Results 461-480 of 1,040,750 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Máiría Cahill OR speaker:Chris Andrews OR speaker:Danny Healy-Rae OR speaker:Fergus O'Dowd OR speaker:James O'Connor) in 'Committee meetings'

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Uisce Éireann (26 Sep 2024)

James O'Connor: I cannot stress enough the importance of this. People in locations that have been referenced often feel they are ignored and forgotten. I thank Ms Attridge for taking the opportunity to listen but I need to see concrete progress being made. There are situations where there are long-term water outages. Whitegate is a good example, although the C and AG and the Chairman are probably...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Uisce Éireann (26 Sep 2024)

James O'Connor: I must tackle Ms Attridge on that. Uisce Éireann is not funded to provide water.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Uisce Éireann (26 Sep 2024)

James O'Connor: I go back to my first point. How much profit did Uisce Éireann make last year?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Uisce Éireann (26 Sep 2024)

James O'Connor: Answer the question. How much profit did it make last year?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Uisce Éireann (26 Sep 2024)

James O'Connor: I would say that to do what I am asking here would cost less than 10% of that profit.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Uisce Éireann (26 Sep 2024)

James O'Connor: Nine years of boiling water is a long time.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Uisce Éireann (26 Sep 2024)

James O'Connor: I hate to reference it because there are many officials across the State and in the Civil Service who work hard to try to do their job. However, this is the type of thing that feeds into the narrative of people living in a state that is not dealing with the needs of the public despite the fact the Exchequer receipts are coming in so high. Given how profitable Irish Water is, it is in a...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Uisce Éireann (26 Sep 2024)

James O'Connor: That is all the more reason to do what I am asking.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Citizenship Applications (26 Sep 2024)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: I wish to refer to correspondence that came in to Deputy Pa Daly's office. It came from an Irishman who is married to a man who does not have Irish citizenship. His husband had exceeded the wait time considerably and he was in contact with a number of others who were in the same situation. Many people received emails from the Department of Justice stating that there was a delay but that...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Citizenship Applications (26 Sep 2024)

James Browne: I acknowledge that in the past there were significant delays in processing citizenship applications. What the Minister, the officials in the Department and I have done to streamline matters and introduce a new processing system with the online application form and e-vetting has led to a significant change in the processing time relating to citizenship applications. I am confident that by...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Citizenship Applications (26 Sep 2024)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: That is very positive, and it should be the aim. It is a matter of making sure it happens. Regarding workflows in the Department, there have been backlogs in respect of a number of immigration permissions. The Minister of State referred to citizenship applications and the processing of asylum applications. The numbers have risen in all these areas. I suppose only so much can be done...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Citizenship Applications (26 Sep 2024)

James Browne: Significant work is being done in the Department to ensure that all applications, be they in respect of citizenship, asylum or whatever, are dealt with in a speedy and timely fashion. It is acknowledged that significant work needed to be done in this area. This work is being carried out.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Policing Authority (26 Sep 2024)

Policing Authority

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Policing Authority (26 Sep 2024)

Denis Naughten: 4. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to support policing in rural communities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34856/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Policing Authority (26 Sep 2024)

Denis Naughten: According to an Irish Examiner-IPSOS poll that was published last week, 70% of people who live in rural Ireland do not believe that there is a visible Garda presence in their areas. Members of the public believe that improved visibility can deter crime. How does the Government propose to increase visible rural policing?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Policing Authority (26 Sep 2024)

James Browne: I thank Deputy Naughten for this very important question, which relates to supporting policing in our rural communities. Community safety is a top priority for my Department. Everyone has the right to be safe and feel safe in their community, and rural Ireland is no exception in that regard. Our approach to community safety is a whole-of-government one. Enhancing rural safety includes...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Policing Authority (26 Sep 2024)

Denis Naughten: The move regarding the LCSPs is positive. I welcome it. When the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, came before the justice committee last year, he pointed out that rural policing is done with the active support of local communities. We can only have the active support of those communities if we have gardaí engaging with them. The difficulty is that if people in rural areas throughout...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Policing Authority (26 Sep 2024)

James Browne: I acknowledge that we do not have as many gardaí as we need, but significant efforts are being made to address this. We have had a very large increase in the number of recruits coming through Templemore. Regarding safety in rural Ireland, the national rural safety forum was established in 2019. In 2022, we published the national rural safety plan. Yesterday, I met the deputy...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Policing Authority (26 Sep 2024)

Denis Naughten: There are more gardaí going through Templemore and more are being recruited. That is very positive. However, the reality is that they are not coming to Roscommon, Longford or Mayo. We can designate gardaí all we like, but they are not there. In addition, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is aware of cases where gardaí are stationed in far-flung parts of the country. They...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Policing Authority (26 Sep 2024)

James Browne: There is no question that there is a challenge regarding the number of gardaí, but that arose out of the situation during Covid when recruitment was paused. We are now addressing the situation by significantly increasing recruitment through Templemore. Up to the end of June of this year, 581 gardaí were assigned to the Mayo, Roscommon, Longford division and 599 were assigned to...