Results 81-100 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Recycling Policy (9 Sep 2024)

Ossian Smyth: My Department is in the process of conducting a mid-term review of the Ministerial Approval of Irish Farm Film Producers’ Group (IFFPG) to operate the extended producer responsibility scheme under S.I. No. 341 of 2001, Waste Management (Farm Plastics) Regulations, 2001, as amended. This work was initiated in November 2023. The review process has been comprehensive and I anticipate that...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Infrastructure (9 Sep 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy, published by my Department, sets ambitious targets, which include providing a Gigabit network to all households and businesses in Ireland by 2028 and access to 5G in all populated areas by 2030. The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the government's initiative to deliver high speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland. The Question refers to a...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Recycling Policy (9 Sep 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I propose to take Questions Nos. 111 to 113, inclusive, together. DRSI CLG, trading as Re-turn, was established by beverage producers and retailers to fulfil their obligations under the Separate Collection (Deposit Return Scheme) Regulations 2021. The company is structured as a not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee. Re-turn obtained Ministerial approval in July 2022 to operate...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Infrastructure (9 Sep 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy, published by my Department, sets ambitious targets, which include providing a Gigabit network to all households and businesses in Ireland by 2028 and access to 5G in all populated areas by 2030. The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the government's initiative to deliver high speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland. The Question refers to a...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (23 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy, published by my Department, sets ambitious targets, which include providing a Gigabit network to all households and businesses in Ireland by 2028 and access to 5G in all populated areas by 2030. The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the government's initiative to deliver high speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland. National Broadband...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Recycling Policy (23 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I propose to take Questions Nos. 124 and 125 together. Re-turn is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee (CLG) set up by beverage producers to meet their obligations under the DRS Regulations. Re-turn is responsible for all operational and funding matters relating to the DRS. While I have no function in the day-to-day business operations of this company, I am is satisfied that there...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Recycling Policy (23 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Since the Deposit Return Scheme was introduced on 1st February, almost 302 million containers have been returned. The breakdown by month is shown in the table below. Month Containers Returned February 2,016,343 March 20,894,979 April 51,509,103 May 78,245,642 June 91,532,676 July (To date) 57,415,445 Total 301,614,188 Data in relation...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Disability Services (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I will communicate to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, Deputy Ó Cuív's frustration at the situation. I will ask for her projection of when the services will be delivered. The Deputy can see from the answer that the problems seem to stem from a lack of staff - half of the positions in CDNT 4 are currently vacant. The HSE has turned to private service providers and has an...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Disability Services (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Does Deputy Ó Cuív want to know how many of the people recruited are for CDNT 4?

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Disability Services (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I will ask that.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Disability Services (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I will pass the Deputy's comments on to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. She in turn will continue with the Department and the HSE to advance progress on the provision of services for those living with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and their families. To this end, I am happy to report that a cross-departmental working group will be established to develop a long-term and...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Disability Services (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: My colleague, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, is fully committed to the continued development and enhancement of our children's disability services through the CDNTs, as they seek to ensure equitable access to services for all children with complex needs. I acknowledge the difficulties faced by children and their families seeking to access...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Disability Services (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I am taking two.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Disability Services (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Is Deputy Ó Cuív happy for me to answer his question?

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Disability Services (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I thank Deputy Pringle for raising this issue. My colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, remains committed to the continued development and enhancement of our disability services through the implementation of both the HSE’s progressing disability services, PDS, roadmap for service improvement from 2023 to 2026 and the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy for acknowledging that this is a good scheme. It has been successful. Irish Business Against Litter reported that it has resulted in a reduction of one third of the bottle and can litter around the country, which will continue. The Deputy said it has resulted in an increase in waste collection prices. That is not actually true. On Monday, the Irish Independent reported...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The Department is in negotiations with the Irish Waste Management Association to make sure the system of subsidies and levies in place is such that there will be no effect on the cost of waste collection. I do not want the price of waste collection to go up at all. I am glad the Deputy acknowledged that the deposit return scheme is working well.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Health Services Staff (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I thank Senator Gallagher and the Seanad for giving me the opportunity to address this issue on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. For eligible public health sector employees suffering from long Covid, a temporary 12-month special scheme of paid leave was introduced in July 2022. This was on the foot of the withdrawal of access to the then Department of Public Expenditure and...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Health Services Staff (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Senator. The Minister for Health has secured supports for eligible employees suffering from long Covid by way of the health sector-specific special scheme, which follows on from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform's special leave with pay and that is for up to four years to date. I would also remind the Senator that this scheme has...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Data Centres (4 Jul 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I thank Senator Byrne for raising this topic. Ireland has attracted the best data centre and tech companies in the world. It is a really important relationship, and the Government continues to work with the sector towards a secure and decarbonised energy future which will enable the twin transitions of digitisation and decarbonisation of our economy and our society. However, data centres,...