The Inis Meáin pier development is included in the national development plan. As the Deputy will be aware, Galway County Council is the body responsible for development of stage 3 of the Caladh Mór pier development. Users of the pier, including several State-subsidised ferry operators, have highlighted issues with capacity within the harbour, as well as with currents around the mouth of the harbour. As part of the preparatory works, the National Maritime College of Ireland, NMCI, was instructed by Galway County Cou…

I know this is an issue to which Deputies Connolly and Ó Cuív are very committed. As they are aware, I visited the pier with Deputy Ó Cuív. It has become clear that following completion of phase 2 of the pier project, the expected wave patterns and currents at the entrance to the harbour were not fully understood, requiring preparation of modelling simulations by NMCI which will impact on the development options. The work of NMCI on developing the simulation was delayed by Covid restrictions. That meant it was not …

I thank Deputies Connolly and Ó Cuív. This issue relating to this pier is complex. We tried to do this before many years ago and we did not get it right. As a result, it is important that all of the necessary preparatory work is done so that we do get it right. It is early in this development process and a revised timeline for the project has yet to be agreed with Galway County Council. The timeline will be prepared in consultation with the engineers, and we will lay out the various development steps following agre…

The development of new regional enterprise plans falls within the remit of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. A total of nine plans are being developed by his Department for each region, which will run until 2024. I understand that these are expected to be published in the near future. The plans are massively important for achieving balanced regional development by ensuring that regional strategies are aligned with the national ambitions for enterprise and employment growt…

Regarding the area the Deputy mentioned that has no broadband and cannot get a broadband connection point, I suggest that he contact either Cork City Council or Cork County Council-----

There is no reason that Cork City Council and Cork County Council cannot work together. It is not a big job to get a broadband connection point, to be honest. We have been rolling them out across the country. We have been working with the broadband officers in the local authorities and they have given great service. In other counties where there is no broadband in the area we fund the connection of a broadband connection point. We have also funded different communities to provide the facilities they need for remote…

I do not have the list with me but I understand a lot of broadband connection points have been funded in Cork. There are 17 on the connected hubs platform and we have mapped out 19 to invite on board to get into the connected hubs platform. That is quite a few, but we will look at the specific issue the Deputy has raised.

Táimid ar ais ag na hoileáin. As the Deputy is aware, Galway County Council is the responsible authority for the maintenance and development of infrastructure on the Aran Islands. The development of the pier on Inis Oírr is listed among the strategic objectives set out in Project Ireland 2040. I understand that the council held a meeting recently with the foreshore unit in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to discuss the application for a foreshore licence. They were advised that it is a leng…

Galway County Council is submitting that application. I understand that the application is with the relevant Department, which I believe is the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. As I understand it, it is there. We are meeting fortnightly with Galway County Council but the ball is in its court at this moment. The Department has approved the business case. Galway County Council is in the process of resolving the pre-construction issues, before a request for tender can be issued. Money is not the i…

There is constant contact between my officials and the islanders. I have been asked questions regarding Galway County Council, which I honestly cannot answer. I can say that my Department is giving Galway County Council all of the support we can give in trying to move this on as quickly as possible. They are finalising the compulsory purchase order, CPO, for two parcels of land. One is a temporary CPO for the duration of the development and the other is permanent. Galway County Council has lodged the foreshore lice…

I thank Deputy Moynihan for raising this matter. The programme for Government places a strong emphasis on balanced regional development through a range of measures. My Department supports this commitment through targeted investment that supports rural regeneration, facilitates new working opportunities, and fosters regional enterprise growth. Our Rural Future is a whole-of-government rural development policy which sets out a range of measures to strengthen the resilience of our rural communities and economies, incl…

I thank the Deputy. He is correct. Sometimes there are many different funding streams and organisations are not sure which one to apply for. I will engage with local authorities and various other groups to give them briefings on the different funding streams and what they are targeted towards. The first port of call for any community group applying for funding through my Department is the local authority. I have encouraged local authorities, through community officers and LEADER companies, to try to build capacity …

Any community group looking for funding from my Department needs to go to the local authority. Local authorities engage with communities. They send applications to my Department and put proposals together. In terms of LEADER funding, organisations go to a local LEADER company which funds different initiatives, such as enterprises or community halls. There are a number of different funding opportunities. I advise communities to engage with their local authorities. I will make it very clear to local authorities what …

I thank the Deputy for the question. The LEADER programme is one of the key intervention of our rural future, the Government's policy for rural development launched last year. An indicative budget of €180 million is allocated for the LEADER programme for the period 2023-2027, with €70 million already provided for 2021 and 2022 under the transitional LEADER programme. A total of €250 million will be made available for the 2021-2027 period, thus maintaining the level of funding provided for the 2014-2020 programme pe…

I thank the Deputy. In fairness, she probably knows this process much better than I do when it comes to Europe. The funding allocation for 2021-2027 has been maintained at the current level. It is important to me that LEADER continues to support rural communities as it moves into the new programming period. That is why it was vital for Ireland to submit its CAP strategic plan to the EU on time. Not every member state met that deadline. An intensive process of negotiations with the EU will follow the initial review …

It was the same story in 2016. The programme did not run out of money then. We have always supported it. I am conscious of the work that it does. I do not want to second guess the negotiations in the EU. We hope that it will move on quickly. The transition programme was brought in and the funding was provided so that it could continue its good work.

How many?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Last May, my Department, under phase 1 of an expansion of employment services and in accordance with its legal obligations sought tenders for the provision of a new local area employment service in Laois-Offaly. I understand that existing job clubs providers in Laois-Offaly did not submit a tender for those counties, which removed any chance of them continuing to provide employment services in the area after the end of 2021. The outcome of this open and transparent procure…

I understand that the new employer, Turas Nua, has had multiple meetings with representatives of SIPTU who said there was a collective bargaining agreement in place. This matter needs to be addressed with the employer, as the Deputy knows. A collective agreement is not compulsory under law, as I understand it. The WRC is a forum for resolving employment issues which arise between an employer and its staff. The Department of Social Protection is not an employer of the staff concerned and it is not a party to any emp…

We have been down this road a few times regarding the local area employment services. The legal advice from the Attorney General is clear - these services have to be put out to tender. Community organisations won out in two of the three areas where they submitted bids under phase 1. That shows clearly that the community can win these contracts. As the Deputy is aware, the requests for tender for phase 2 were published in December. Following feedback, several changes were made in the request for tender, RFT, includi…