I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Our Rural Future is the most ambitious and transformational policy for rural development in Ireland for decades. The policy contains more than 150 measures for delivery across the whole of Government, with the underlying theme of economic, environmental and societal sustainability. The policy has a vision of ensuring vibrant and thriving rural towns and villages, with a key objective to maximise opportunities for individuals, communities and businesses in rural areas. It …

In response to Deputy Stanton, decentralisation is now by choice and is called remote working. That is the best decentralisation and it is working. That is the good news. Deputy Kerrane raised the matter of the report on rural-proofing. I have only just received the report. I will fully consider the options presented in consultation with my officials and I will weigh up the merits and challenges of each option. As I have said, my objective is to ensure we have an effective, efficient and implementable rural-proofin…

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. The Town Centre First policy is a major cross-Government policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres. Key to this is the establishment of the national implementation office to assist in the delivery and implementation of the policy, and to co-ordinate stakeholder engagement at a national level. This office will be responsible for supporting town regeneration officers, TROs, in driving implementation of the policy. My De…

I will go back very quickly, starting with Deputy Stanton. A sum of €400,000 is being provided to every local authority. We have just kicked off this new scheme and naturally we will look at and keep it under review. To be fair, if a line is drawn from Dublin across to Galway, the greatest increase in jobs recently has been south of that line. A lot of employment is being created. Thank goodness we are almost at full employment, which is good news. I take on board what Deputy Farrell said. In response to Deputy Ó M…

Yes. That is something I will leave with the local authorities. They acquire the sites and we just provide the funding. That said, I am happy to raise it with them. I am meeting all of the CEOs of the local authorities in the next few weeks and I will mention that to them.

As the Deputy may be aware, I have agreed that once-off emergency funding would be made available by my Department to Cork County Council to support the provision of a temporary ferry service for Dursey Island while the county council repairs the existing cable car infrastructure, which is owned and operated by the local authority. It is important to note that council is responsible for all aspects of the temporary ferry service to Dursey Island, including its procurement, operation, timetabling and the frequency o…

I know that the Deputy is absolutely committed to finding a solution. My Department has tried to do everything it could but the tender response received by Cork County Council in April 2022 was limited. We thought we would be able to assist in providing a seven-day service but, as it transpired after the tenders came out, all there is now is a much smaller service, in the short term anyway. The Deputy is right that at this stage we need to sit down and figure out a few things. I am happy to agree to the Deputy's re…

The rural regeneration and development fund provides funding for the development and construction of capital projects in towns, villages and rural areas across Ireland. To date, 191 projects have been approved for funding of €278 million for projects costing €377 million. Calls for applications to the fund are sought under two categories – category 1 and category 2. Category 1 relates to large-scale ambitious capital projects with all necessary planning and other consents in place, and which are ready to proceed. C…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Under family law, parents and certain categories of guardians or those acting in the place of parents are obliged to maintain their children. In cases where the family unit has broken down, these obligations continue to apply. Child maintenance arrangements can be agreed directly between the parties themselves, with the assistance of their solicitors, private mediators or supports such as the family mediation service and the Legal Aid Board or, ultimately, through the cou…

In fairness, I am aware that the Deputy has a strong interest in this matter and she has raised it with me a number of times in the House. I have the report now. It runs to a couple of hundred pages. The group and the chair, Judge Catherine Murphy, took approximately 18 months to examine this. They asked for a time extension and we gave it to them. It is clear from the report that they looked at all the various issues, and there are many issues both in the social protection area and in the Department of Justice. It…

I intend to bring a memorandum to the Government with the full report and our proposed response. I can assure the Deputy that this report is not going to sit on a shelf anywhere in the Department of Social Protection. I am coming to this with an open mind, as I have said previously. My priority in all this is the mothers and the children. The Deputy and I have discussed this on a number of occasions. I want to move it along. It is my intention to get this to the Cabinet before the summer recess, and the report and …

I thank the Deputy for raising this. My Department provides a suite of income supports for those who are unable to work due to an illness or disability. Entitlement to these supports is contingent on the extent to which a particular illness or disability impairs or restricts a person's capacity to work. It is not dependent on the nature of the illness or disability. As a result, I do not believe there is a need to research and devise a specific payment for long Covid as it is covered, like all other conditions, by …

I appreciate the point the Deputy is making. I recognise that Covid-19 impacted people differently. Some people who had it felt it was just like a bad cold and there were others, particularly those with underlying conditions and older people, on whom it impacted very seriously. All the measures the Government took over the last two years, including the various restrictions and so forth, were to protect our most vulnerable people until the vaccine programme was rolled out in full. Thankfully, we are at a stage now w…

I do not have a specific scheme that depends on one's medical condition. The scheme we have covers all medical conditions. The Deputy said that if somebody is looking for invalidity pension, he or she may have to reach certain criteria. I am open to looking at issues but, as it stands, I cannot say that somebody who has long Covid should get a different payment from somebody who has long-term cancer. I cannot treat them differently. However, as the Deputy will be aware, when people got the PUP payment, we allowed t…

I will look at it.

The pensions commission's report was published on 7 October 2021. It contained almost 250 pages of analysis, consideration and recommendations. The report established that the current State pension system is not sustainable into the future, and it set out a recommended approach for the Government. In the interests both of older people and future generations of older people - the young people of today - I assure the Deputy that the Government is considering the comprehensive and far-reaching recommendations in the c…

In fairness, it has been a busy few months and the Department has been dealing with the situation in Ukraine. We issued 32,000 PPS numbers in recent weeks, put income supports in place for the Ukrainians coming here, and we have worked with them to help them get into employment. Some 2,500 are already working. Today, the Department will administer the new €400 recognition payment. I am working with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, on that. We have also been re…

There is a recommendation in the pensions commission's report on family carers and we will take that into consideration in totality with the other recommendations in the report. I am confident that the Government will agree a response to the commission's report. We will do so in order that people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s can retire in the knowledge that there will be a State pension for them when they do so. In the past, people retired and claimed the pension for ten or 12 years, but now it is probably closer…

The pilot basic income scheme for artists, which the Government launched in April, is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin. Her Department is leading this project, including the associated stakeholder engagement, and any requests for meetings to discuss the pilot should be directed accordingly. Officials from my Department have met with the group concerned in that context and have dealt comprehensively with the issues raised. It is im…

I appreciate the point the Deputy is making. I will give him a few sums on this. As a result of the income disregards we have put in place, a person in receipt of a disability allowance payment of €208 who qualifies for the €325 basic income for the arts payment will end up with a combined income of €443. That is a 113% increase, which is more than double the €208 they had been receiving while on disability allowance. I try to support the sector. We have put a range of supports in place during the pandemic. Indeed,…