outlined can be done. We have to do everything we possibly can to increase the number of houses being built and to meet even the low targets that are already there. I raised the underspend on capital investments since 2021 up to this year. I will now focus on the projected underspend over...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: That is concerning. It comes back to the levels of inflation we have seen. The Minister is saying the Government will continue its capital expenditure, but the answer indicates that will fall short of the level of ambition outlined in the national development plan in 2021. Even with the increase of €2.25 billion over three years that has finally been announced, the underspend will...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Capital Expenditure Programme (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: The concern I have, which I referred to, is that projects throughout the State are either being delayed or quietly shelved. Communities that have campaigned and waited for years are being left in the dark wondering why projects they thought were agreed and progressing are now not progressing. The only possible conclusion they can come to is that we have not accounted for inflation. People...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Relief Schemes (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I wish the Minister of State well in his new job. I am really pleased to hear him talk about the Crossmolina flood relief scheme. He will know that the town of Crossmolina has been waiting for that for almost ten years now. Could he give me an update as to its exact status and when it is going to start?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Spending Code (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 57. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when the infrastructure guidelines will lead to reform within individual Departments in the context of capital projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17727/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Spending Code (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: The infrastructure guidelines replace the public spending code. Changes to the public sector spending code were announced early last year. It took until the end of the year before the infrastructure guidelines were published. How long will it be before we see the reforms adopted by the Departments? Most importantly, how will the Minister's Department measure the effectiveness of this change?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Spending Code (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: On page 2 of those guidelines, it is stated that it is the responsibility of the Accounting Officer of a Department to ensure that the guidelines are adopted. As the Minister has said, we may not see the changes until next year. With regard to the procedure for delivering capital projects, what flexibilities do Departments have under the new infrastructure guidelines? For instance, can the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Spending Code (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Do local authorities have to continue to put forward business cases as to why they need to build, for example, social and affordable housing? The infrastructure guidelines state, "Where programmes of investment are composed of a high number of similar" schemes, as in the case of housing, a strategic assessment can be done all at once. Can local authorities such as Mayo County Council do a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Private Partnerships (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: There is no transparency around these contracts, even long after the deals have been signed, so we have to ask where the oversight and accountability are. When the Minister had this portfolio in 2017, the IMF recommended Ireland reduce the sums Departments could spend on PPP contracts. Departments are not supposed to spend more than 10% of the capital budget, as the Minister knows, on...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Private Partnerships (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 46. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the types of services that typically make up the costs, other than construction and financing, in public private partnership contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17725/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Private Partnerships (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Under this Government we have seen the expanded use of controversial public private partnership, PPP, contracts in housing, in health, education and other areas. I have previously raised my concern about value for money on these contracts. Today I will focus on the privatisation of services that comes with such contracts. Will the Minister outline the typical services that are privatised...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Private Partnerships (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I thank the Minister. I know what PPPs are. The average PPP contract is procured by the National Development Finance Agency. One third of the cost of the contract is to pay for services that would normally be delivered by the public sector. That could be cleaners in schools, security in technological universities or maintenance of public housing that should be managed by the local...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Development Plan (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: The NDP set the target of expenditure as a share of GNI to properly account for inflation, especially when we are talking about a multiannual plan and indeed a multi-billion euro plan like the NDP. Since 2021 we have seen the high levels of inflation, particularly in construction, yet the funding was never adjusted to account for it. Budget after budget, the Government has acted like...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Development Plan (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: What I am really concerned about is the deficit that is already there in terms of infrastructure, particularly in the region I come from, and the under-investment in the west and north-west region. Having not accounted for inflation in the way we do, I am concerned about the hole that is there and the cumulative impact it would have. That was my question. I see now in my own constituency...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Development Plan (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 44. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the capital underspend based on the targets set in the 2021 review of the national development plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17724/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Development Plan (23 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I have raised the issue of capital expenditure with the Minister on many occasions. The NDP in 2021 set a target of 5% of GNI* to be invested in capital projects. The NDP states "the Government has decided to maintain the average level of investment in the new NDP at approximately 5 per cent of GNI* over the period 2021-2030". This has not happened in a single year since the NDP was...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Apr 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: In September 2022, the Minister for Education visited the Educate Together school in Castlebar. Amid much fanfare and photographs, a promise was made to the children, parents and teachers that they would be provided with a new school. At the time, the Minister asked them to provide a shortlist of suitable sites, which the school did immediately afterwards. Some 18 months later and the...