Results 1-20 of 61 for going forward speaker:Marie Sherlock

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Maternity Leave (11 Apr 2024)

Marie Sherlock: I thank the Minister of State for coming here, in the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman's place, today. Any of us who are fortunate to have had babies know the immense value of maternity leave. It is a way of society saying to women to take time with their newborn babies. Approximately 60 women in this country each year are diagnosed with cancer during their pregnancy and, of course, their...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Fire Service (6 Mar 2024)

Marie Sherlock: ...within the Department or whether there are reporting mechanisms for fire services internally or to the local authorities. Ultimately, if the public is to have confidence in its fire services going forward, particularly in Dublin, where the city is transforming before our eyes given the number of buildings that have gone up in recent years, we need to ensure there are reporting processes...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Waste Management (6 Dec 2023)

Marie Sherlock: ...last week very much threw into sharp light just how much needs to be done with regard to what can be recycled and what is being recycled in Ireland. In fact, the report shows that Ireland is going backwards, not forwards, with regard to recycling. This is particularly so when we see our recycling rates have remained unchanged at 41%, our packaging recycling is going down rather than...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Schools Building Projects (28 Nov 2023)

Marie Sherlock: .... A master plan was promised but three years on, there is still no sign of that plan from the Department. We have had announcements from the Department about the new school campus which is going to take in four schools in the area. That will all be brilliant when it is done but I must convey to the Minister of State that there is a growing frustration on the part of parents, the school...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disabilities Assessments (22 Nov 2023)

Marie Sherlock: ...services and then they must wait for the education system and the health system to be joined up so that kids will not be left with a shocking wait for basic things like assistive technology. Two years ago, on the north side of Dublin in CHO 9, some 2,824 children had been waiting for 12 months or longer for an initial contact from a disability service in the HSE. While there are efforts...

Seanad: Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies: Motion [Private Members] (22 Nov 2023)

Marie Sherlock: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I thank Fianna Fáil for bringing forward this important motion. As the Minister of State knows, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment has already published a report on the impact of artificial intelligence within enterprise and workplaces and has issued a set of recommendations. That follows on from a series of...

Seanad: Vacant and Derelict Buildings: Motion [Private Members] (15 Nov 2023)

Marie Sherlock: ...a desperate need for homes, community amenities, childcare, artist's spaces and other uses in our communities. We have these figures because An Post's subsidiary GeoDirectory and Tailte Éireann go to lengths to ensure that the data exclude the categories I spoke about there. Why do we have this situation? Why is the Government tolerating this when we know there are nearly 13,000...

Seanad: Rights-Based Care Economy: Motion (27 Sep 2023)

Marie Sherlock: ...asks that the Labour Party very much supports. As mentioned earlier, it is important to reiterate the context in which this conversation takes place, namely, the Bill that Senator Clonan brought forward in July providing that very powerful but simple right of a person with disabilities to have a legal entitlement to treatment and supports, which they do not currently have in this country....

Seanad: Care Payments: Motion [Private Members] (12 Jul 2023)

Marie Sherlock: ...Committee on Gender Equality recommended a referendum to replace Article 41.2 of the Constitution obliging the State to take reasonable measures to support care within the home and wider family, and the Government has committed to a referendum on this in November, 2023; - there are over 500,000 family carers in Ireland, and unpaid family carers save the State €20 billion a year,...

Seanad: Broadcasting (Restriction of Salaries) Bill 2023: Second Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Marie Sherlock: I thank the Minister for coming in. It has been a traumatic three weeks with regard to RTÉ and all the revelations that have emerged. I welcome the Bill put forward by Senator Mullen. It is obviously very timely. Pay caps in RTÉ is an issue that has been pursued by the NUJ and SIPTU for a long time. There is a particular need in this regard when we see the very large gap...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disability Services (30 May 2023)

Marie Sherlock: ...impact on the education system. In the context of that shocking shortage of service, what is the Department of Education doing to respond to and cope with that situation? I do not believe it is good enough to stand back and say it is a problem for the HSE or the Department of Health because it is also a problem for the Department of Education. I will tell the Minister of State about a...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 May 2023)

Marie Sherlock: I too want to support Senator Gavan's call for a debate on the level of the national minimum wage. Yesterday in the Dáil, Labour Party Deputies brought forward a motion highlighting the appalling situation of children with additional needs being left to wait for years for an assessment of need. As we all know, getting an assessment is one thing but trying to access the services can be...

Seanad: Naming of National Children's Hospital for Dr. Kathleen Lynn: Motion (24 May 2023)

Marie Sherlock: I, too, thank the Fianna Fáil group and Senators Fitzpatrick, Ardagh and Clifford-Lee for bringing forward this motion. I also thank the 1916 Relatives Association for all its work in campaigning to ensure this fantastic new children's hospital will have the name it deserves. It will ensure we are looking to the past but also establishing our commitment to the future and what the new...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Inclusion of Apprentices) Bill 2023: Second Stage (3 May 2023)

Marie Sherlock: ...and urgent need to build homes. There are over 12,000 homeless women, men and children out there, with thousands more living from week to week and month to month, not knowing where they are going to live next. That puts pressure on us all to ensure that homes are built. Right across this Chamber, there is also a recognition of the enormous importance of apprenticeships within our...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Inclusion of Apprentices) Bill 2023: Second Stage (3 May 2023)

Marie Sherlock: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I thank all the Senators for contributing. The reason we brought the Bill forward now is there is an urgent situation with regard to construction labour, in addition to a cost-of-living crisis, which the Minister of State acknowledged. While there was defensiveness on the Government side with regard to figures last year and the year before,...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Inclusion of Apprentices) Bill 2023: Second Stage (3 May 2023)

Marie Sherlock: ...is that we ensure every worker in this country is paid the minimum wage and that if somebody is doing an apprenticeship that involves work and education, he or she will be paid the minimum wage.To go back to what I said at the start of the debate, it is to get away from that misty-eyed notion that it is young lads of 16 and 17 doing apprenticeships. People go into apprenticeships when...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Debt Write-down and Debt Resolution Policies: Allied Irish Banks (2 Mar 2023)

Marie Sherlock: ...the 1,900 and whether they are for the most part people with multiple assets or whether they are just ordinary mortgage holders. The public very much needs to understand that profile, and we look forward to the detail the witnesses will furnish to the committee. Mr. O'Keeffe has spoken about policies being consistently applied. I want to understand a little more about the banks'...

Seanad: Welfare and Safety of Workers in the Public Health Service: Motion (22 Feb 2023)

Marie Sherlock: ...coming to the Chamber. I also thank my colleague, Senator Annie Hoey, for drafting this motion and tabling it this evening. On the Minister's watch, there are workers in the Irish health service going to work in fear, stressed about what is going to happen in the course of their work. It is on his watch that we heard testimonies from healthcare workers about being shoved, grabbed,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the Industrial Relations (Provisions in Respect of Pension Entitlements of Retired Workers) Bill 2021: Discussion (25 Jan 2023)

Marie Sherlock: I thank all the witnesses who have attended. I also thank Deputy Bríd Smith for bringing forward this legislation. I am aware that we are going into our second year of waiting for progress on this legislation. The frustration of all the witnesses with their individual circumstances or cases is clear, particularly in relation to pension cuts and changes to pension income, in which they...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: ...a mother and four children will, in effect, be homeless at the end of this month, notwithstanding that the eviction ban will start the following day. My sincere plea is that the ban be brought forward. It is long overdue and its introduction by the Minister is very welcome. We need to see it brought into force without delay. Some weeks ago, I raised the issue of security workers. This...