36. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the action she is pursuing at EU level with regard to the growing violence and the expansion of settlements in the West Bank; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38025/26]
Sentiment score: -0.17
I welcome the Minister's comment. I listened very carefully to her interview on Monday with Gavan Reilly. It has outlined a process of the Minister's intention regarding where we go in respect of the occupied territories Bill and also at an EU level. This week on Tuesday, a constituent of mine, Mikey Cullen, rang me from the flotilla. Incidentally, he is the third constituent of mine on different flotillas. We agreed and disagreed on different things as he was floating off in the Mediterranean. What is utterly unacceptable is that in what is effectively international waters, Israel can take constituents of mine from a boat, forcibly put them through a process to say that they illegally entered either Israel or Gaza, then humiliate them on video and send them back to Istanbul. I know the Minister rejects that. I know the Government rejects that. The three constituents would tell me that it is nothing in comparison to what the people of Gaza and other people in the West Bank have been through. I ask the Minister to continue to take strong action on this issue.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I raised the case of Mikey Cullen and, as I said, there are two other constituents of mine, Robert Murphy and Dougie Douglas, both of whom are out. The wider issue here has been well aired in the House. I agree with many of the points. I want to return to the issue of three constituents of mine who have been taken from a boat in the Mediterranean. There must be a more rigorous process other than us issuing a press release to condemn what has happened to those three constituents and Irish citizens. Each of them would say it is nothing in comparison to what the people of Gaza have been through. There must be a process where innocent Irish citizens who are going about their business in the world cannot be taken by a third-party state and be detained without any process or be forced to participate in a process to say they illegally entered Israel. Many will say that that is the intention of the flotilla but the point is - and where Israel continuously makes errors - they did not enter into an Israeli-controlled area. They should not have been taken from that boat. The Irish Government must take very strong action against Israel on this and on a whole host of other issues.
Sentiment score: -0.03
97. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht further to Parliamentary Question No. 518 of 26 March 2026, if he will outline when the new programme will launch to succeed the RAPID programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38009/26]
Sentiment score: 0.05
I ask the Minister to outline to the House his plans to roll out a successor to the revitalising areas by planning, investment and development, RAPID, programme. The Minister will know that was a previous programme that was closed in 2011. It brought together funding from different Departments to invest in some of our most disadvantaged communities to try to improve design and invest in those communities' infrastructure.
Sentiment score: 0.07
I welcome the efforts of the Minister and the Minister of State. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, has responsibility for SICAP, which does fantastic work in disadvantaged areas. However, funding for infrastructure is also incredibly important. Often, by changing the physical landscape of an environment, you can bring real change to those communities. We should be working in partnership with, for example, the local community safety partnerships, the SICAP partners, the local community development committees, LCDCs, and the providers of the range of other grants that are coming into the communities for which people can apply. There needs to be a degree of co-ordination. I also welcome the fact that there will be an evidence base for this. That will ensure the communities that are really in need get these supports. It will mean we will be advocating for other communities that are on the edge to also be included. I say with some certainty that some of the communities in my constituency that are in that category will be on that list. Both the Minister and the Minister of State are welcome to my constituency to launch the scheme when it is done. That is an open invitation. I say that in the expectation that there may be communities nearby or elsewhere that will not be included. We have to go further than €5 million. We must go to €10 million and €15 million over successive budgets. I wish the Minister and the Minister of State the best of luck. They are both great champions of this project.
Sentiment score: 0.31
Absolutely. The other thing is that it is sustainable and has certainty. Local authorities, for example, depend on funding over time. Often with sports capital funding, for example, they are able to identify a project and then over time they are certain of funding. RAPID has to be the same. We have to have this on a permanent basis for people who are planning in these communities. In places like Ballymun or Finglas, the problem often is that people are exhausted with initiatives. There is initiative after initiative and there is a new approach and what we need is certainty of funding over time and a strategic approach. The Minister saw that when he came to Ballymun while in opposition, and I know he committed to investing in those communities. I welcome what he is doing in terms of RAPID and I call on the Minister for Finance and the Minister for public expenditure to ensure there is sufficient funding. I also credit Joe O'Brien in the previous Government, who had the enhancing communities programme. It builds on this but we have to learn the lessons from that programme too as to where things did not go right. Enhancing infrastructure has to be co-ordinated and sustainable. The local authority has to have confidence over time, and we need to make sure that over time, it increases in its scale.
Sentiment score: 0.17