Results 101-120 of 231 for going forward speaker:Martin Kenny

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (17 Nov 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...prison and the follow-up in that respect, which I have been concerned about for some time. On the other side, there is the issue of the youth diversion programme and the resources that have been going into it. This is one of the things we see in justice in general. From Garda resources, to the resources in the prisons to the resources in the courts, they all have a trend running through...

Education (Admission to Schools) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage [Private Members] (5 Nov 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...is about looking at the opposite end of it. I refer to the fee-paying schools, the elite of the elite. Even at that, there is extra privilege added. Not only do people have to be able to pay to go to these schools, they have an extra advantage if the family that came before them came from a wealthy privileged background. It sets out the haves and have-nots in society. We need to sit...

Education (Admission to Schools) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage [Private Members] (5 Nov 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...nothing in it that contradicts the Act at all. Instead, it is complementary of the Act's objectives. I compliment Deputy Ó Ríordáin and the wider Labour Party on introducing this Bill. It goes to the heart of what we are about. I listened to other Deputies, mainly from urban backgrounds, talking about overcrowding in and pressure on schools. I come from the opposite...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Local Authority Services (5 Nov 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...through a service level agreement with each local authority. In the past three or four years, there has been a reduction in the funding and a pull-back from the FSAI. Although the central funding going to the FSAI has increased, it has tried to cut the funding given to the local authorities to provide this vital service. There was a dispute which would have caused the county...

Criminal Justice (Enforcement Powers) (Covid-19) Act 2020: Motion (4 Nov 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...then has powers to close the premises for 24 hours or whatever, which is fair enough. Under difficult circumstances we accept that needs to happen. However, extending them to June of next year makes people ask why it is going that far ahead. Much of this is about buy-in from the public and trying to get people on board and bring them with us. We have been trying to do that through all...

Flood Prevention Policies: Motion [Private Members] (4 Nov 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...lands across the area flooded. In fairness, the OPW has done a great deal of work on the river, but it continues to leave parts of it untouched because it is not responsible for them. It does not go near the part of the river that flows through the village of Dromahair. Anyone who walks there can see the rubble, including tree trunks, and overgrown vegetation. They are not being dealt...

Forestry (Planning Permission) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Oct 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...parish in County Leitrim, only two houses have been built in the past ten years. The planning units will have absolutely no problem coping with the workload. The last time the Green Party was in government, it worked hand in glove with Fianna Fáil to support developers to cover the country in houses. We had nothing but ghost housing estates all over the place. The planning...

Forestry (Planning Permission) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Oct 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...timber product is used as a valuable sawn timber for the construction industry. Currently, clear fell timber can return up to €8,000 per hectare for the landowner. Overall the return for forestry is very good and it is all tax free. The reason for the generous Government assistance for forestry is to encourage it as a means of reaching our commitments on climate change, as...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Oct 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...best to do so. Sometimes people make mistakes and step over the line without realising it, often in rural areas where the distance of 5 km is an issue for many people. It is important that the Government is very clear with people that they are not breaching the guidelines if their nearest shop or where they need to go to get something is 10 km, 12 km or 15 km away. Patience will be...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Oct 2020)

Martin Kenny: The Tánaiste is aware of the situation with the Be On Call for Ireland programme through which an awful lot of people volunteered to go back to work and assist. It is something that everybody thought was a wonderful idea but, unfortunately, the experience of many people called up has been very negative. A healthcare professional in my constituency signed a contract for a number of...

Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment: Motion [Private Members] (7 Oct 2020)

Martin Kenny: I thank the sponsors of this motion for bringing it forward. This is a serious issue for people across the whole country. Everywhere we went we came across families, even before there was a pandemic, who were living on the verge of poverty. They are the working poor and they got up every day early in the morning, went to work and worked hard. Yet, the level of remuneration they received...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020: Engagement with the Minister for Justice (6 Oct 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...English twang but that is all. Something needs to be done about these scenarios and many people have raised that issue with me. The cost of that application is a serious problem for many people. To go back to the legislation itself, the issues here are highlighting the difficulties of Brexit. Everyone talks about Brexit in the context of the economic impact it will have but it will...

Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 Sep 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...been established. I have heard an awful lot of talk about blackguards putting in objections and so on. Everyone who puts in an objection is not a blackguard. Many of them do that for very good reason. They are entitled to do so and that entitlement has to be upheld as well, and I hope that will be done in this legislation. They have an absolute right to be able to say their...

Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Second Stage (29 Sep 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...State. This is the first time that I have spoken in their presence and I congratulate them on their appointments. Sinn Féin recognises the importance of this legislation and welcomes that the Government is seeking to address the existential crisis facing the forestry industry. The challenge the sector is facing is one that can now be measured in weeks. We in Sinn Féin have...

Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (22 Sep 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...of this issue. The manner in which the banks handle situations where fraud has taken place has been a long-term problem for many people. We have seen this in recent times. There was a large scam going on whereby people's bank accounts were being plundered. I came across many students who had their savings taken completely from them and had to put up a notorious fight to get the banks...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Garda Investigations (10 Sep 2020)

Martin Kenny: For many years we came across situations in which video evidence was "lost" or evidence was destroyed or went missing. Down the years we have had whistleblowers come forward with various such examples. A lot of reform and work was done, in fairness, to try to move things forward and move that culture to one side to ensure that this stopped happening. I fully appreciate and understand that...

Health Act 1947 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (Covid-19) (No. 4) Regulations 2020: Motion [Private Members] (9 Sep 2020)

Martin Kenny: ..., but also from a societal perspective. The key thing we need to do is to get people to buy into all this legislation so there is a unity of purpose about defeating the coronavirus and moving forward. Unfortunately, the Department of Health and the Minister have been seen to be quite chaotic in that regard and, for many people, incompetent. That is the word that I hear more often than...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Legislative Framework Underpinning the State's Response (9 Sep 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...session that one of the key issues is to have unity of purpose, not just politically but among everybody in the community. This means all sections of society working together for the common good while recognising that certain aspects of their liberty are being denied or curtailed to some extent. At least if it is for a purpose, people will buy into that. However, what happens if...

Criminal Justice (Enforcement Powers) (Covid-19) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (3 Sep 2020)

Martin Kenny: Three or four weeks ago, I attended a meeting at the Bush Hotel with a group of vintners. There was a large turnout, with 25 or 30 publicans from all over Sligo and Leitrim in attendance as well as three out of the four Deputies, including me, who represent the Sligo-Leitrim constituency. The main message I got that day was that publicans want to get back behind the counter and to reopen...

Criminal Justice (Enforcement Powers) (Covid-19) Bill 2020: Second Stage (2 Sep 2020)

Martin Kenny: ...seems to be continuously focusing on the licensed trade. There needs to be a reality check on this and the Government needs to come back and look at that again. It needs to recognise that if we are going to have some kind of provisions to ensure pressure is put on people in the licensed trade some way or other to ensure they do the right thing - in a minority of cases that needs to...