I am sorry, but it is an equity issue.

I will respond first to the issue concerning local authorities. We will raise the issue with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and perhaps he will take it up with them or we could directly contact the local authority concerned. As Deputy Bríd Smith said, we did increase the fuel allowance and €3.50 extra has been paid from January. The supplementary welfare allowance is available for people who find themselves in difficulty. If people are in trouble and they cannot pay…

The Deputy talked about older people. I increased the living alone allowance for the very reason she outlined.

I am sorry. I tried to answer.

Parental leave is the responsibility of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and his Department and my Department make the necessary payments. To be helpful to parents, where they could not go to work due to childcare commitments, the Deputy is correct that in the first instance we encouraged them to engage with their employer. Some employers have been very good, and we must acknowledge that. They have allowed parents to work flexible hours and they have been able to balance lookin…

The PUP scheme is due to run until the end of March. The Government has never been found wanting in supporting workers through this payment. Together with my Government colleagues, I will assess the situation. We are still not out of January. People know that they will get the payment for February and March. We have always supported the workers and we will continue to do so but, obviously, we will have to take account of the situation at that time, which will depend on the trajectory of the virus, the roll-out of t…

I thank the Deputy for raising those issues. In the first instance, if someone has had to give up work due to the need to provide full-time care for somebody at home, I strongly recommend that they apply for the carer's benefit because very generous assistance is available there. If the person has been paying their contributions they can apply for that payment to help them do that work. The second issue related to long-term full-time carers, that is, those who have been caring for many years, perhaps for somebody w…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue concerning the carers who had to work more than 18 hours. I can fully understand the situation they have found themselves in, where they stayed an extra few hours to put their shoulder to the wheel to help in the ongoing efforts in respect of the pandemic, which was extremely difficult for them. I will certainly ask my officials to look at that issue and I will revert directly to the Deputy. It would not be right to penalise somebody who was doing something in an emergency s…

Regarding the PUP, it exists in tiers and it has been aligned to recipients' previous income. Turning to those people who cannot go to work because of caring duties, we have stated that, in the first instance, they should try to work with their employers to try to find a way to work around the difficulties. In fairness, many employers have done that and have worked with their employees so they could work flexible hours and try to balance everything. This is not easy for anybody. With regard to those who cannot go t…

I thank the Deputy for raising these issues. It is important to say that my Department has expended an additional €10.5 billion in supports through the PUP, TWSS and EWSS since the start of the pandemic. To be fair, the Government has not been found wanting in supporting businesses and in supporting people who have unfortunately found themselves out of work. A number of Deputies have raised the issue of extending the PUP. It has been extended until the end of March. I certainly will review it in consultation with m…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Since 2016, my Department has been investing in the improvement of rural towns and villages through the town and village renewal scheme. A total of €78 million has been allocated through the scheme to date, and this investment has been augmented by the rural regeneration and development fund, which supports larger-scale town revitalisation projects. The programme for Government includes a commitment for an expanded town and village renewal scheme to bring vacant and dereli…

The town and village renewal scheme very much has a bottom-up approach, as the Deputy knows. It is about working with the communities and local authorities to identify projects that will make a difference in their towns. On vacant properties, I have the extra €2 million in the budget. That is to support the development of the master plans in about 50 towns and villages countrywide. It can be used to create the vision for the bigger projects. The Deputy will be very familiar with the Boyle regeneration project, for …

The Deputy is correct about ownership. Sometimes it is difficult to find owners but it is important that local authorities use their powers to step in, if necessary, and purchase a vacant property compulsorily before it becomes an eyesore or danger. I would like to see some of the extra €5 million made available under the town and village scheme this year to develop remote working facilities go towards renovating premises in the centre of towns that can be converted easily into working hubs. That is already happeni…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is a matter in which he has a genuine interest, as do many rural Deputies. The LEADER programme has contributed greatly to all our regions and communities. As the Deputy knows, due to delays at EU level, there will be a delay between the end of the current LEADER programme, which was due to conclude at the end of this year, and the next EU programme, which will not now commence until 2023. The programme for Government includes a commitment to introduce a transitional LE…

An initial allocation of €20 million is being made available for the delivery of the programme and 75%, or €15 million, of the funding is being allocated to new project activity, with the remaining 25% or €5 million available for administration and project animation costs. The funding will be distributed between the local action groups, LAGs, on a pro rata basis commensurate with the allocations made at the start of the 2014-2020 LEADER programme. It is important to recognise that LEADER is a multi-annual programme…

A lot of work has been done by my officials in the Department, my predecessor, Deputy Ring, and Deputy Canney, as a former Minister of State. I met with representatives of the LEADER companies and heard their concerns. I have addressed those concerns in this transitional programme. The Deputy is right about Galway, which has an impressive record in this regard. As of 13 December, the LAG had approved a total of 149 projects, which equates to €5.3 million. A further 16 applications are at various stages of the appro…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5, 16, 25 and 26 together. I thank the Deputy for raising the question. Broadband connection points, BCPs, are among the first deliverables of the national broadband plan, NBP, and will provide high-speed broadband connectivity to publicly accessible sites in rural and isolated areas of the country, including a number of our offshore islands. These sites will be provided with a temporary wireless connection by National Broadband Ireland, NBI, the company contracted to deliver the NB…

I thank the Deputies. Every one of us is aware of the importance of broadband in rural areas. I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. In response to Deputy Stanton, the fact we are talking about it this morning creates awareness around what is happening. The local authorities have been doing a good deal of work on this. There are local broadband officers in every local authority. They identified the hubs and have been working with communities. In many community centres, people are voluntarily giving up their t…

I tried to have more questions grouped, but I was told the most I could take with the first question was five, or perhaps it was four. I am not sure which. I agree with Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan and I know what it is like. I live in an amber area and my daughter is working from home. She has my head turned about the broadband speed. I told her there was not much we could do about it and that we would have to wait. I also told her that there would be a broadband connection point in the local community hall and s…

The Deputy has submitted another question on remote working, digital hubs and so on. He is right about the project in Kiskeam. He brought it to my attention and is passionate about it. I have spoken to An Post about it, as the proposal is for a digital hub being provided as an added service at a post office. It is an innovative idea and I am happy to work with the Deputy on the project. This is about helping communities and expanding the services provided.