Results 61-80 of 263 for going forward speaker:Bernard Durkan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market (Resumed): Engagement with Financial Services Union and Electric Ireland (25 May 2022)

Bernard Durkan: ...and financial institutions are since making excuses as to why it should remain closed. Of course, the people we represent throughout the country have no chance if the Houses of the Oireachtas are going to be treated in that fashion. I have had a discussion to say it is of the utmost importance that the banks realise that treating the Houses of the Oireachtas with some degree of respect...

Garda Síochána (Compensation) Bill 2021 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 May 2022)

Bernard Durkan: ...it in the House. Many moons have gone by since, as they say, but the necessity remained constant. My concern arises from meeting members of An Garda Síochána over the years, many of whom had ongoing and outstanding issues in this regard and were concerned that there seemed to be no resolution. I thank in particular the current Minister for bringing forward the current...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (19 May 2022)

Bernard Durkan: I thank our witnesses for coming forward and giving us of their time. I also thank the members and staff for their contributions. This is important legislation and it has to be even-handed. We have all been aware of situations where things went wrong that should not have gone wrong, and where perhaps we should have been more alert. Notwithstanding all of that, we still have to have a...

Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (28 Apr 2022)

Bernard Durkan: ...the child, particularly in the case of an older child, is the appropriate person. We have all dealt with situations in the past where people pretending to be the appropriate person put themselves forward and went into court to challenge the parent, in some cases, on the basis that they were the suitable person for the care of the child in a situation where the child was deemed to be...

Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Apr 2022)

Bernard Durkan: .... We need to retain the essentials of democracy at all times. No matter what we are doing with the system, how to achieve the democratic process should never be lost. It was decided some years ago that we would change the system and that we would modernise it. Modernising democracy, as the Ceann Comhairle knows, has been attempted many times on the basis that it needed to be more...

Select Committee on Health: Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (10 Mar 2022)

Bernard Durkan: We are committed to open disclosure, but we still do not have open disclosure. That is the contradiction that has to be addressed. There has to be a system whereby the person is encouraged to come forward and that everybody else agrees as well. If a decision is made and people think they will all be in trouble if it is disclosed, to my mind the answer is that they will all be in trouble if...

International Women's Day: Statements (8 Mar 2022)

Bernard Durkan: ...the list. We can think of the suffragette movement across Europe, the United States and in this country and the long road the women had to travel. It was a long way, and it seemed as if it was going nowhere. We can think as well about how our society developed. I wish to comment on one issue. There is a feeling that men are anti-women and violent towards women. That is not the issue....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Issues (3 Mar 2022)

Bernard Durkan: ...Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of planning permissions applied for and refused by county in each of the past three years to date; the way such figures will inform housing policy going forward with particular reference to giving the local population a chance to live in their local area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12303/22]

Select Committee on Health: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (23 Feb 2022)

Bernard Durkan: ...day the guilt is implied or otherwise. We have had recent experiences, and members will know more about them next week, whereby members of the public make complaints about things that are not going in accordance with what they see as the norm, and where there is no responsibility taken seriously, where people know when something is going wrong, have been alerted to the fact that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Drugs Strategy: Minister of State at the Department of Health (19 Jan 2022)

Bernard Durkan: ...to anyone or his or her family trying to deal with this situation. We have all dealt with them. Invariably, the mothers in families will come out with a hard line that this has to stop, it cannot go on forever and we must improve the situation and reduce the level of dependency. How can we do that? Are we doing the right thing now? I, like everyone else, want to try to do the right...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (8 Dec 2021)

Bernard Durkan: I apologise for having been absent but I am interested in the debate. A few points come to my mind. On the last subject raised, people are going to, and will wish to, work for longer. They will need to do so because they are living longer. The natural corollary is that they will continue to work. It would be difficult to sell to the people who are the voters - the voters count - the...

Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021 [Seanad]: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Bernard Durkan: It remains to be seen if we will achieve the objectives that we want to. However, I agree entirely with the opinions expressed by my colleague just a few minutes ago. It is sad. We have had many debates on this subject and we still do not seem to be able to break through the glass wall. We know what should happen. We all talk about it. Yet we do not seem to make it happen. With no...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Inflation: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Nov 2021)

Bernard Durkan: ...to an end, and we have to realise that. However, we need to have alternatives in the intervening period. We have just spoken about that. We cannot afford to say to people that this is it for the good of society and for the good of humanity. We need to be able to show them graphically that we are on their side on this and that we are aware of the difficulties that this creates for some...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2021)

Bernard Durkan: ...is one thing, but I cannot even rely on them to look back five years and to recall with any kind of accuracy what the situation was. I am very fond of Deputy Boyd Barrett because he has some good ideas. It is just that when he puts them into operation it is like flying a kite upside down. It does not work that way, so you have to go the opposite route. The thing that takes me to the...

Child and Family Agency (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Oct 2021)

Bernard Durkan: ..., particularly if they have had disturbances in the past, are very conscious of who they are dealing with and become very quickly alert to what the attitude is and where they are and where they are going. They therefore need reassurance. They also need continuity in respect of whatever treatment they get, whether it is psychological treatment, attention of a particular kind or education....

Financial Resolutions 2021 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2021)

Bernard Durkan: I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak on this budget. I have spoken on a number of budgets over the years and have seen speeches from the Government and from the Opposition. There is a certain similarity. Mr. Denis Reid, a former employee of the Houses of the Oireachtas, used to advise as to what the various spokespersons would say and predict it in advance. Normally, from the...

Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2021: Motion (5 Oct 2021)

Bernard Durkan: ...purification, I believe it is. I believe that science has advanced to that extent now and given that it has, we should be happy to rely on it. In general, I congratulate the Minister and the Government for their efforts in curtailing Covid-19. It was a difficult call. It was an appalling thing to have to do and to spend money just to stay in the same spot, to run faster, to employ...

Housing for All: Statements (Resumed) (29 Sep 2021)

Bernard Durkan: ..., some valid and others not so valid. An all-party committee that was set up back in 2014 encouraged all of us in the House to make suggestions on how to deal with the housing issue. I put forward the proposal at that time - it was interesting to see the same suggestion coming from a Deputy on the other side of the House earlier - that AHBs be suspended and everything be devoted towards...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Capital Investment: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (1 Jul 2021)

Bernard Durkan: ...economic conversation that must take place. I heard some things in the initial statement that I was pleased to hear. We have a rapidly expanding population and we must plan for that. It is no good planning for it in five or ten years from now; we need to plan for it now and put in place the necessary measures. For instance, in the 1980s we struggled to have 1 million people at work in...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Tax Expenditures: Discussion (24 Jun 2021)

Bernard Durkan: ...we have to do through the public pension fund, I would like to think that he would get the benefits of it. I would find it difficult to be able to sell to people that, in the future, they are not going to have a pension like there used to be and that they are going to have to take a lesser slice of the action. How is that going to be compensated for? I am using Deputy Boyd Barrett as a...