Results 1-20 of 71 for going forward speaker:Eileen Flynn

Seanad: Loneliness: Motion (1 May 2024)

Eileen Flynn: Originally, I was not going to speak on this topic. When I saw that the Green Party had tabled a motion on loneliness, I thought that was interesting. Then I read the motion and realised that what it calls for is absolutely critical within society. As Senator Boyhan said, we have many action plans to tackle loneliness in this country but we have not had any action around those plans. It...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 Apr 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I must first say that I stand in solidarity with the Minister for Justice, Deputy Helen McEntee and with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman. The hassle these two representatives had to go through in the last number of weeks has been absolutely appalling. I just wanted to put this on record. Yesterday the National Museum of...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Give Travellers the Floor: Discussion (18 Apr 2024)

Eileen Flynn: ...today with the Roma community because together, with other minority groups, we are stronger. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I hope that the Traveller committee will work more closely going forward with the Roma community and that we will have better quality outcomes with and for the Roma community. Today, Ms Muntean is breaking down barriers by being the first Roma woman to...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Give Travellers the Floor: Discussion (18 Apr 2024)

Eileen Flynn: Oein has kindly agreed he will go first in the next round because it is really important we give politicians and members of the committee the opportunity to come in before lunch. I thank all the politicians here, from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Greens and Labour. I have good relationships on the committee and their hearts are in the right place for change. I see my two colleagues,...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Give Travellers the Floor: Discussion (18 Apr 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I thank everyone for their contributions. This has been a very important day. I have been sitting here looking at people and listening to them speak. People watching will say they are the "good Travellers". They are all the good ones who do not cause any old fights or get into any trouble. We are all the "good Travellers". Some of us may be "settled Travellers" as people tend to put us...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Give Travellers the Floor: Discussion (18 Apr 2024)

Eileen Flynn: ...beyond, and at an international level. Not only should our voices be heard, our voices should be of equal value in Irish society. It is okay to be different and we are different. This is why we got the recognition as Irish Travellers. It is okay and let us embrace that and celebrate that. Let us continue to grow in strength after strength as a community. We are not the problem in...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Education Policy: Department of Education (11 Apr 2024)

Eileen Flynn: The hot meals and the breakfast clubs for children are very much welcomed by the Traveller community. I have a lot of criticism because I can see history keep repeating itself. I know the good work that individuals in the Department of Education and organisations are doing. Again, when that young woman or man reaches the age of 16, what happens? Is that down to poverty? When we were in...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Mar 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I apologise. I am late due to another commitment this morning. I met Ms Heavey and her team from Community Law and Mediation and people from FLAC a few weeks ago to discuss issues that have an impact on the Traveller community around accommodation and from a justice perspective. This committee is dealing with accommodation, health, including mental health, education and employment at the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Eileen Flynn: ...and are under the Traveller accommodation remit? It is unfortunate that we still have segregation of the Traveller community when it comes to accommodation with local authorities. Years ago, Travellers had to go to Thomas Street and Castle Street to get social welfare payments. I remember as a young child going to the Traveller doctor that used to come into the halting site. Nowadays...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Allocations of Special Education Teachers: Discussion (5 Mar 2024)

Eileen Flynn: ...already there. We can do more reviews, but all that does is kick the can down the road. I have seen it with the Traveller community and other marginalised groups. We, as politicians, are really good at kicking cans down the road. I want to be part of the solution for children with special additional needs. Four years ago, Mr. O'Flanagan made the point to me that it is not just about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Eileen Flynn: ...so much higher education the Department can facilitate and then it is about employment opportunities afterwards. Even in the past three years I have seen more members of the Traveller community going to university, but when we talk about apprenticeships, could we look at making them culturally appropriate for the Traveller community? We are now talking about recycling and the importance...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Dec 2023)

Eileen Flynn: ...have the scheme. Again, however, Ms O'Donoghue is 100% right. We have to look at what is best to do and whether we can put something else in place. They are really big questions that we are not going to solve today. It will be interesting to hear what National Traveller MABS has to say next week about how it is working or not working and the research it has done. We work really...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Eileen Flynn: ...again. Not many people even know there is an authority for housing that meets the needs of people with disabilities so it is something that is very welcome. When I first came on this committee, going back nearly two years ago, I heard that LED lighting outside a person's home can impact or have an effect on people with disabilities. This is only after coming to mind now. I know that...

Seanad: Recent Violence in Dublin City Centre: Motion (29 Nov 2023)

Eileen Flynn: ...failure was the result of the policies and structures we have in place. The Garda did not know what it was doing that night. It was a shock and we were not prepared for it. What would we do if, God forbid, this were to happen again next month? Do we have enough gardaí in place? Have enough gardaí been trained for it? We are living in Ireland in 2023 and what happened last...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Nov 2023)

Eileen Flynn: ...as soon as possible to be able to protect people in our country. Is the Leader aware that last week the people in this House, Muslim women and people of colour and Black people were very nervous about going home? The Shelbourne Hotel made residence for its foreign workers. That should not be the case in Ireland in 2023. Keeping minority groups safe in this country is one of the best...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Rights-Based Care for People with Disabilities: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Nov 2023)

Eileen Flynn: I attended last week's meeting. There is no solution when it comes to good-quality mental health services for young people with disabilities. To the best of my knowledge, CAMHS continues to fail young people with disabilities, particularly autistic children. Last week, we heard from the head of the Mental Health Commission who said that CAMHS was discriminating against autistic children....

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2023: Second Stage (8 Nov 2023)

Eileen Flynn: ...one-off measures and short-term fixes, which I speak about this a lot in this House, are not the solution for the future of very poor people. That is something we should look at around what we are going to do next year and the year after that for people who are living in crisis when it comes to electricity credit. A total of 77% of Travellers living in mobile homes are living in energy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Consent Programmes in Irish Education: Discussion (7 Nov 2023)

Eileen Flynn: I am so privileged to go out to schools and to be invited in to be a guest speaker in the programmes in some schools around active consent, gender equality etc. I remember working with the Donegal Rape Crisis Centre two years ago around active consent in schools. It told me it was underfunded and did not know if it would be able to roll it out the next year to transition year students. ...

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 Oct 2023)

Eileen Flynn: ...privacy rights in relation to CCTV. Amendments Nos. 54 and 55 would require local authorities, when setting up CCTV schemes, to provide the information to the relevant communities. I get it, and again, I am going to talk about the halting site in Ballyfermot that I come from. Since I was a child, the local authority has recorded CCTV footage on the site. People can feel intimidated and...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Traveller Community (19 Oct 2023)

Eileen Flynn: ...have to live and breathe within the community. There are 13- and 14-year-olds, young women, dying by suicide within our community. We must and should do more. I will talk to the NTMHN about its plans going forward. We were promised a national mental health strategy for the Traveller community. We feel let down as a community.