Ceisteanna Parlaiminte

Taxi Licences

Patrick Costello

69. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Transport if he will request the National Transport Authority to establish a policy whereby taxi drivers can sell back their plates to the authority if they wish to leave the industry. [33739/21]

Road Network

Patrick Costello

88. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Transport if he will open the Khyber Pass pedestrian bridge to the public (details supplied). [33940/21]

Covid-19 Pandemic Supports

Patrick Costello

164. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will make the enterprise support grant available to taxi drivers who have maintenance bills accruing while still in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment and earning the €960 over two months as allowed. [33740/21]

Budget 2021

Patrick Costello

64. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the status of the €50 million awarded in Budget 2021 to support the live entertainment sector. [33102/21]

Artists' Remuneration

Patrick Costello

95. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the status of the oversight group which is assessing the pilot for the artist basic income guarantee scheme. [33103/21]

Travel Documents

Patrick Costello

498. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Justice when the issuing of type C visas will recommence; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33107/21]

Taxi Licences

Patrick Costello

46. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Transport if he will expand the nine-year rule requiring taxis to be younger than nine years and consider a temporary extension of this (details supplied). [32437/21]

Taxi Licences

Patrick Costello

79. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Transport if he will consider implementing a moratorium on the issuing of new taxi licences for 2022 recognising the need for existing taxi drivers to resume full-time work after the pandemic. [32438/21]

Public Sector Pay

Patrick Costello

237. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will examine the matter of pay for public defender barristers who currently due to cuts from 2008 to 2011, are paid in line with rates set in 2002 whilst State solicitors who work on the same cases are paid at rate fixed as a result of pay restoration in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32878/21]

Digital Hubs

Patrick Costello

211. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if it will be ensured that section 15(6)(c) of the Digital Hub Development Agency Act 2003 will be observed and that a representative of the local community be appointed by him with immediate effect to replace the previous representative whose term expired on 2 June 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31563/21]

Covid-19 Pandemic Supports

Patrick Costello

315. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Finance if he will extend the parameters for the criteria that qualify a business as a start up for the purposes of receiving the employment wage subsidy scheme which is currently capped at 37 weeks trading in 2019 for eligibility in 2020 recognising that a business takes at least one year to establish itself such as a business (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30497/21]

Tax Data

Patrick Costello

331. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Finance the number of claims for a benefit under the Israel-Ireland double taxation agreement in each of the past five years; the number that required further investigation; the number that were rejected; the number that were rejected in particular due to the fact that the company, person or income to be taxed was based in illegally occupied territories to which the treaty does not apply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30658/21]

Houses of the Oireachtas Commission

Patrick Costello

435. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if secretarial assistants are currently employed by the Houses of the Oireachtas; the number that have applied for incremental credit; the number of total years of past experience that have been disregarded under the policy of disregarding three years per application; the estimated cost to add the disregarded years to credit for the pay scale both in arrears to the start of the current Oireachtas term; and the increase in the weekly wage bill. [30979/21]

Museum Projects

Patrick Costello

440. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will extend the opening of the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin 8 from 6:30pm for the summer season. [31130/21]

Local Authorities

Patrick Costello

588. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the upcoming fourth anniversary of the authorship of the report A Review Into Certain Planning Matters in Respect of Donegal County Council by a person (details supplied) will be published. [30824/21]

Passport Services

Patrick Costello

658. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make provisions for parents to apply for passports for their children who are unregistered and without a birth certificate deeming them unable to apply for a passport due to the ongoing HSE hacking issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30952/21]

Data Protection

Patrick Costello

141. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Justice if consideration will be given to an independent review of the processes of the Data Protection Commission as called for by an organisation (details supplied). [27843/21]

United Nations

Patrick Costello

128. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will use Ireland’s position on the United Nations Security Council to ensure that a United Nations database of companies operating in occupied Western Sahara is established similar to that which currently exists for occupied Palestine. [29907/21]

Road Traffic Offences

Patrick Costello

202. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Transport the number of successful prosecutions of drivers who have struck the Luas in each of the years 2018, 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021, including the offence which was prosecuted and the sentences that were handed down in tabular form. [29649/21]

Foreign Policy

Patrick Costello

358. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the US Senate is considering a draft Bill that targets jurisdictions with inadequate enforcement of data protection law (details supplied); and if he will furnish details of any enquires his Department has made to the US Senate or any other relevant body regarding the potential impact this could have on Ireland. [29156/21]