The Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands will meet tomorrow, Wednesday, at 9am to discuss the development of rural digital hubs, broadband and mobile coverage in rural Ireland. Dr. Stjohn O’Connor and Mr. Turlough O’Brien from the Department of Community and Rural Development will appear in Committee Room 4 of Leinster House as the …
Frontline workers must get additional leave – Naughten
As alternative Government could follow Scottish example with £500 bonus Frontline workers who have been running our hospital and community services should at a very minimum be provided with additional paid leave after they have managed to keep our services running through two waves of the Covid 19 pandemic. 21 weeks ago the Taoiseach promised me that he would …
Roscommon Town & rural areas set to be lit up with fibre broadband within weeks– Naughten
Rural Mid Roscommon to have 500mbps broadband by summer Eir is currently in the process of completing the fibre cabling of Roscommon Town and expects to be able to offer customers fibre broadband early in 2021, says Denis Naughten TD. “In recent weeks people …
Local schools secure €1m in IT funding – Naughten
Local TD Denis Naughten has welcomed the allocation of €1m to local primary and second level schools throughout County Roscommon & East Galway. On average each local primary school will get about €3,500 and each secondary school will receive around €15,000, with the actual allocation based on the school enrolment. “This is a great boost to local schools and there …
Government must release all data behind lockdown decision – Naughten
Denis Naughten TD has called on the Taoiseach to publish the data used to make the decisions on the lifting of the Level 5 lockdown from next week. “This information is not only vital so people understand how these decisions were made but, more importantly, to see how this virus can be controlled in communities and homes so we don’t …
VAT exemption for visitors threatens local jobs
The introduction of a €75 threshold for non-EU visitors to Ireland in order to avail of the VAT exemption, has the potential to threaten jobs at Dubarry in Ballinasloe which employs 50 people. This is because many of the retailers who Dubarry rely on, use this VAT free exemption to promote significant sales of Dubarry products with US visitors. See …
Stay and Spend initiative has €99.6m underspend– Naughten
Savings should underwrite gift voucher guarantee The Minister for Finance has admitted that the Government’s Stay & Spend scheme will see just over €400,000 being refunded to hospitality sector customers well short of the Department for Finance projected uptake at €100m at this stage, says Denis Naughten. Speaking in the Dáil this morning Denis Naughten called for the underspend of …
1,500 people will have to wait until next year to access disabled driver scheme – Naughten
TD to seek Dáil approval to start processing Primary Medical Certs now, not January Approximately 1,500 people who are entitled to access the disabled driver scheme which was suspended last June will now have to wait until January before the scheme recommences. However, Denis Naughten has expressed concern that because staff are also involved with managing Covid-19 “the waiting …
Stay & Spend savings should underwrite gift voucher guarantee – Naughten
In Dáil Éireann tomorrow (Thursday) Denis Naughten TD will seek to have the Government’s Stay & Spend scheme restructured to ensure gift vouchers issued in the tourism and hospitality sector can either be redeemed or refunded in 2021. “Government has set aside €140m for the Stay & Spend Scheme to issue tax refunds for the period October to December 2020, …
Ignoring funding local mental health during will have long term consequences – Naughten
Families and individuals without vital mental health supports are left in desperate situation Local TD, Denis Naughten has said that the disclosure of the fact that not one additional cent of pandemic funding has been provided for mental health services in Roscommon, Galway & Mayo will have long term consequences for individuals and families over the weeks and months …