Results 141-160 of 20,087 for speaker:Heather Humphreys in 'Written Answers'

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (9 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Community centres are a vital resource for any community, and in recent years I have prioritised the development and enhancement of community centres across the country to improve access and provide suitable social spaces. Under the 2022 Community Centre Investment Fund in particular, over €45.8 million was committed for improvement and refurbishment works on over 860 existing...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Expenditure (9 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The total costs incurred to date in 2024 associated with Ministerial visits abroad, including accompanying officials, is €9,044.28.

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Properties (9 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department currently occupies office space at Trinity Point, Dublin 2, and Government Buildings, Ballina, Co. Mayo. Both offices are in the ownership of the Office of Public Works (OPW) and are at full occupancy. My Department also has responsibility for the Islands, with a small staffing complement based in Na Forbacha, Co Galway. This office space, located in the Connemara...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (9 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Town and Village Renewal Scheme was introduced in 2016 and is one of a number of measures designed to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout Ireland. Since the launch of the scheme over €156 million has been allocated to more than 1,700 projects across Ireland. As committed to under Our Rural Future and in line with the Town Centre First Policy, scheme priorities are...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (9 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Last year I announced a new €20 million fund to support communities with shovel-ready projects on green or brownfield sites for the construction of new community centres. My Department received 22 applications to this fund from locations all around the country. I can confirm that Carlow County Council has submitted an application in relation to a community hub in Carlow on the...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Library Projects (9 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The provision of library services, including the provision of library buildings, is primarily a matter for local authorities in their capacity as library authorities under the Local Government Act 2001. Accordingly, the provision of an extension to Carlow County Library is a matter for Carlow County Council. The response provided to PQ 2613/24 on January 23rd, as quoted in the details...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (9 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Under Section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he/she is responsible, including the appointment of dog wardens. My Department does not have any responsibility in relation to animal welfare. Responsibility in relation to the...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (9 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department implements a range of supports and schemes aimed at supporting rural and community development across Ireland in support of policies such as Our Rural Future, Our Living Islands and Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities. In total, across all schemes administered by my Department, over €85.6 million in funding has been allocated to projects in County Mayo over...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Animal Welfare (9 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1726, 1730 and 1731 together. I am committed to improving outcomes in relation to Dog Control in Ireland and in this context, I recently announced the establishment of a high level stakeholder group to consider and make recommendations to strengthen policy in relation these issues. I have appointed John Twomey as Chair of the stakeholder group, which...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (9 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Town and Village Renewal Scheme (TVRS) was introduced in 2016 and is one of a number of measures designed to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout Ireland. Since the launch of the scheme, more than €156 million has been allocated to in excess of 1,700 projects throughout Ireland. In line with the commitment in Our Rural Future, TVRS priorities are reviewed at the end of...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (9 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: WRGGGG04700 type: 7 --> Our Rural Future, Ireland's Rural Development Policy 2021 – 2025 represents the Irish Government’s blueprint for the development of rural Ireland. It sets out a range of actions for delivery across Government, and sets the strategic framework for the delivery of capital investment under my Department's Rural Development Investment Programme. ...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Development Projects (9 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Town and Village Renewal Scheme (TVRS), introduced in 2016, is one of a number of measures designed to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout Ireland. Since the launch of the scheme over €156 million has been allocated to more than 1,700 projects across Ireland. The Scheme has supported towns and villages the length and breadth of the country. In line with the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (21 Mar 2024)

Heather Humphreys: To protect the integrity of the social welfare system and to ensure that the right person is paid the right amount of money at the right time, all my department’s schemes, including One Parent Family Payment, are subject to on-going control reviews and eligibility checks. During 2023, just over 28,000 control reviews were carried out on the One Parent Family Payment scheme. To end of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (21 Mar 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 240 and 241 together. Child Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children up to the age of 16 years. Currently, the payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their 18th birthday where they are in full-time education, or have a disability. In Budget 2024, the Government decided to extend the payment of Child Benefit to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (21 Mar 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Invalidity Pension (IP) is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and for no other reason and who satisfy the pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions. My Department received an application for IP for the person concerned on 20 October 2022. His application was refused on 30 January 2023 on the grounds that the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (21 Mar 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Where a customer’s appeal is successful, every effort is made to promptly implement the decision of the Appeals Officer (AO) following notice of the decision being received from the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (21 Mar 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The introduction of an automatic enrolment (AE) system is a Programme for Government commitment and a key priority for me as the Minister for Social Protection. Implementation of the AE system is well underway, with the first enrolments expected late this year. Without specifying a target figure, one key objective of AE is to improve income adequacy in retirement. The other key objective...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Money Advice and Budgeting Service (21 Mar 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Citizens Information Board (CIB) is a statutory body under the aegis of my Department, and it funds the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) to provide free advice and support to people on debt and money management issues, in particular those on low income. MABS also provides support to people in mortgage arrears and is the gateway to Abhaile - the National State Funded Mortgage...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (21 Mar 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Government acknowledges the valuable role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. This commitment is recognised in both the Programme for Government and the National Carers’ Strategy. The main income supports to carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (21 Mar 2024)

Heather Humphreys: While my Department does not directly undertake capital projects, I have set out in the attached Appendix, details of capital projects in Tipperary that have received funding from my Department since January 2022.