On behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, I thank the Senator for the opportunity to address this issue in the House. The Government is committed to a fundamental change in the nature of transport in Ireland. As the Senator is no doubt aware, the Minister for Transport is a firm believer in the positive potential of increased and expanded sustainable transport options and the potential role for rail in that regard. The Minister has announced the all-island strategic rail review, whic…

I thank the Senator. Again, on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of Transport, I assure the Senator that the potential for high-speed rail between Belfast, Dundalk and Dublin will be fully considered as part of the strategic rail review. As mentioned earlier, rather uniquely, this strategic rail review will be conducted on an all-island basis, in full co-operation with our colleagues in the Northern Ireland Executive, and will provide a holistic overview of the potential of rail, not just on this particular corr…

I thank the Senator on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, for the opportunity to address this issue in the House. The DART+ programme will transform rail services in the greater Dublin area. It will double capacity and introduce DART-level all-day services across the network, stretching from Drogheda in the north to Maynooth and Hazelhatch in the west, with improvements also planned on the coastal line. It is important to note that the overall DART+ programme is made up of severa…

I believe we can all agree on the importance of DART+ and the importance of improved and expanded public transport generally. DART+ represents the largest ever investment in our rail infrastructure and services. The Minister for Transport will soon bring a memorandum to Government seeking approval for that programme to enable it to move forward to the next decision gate under the public spending code. This will be a significant step forward. Along with DART+ Fleet, DART+ West is the most advanced element of the pro…

I welcome the debate in the House today. I want to acknowledge all the Deputies who have contributed. I wish to thank Deputies Connolly, Pringle and Joan Collins and the Independent Group for bringing forward the Bill. I think all Deputies in this House recognise the background of the issues giving rise to this initiative. The issue addressed in this Bill, that of access to adoptees to birth information, is hugely important and I fully agree with the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman's approach to not oppose this Private M…

The emergence of men's sheds in recent years has been a positive development for communities across Ireland. They provide a safe, comfortable and inclusive environment where people of all ages can share skills, work on meaningful projects and connect with their communities. My Department is providing a range of supports which both men's and women's sheds can avail of, depending on the works being completed. For example, in May, I launched the 2021 community enhancement programme with funding of €4.5 million. The pr…

While that was a one-off funding round, men's sheds are a testament to the vibrancy of the community and voluntary sector in continually identifying new areas of need. The men's shed movement has been one of the stand-out exceptional examples over the past few years. However, other Departments and agencies are funding men's sheds, which is a good thing and ensures their future growth. The Irish Men's Sheds Association, for example, also receive funding from other sources. In 2019, it received funding of €243,000 fo…

I reiterate and double down on the Deputy's recognition of the value of the men's sheds programme. It is an extraordinary group. In the stability fund last year, we provided the national organisation with a €70,000 grant. As community groups go, it is very vibrant. Looking at how the number of member groups has grown in the past ten years, they went from 40 in 2011 and increased to 100, then to 160 and to 237 before reaching 435 in 2018 and, as the Deputy said, are up to 460 now. If not for the pandemic last year, …

Building capacity and training opportunities for the community and voluntary sector is key to realising the intent of sustainable, inclusive and empowered communities, the Government's five-year strategy to support the sector. The strategy details clear commitments in respect of training. Action 2.1 commits to support community groups and organisations to identify and meet their training needs. It commits to implement a formal programme of training to meet these needs and support capacity in groups and organisation…

I draw attention to some training programmes that are ongoing. The Charities Regulator launched its annual report today. The regulator provides a suite of free training options and free guidance that all charities can access. Community Work Ireland funding was provided last year to the All Ireland Endorsement Body for Community Work Education and Training to raise the standards of community development work throughout the country. Public participation networks, PPNs, are a particularly important on which to focus. …

I am open to hearing where there are gaps. Our initial plans this year are based on agreement with the cross-sectoral group that oversees the national strategy. Various community and voluntary sectors are represented on that group. It has prioritised the three areas that I have mentioned. We are, therefore, taking our lead from it. As the Deputy knows, the community and voluntary sector is wide and diverse. We are one Department in the mix. Often, the key relationship for many community and voluntary organisations …

I thank the Deputy for his question. Given the role of my Department in supporting the economic and social development of rural Ireland, as well as community development throughout Ireland, all of our existing funding schemes support the response to, and recovery from, the pandemic in some way. However, several specific targeted measures are aimed at directly supporting the Covid response and recovery. The main focus has been on community development supports, as reflected in the increase in gross expenditure for t…

I thank the Deputy for his concern for the sector at large. The stability fund last year offered us a unique opportunity to do a kind of health check or get a good snapshot of where the community and voluntary sector was and it allowed us to support the sector. The new stability fund offers additional support in that regard. Without going into detail, I am hopeful and satisfied that, by and large, the community and voluntary sector will bounce back. Obviously, some organisations will suffer more than others but, on…

There is no single overarching area or geographical area that springs to mind in that regard but we are monitoring the situation very closely. The community enhancement programme was launched recently and we will be getting feedback from the local authorities that manage those schemes in terms of demand and the types of projects that were seeking supports. We keep an ear close to the ground in terms of feedback on the various schemes and closely monitor the applications that come in to help us to get a full and dee…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 101 and 131 together. I thank the Deputy for his question. The community enhancement programme, CEP, provides small grants to community organisations, with a focus on those organisations in disadvantaged areas. The funding is provided to each local authority area and is distributed by the local community development committees, LCDCs, on the basis of local need. In 2020, the CEP received a total fund of €7.2 million, including €5 million as part of the Government's July stimulus pac…

There is a benefit to introducing a dedicated community centre capital programme to provide large-scale capital grants for significant refurbishment, retrofitting, modernisation and the construction of community centres. The need for more significant capital investment to support community infrastructure has become more evident during the pandemic. A proposal for an increase in the level of capital funding provided for community development has been included in my Department's submission to the review of the nation…

There is strong interest in developing a programme like this. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is advocating it strongly. We hope there will be something in the revised national development plan to facilitate the need. There are gaps across the country. In deprived and lightly populated areas, there is a clear issue. Many community centre projects start and grow organically so we should match that community commitment to making improvements with some commitment from ourselves. It is certainly high on our agenda. A n…

I thank Senator Currie for giving me the opportunity to address the Seanad today, on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, to talk about the important issue of investment in cycling infrastructure, which will ultimately make our cities, towns, and villages more accessible for everyone. As Senators will be aware, the programme for Government sets out an ambitious and wide-ranging set of commitments concerning walking and cycling and states that €360 million in cross-Government funding will be spent year…

I will note the points made by the Senator and relay them to the Minister when I see him later this week. I will also mention some smaller scale initiatives being progressed by the Department of Transport to support and promote efforts to increase active travel. These include the recently launched safe routes to school programme, which will provide funding to accelerate the delivery of walking and cycling infrastructure on key access routes to schools. That initiative has already had a great response, with applicat…

I thank Senator Byrne for raising this important issue. The Government acknowledges and I personally acknowledge the important role that family carers play. We are fully committed to supporting carers in that role. This commitment is recognised in both the programme for Government and the national carers strategy. My Department provides a range of income supports to financially assist family carers whose caring responsibilities limit their ability to work. The main income supports provided include carer's allowance…