Ceisteanna Parlaiminte

Covid-19 Pandemic

Bríd Smith

436. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health the HSE policy for remote working during the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular for hospital employees whose work can be done from home; if a forum is available for workers to contact should they feel they are being put under pressure to return to the workplace; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29638/20]

Defence Forces Representative Organisations

Bríd Smith

21. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Defence his views on the issue of formal recognition of an organisation (details supplied) in order to represent the interests of Defence Forces personnel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29109/20]

Defence Forces Review

Bríd Smith

23. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Defence his plans for the commission for the future of the Defence Forces; the persons who will be on the board; if representatives of the Defence Forces personnel such as an organisation (details supplied) will be on the commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29106/20]

Defence Forces Equipment

Bríd Smith

38. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Defence the value of all contracts for goods or services, including drone technology, purchased by the Defence Forces from Israel and Israeli-based firms to date in 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29108/20]

Defence Forces Representative Organisations

Bríd Smith

51. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Defence his views on the proposal that an organisation (details supplied) join a union as an affiliate body; if the affiliation will be supported; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29107/20]

Defence Forces Recruitment

Bríd Smith

52. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Defence the number of persons recruited to the Defence Forces under the re-enlistment scheme announced in March 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29105/20]

Immigrant Investor Programme

Bríd Smith

323. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide a copy of his Department’s submissions to the immigrant investor programme evaluation committee on the application for proposed development of a meat processing facility in Banagher, County Offaly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29335/20]

Health and Safety Authority

Bríd Smith

155. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of workplace inspectors in the employ of the HSA; the estimated full year cost of their employment; and the number of businesses inspected by them in 2019 and to date in 2020. [28192/20]

Workplace Relations Commission

Bríd Smith

156. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of workplace inspectors employed by the Workplace Relations Commission; the estimated full-year cost of their employment; and the number of businesses inspected by them in 2019 and to date in 2020. [28195/20]

Free Travel Scheme

Bríd Smith

539. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection the details of the road passenger transport operators based in counties Cavan, Monaghan, Westmeath, Leitrim and Longford that received payment from her Department in respect of the carriage of free travel pass holders in each of the years 2015 to 2019; and the individual routes in respect of which payment was made. [28669/20]

Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment

Bríd Smith

540. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of applicants accepted for payment of the pandemic unemployment payment in August 2020 and separately in September 2020; and the number of these who have been placed on each category of payment, that is, €203, €250 and €300, in tabular form. [28676/20]

Departmental Bodies

Bríd Smith

651. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health the number of disease control workplace inspectors in the employ of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HPSC; the estimated full-year cost of their employment; and the number of businesses inspected by them in 2019 and to date in 2020. [28193/20]

Meat Processing Plants

Bríd Smith

789. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of inspectors in his Department employed as inspectors at meat processing and food processing facilities; and the full-year cost of their employment. [28196/20]

Covid-19 Pandemic

Bríd Smith

125. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Education if the procedures will be clarified in cases in which a school incurs multiple losses of teaching and other staff as a result of Covid-19 infections or needing to isolate as a result of close contact with infected persons; the procedure in cases in which as a result of such losses the staff-pupil ratio falls below the legal requirement as outlined on page 9 of the HPSC's Covid pathway for schools, which quotes the legal requirement for the staff-pupil ratio; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27445/20]

Covid-19 Pandemic

Bríd Smith

150. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Education the circumstances under which a primary school may be closed as a result of Covid-19 safety guidelines and multiple cases of illness and-or suspected cases of illness; the authority that makes such a decision; if her Department has oversight of or a final say in such decisions and the role public health officials play in making such decisions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27688/20]

Covid-19 Pandemic

Bríd Smith

151. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Education the number of schools that have had to shut down or close specific classes since reopening as a result of either a Covid-19 outbreak or illness among staff or pupils or insufficient staff-pupil ratios; the number of teachers her Department's attention has been drawn to as having contracted Covid-19 since the reopening of schools; and the number of pupils, parents and guardians her Department's attention has been drawn to as having contracted Covid-19. [27689/20]

Free Travel Scheme

Bríd Smith

255. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Transport the details of the road passenger transport operators based in counties Cavan, Monaghan, Westmeath, Leitrim and Longford that received payment from his Department in respect of the carriage of free travel pass holders in each of the years 2015 to 2019 and the individual routes in respect of which payment was made. [27274/20]

School Staff

Bríd Smith

477. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Education further to Parliamentary Question No. 425 of 15 September 2020, if the school appealed a staff reduction as a result of a fall in pupil numbers in Spring 2020 under section D - English as an additional language, EAL; if this appeal was refused; if it is now open to the school to appeal the staff reduction under a different category as a result of difficulties experienced as a result of implementing the Covid-19 guidelines from her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26930/20]

Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment

Bríd Smith

566. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection if an applicant for the pandemic unemployment payment who has been made unemployed as a result of a lay-off due to the Covid-19 crisis and recent restrictions can be assessed on his or her income for 2020 or the period post January and February 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26893/20]

Citizenship Status

Bríd Smith

730. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Justice if the citizenship requirement will be clarified with regard to the reckonable residency calculation; the consequence in the event a person has been absent from the State for more than six weeks in a year; if six-week absences are deducted in their entirety from the reckonable residency calculation; if not, if it is solely the excess days over six weeks that are deducted from reckonable residency calculation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27102/20]