Results 41-60 of 68 for going forward speaker:Gary Gannon

Legacy Issues in Northern Ireland and New Decade, New Approach: Statements (1 Feb 2022)

Gary Gannon: I will begin by acknowledging that although many of the events I will speak of happened a mere couple of hours up the road, I find it difficult to relate to them because I was 11 when the Good Friday Agreement was signed. I never had to march with my family to seek justice from state forces. The bombs had grown silent by the time I would have been old enough to hear them. The peace was...

Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (27 Jan 2022)

Gary Gannon: I thank the Minister of State for bringing forward this Bill which seeks to modernise our higher education sector and brings significant changes to the governance of higher education. This must be balanced with autonomy and, critically, sustained funding of our higher education institutions, which I intend to address later. I will begin by speaking about other aspects the Bill makes...

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements (26 Jan 2022)

Gary Gannon: In the brief time I have I am going to focus on two points of immediate concern. First is COVAX and the issue of vaccine distribution around the world, particularly in the developing world. The Taoiseach has mentioned in the pre-European Council statements and again today in his discussion with Deputy McDonald the continued support for COVAX. COVAX reached a milestone a couple of days ago...

Leaving Certificate: Motion (25 Jan 2022)

Gary Gannon: ...Dr. Cliona Hannon, the director of those programmes, asked me during the session was whether it was simply the case that we keep the very intelligent people in Dublin 6, where 99% of people get to go to college, and the non-intelligent people in the community I grew up in, Dublin 1, where a mere 21% of people go on to college. It is simply not the case that we do so. The leaving...

Gender-based Violence: Motion [Private Members] (19 Jan 2022)

Gary Gannon: ...women because too many women are living in fear in their homes and in our communities. Too many women are being killed by men. The safety tips that women so unhelpfully receive include: do not go out after dark, do not jog with earphones in and make it legal to carry mace. None of this makes a difference because women are not the problem and while society obsesses about the movements...

Education (Health, Relationships and Sex Education) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (24 Nov 2021)

Gary Gannon: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The Social Democrats is bringing this Bill forward to ensure that every single student and school that receives State funding will receive the same fact-based health, relationship and sex education regardless of their school's ethos. The Bill amends the Education Act so that health, relationships and sex education should not in the first...

Education (Student and Parent Charter) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Jul 2021)

Gary Gannon: ...listening to them. I take this opportunity to pay credit and homage to the students who have been unrelenting over the past 18 months in holding us as legislators to account, both Opposition and Government, in terms of their experiences and rights and how they were assessed and examined. It has truly been remarkable and we cannot ever unsee it. In particular, I commend the continued...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (15 Jun 2021)

Gary Gannon: ...to talk about compassion within our education and State examinations system. I am no fan of the current leaving certificate model but it worries me gravely that we are moving backwards and not forward when it comes to compassion for students. Compassionate leave was granted for the first time in 2019 to students who suffered a close family bereavement over the course of their written...

Europe Day: Statements (11 May 2021)

Gary Gannon: Europe Day is a day celebrating peace and unity. I echo that - a day celebrating peace and unity - given all that is going on in the world, all that we have seen on television screens and all that has been experienced by the people of Palestine, not only over the past 24 hours or the past week, but for many decades. We should be cognisant of talking about how we celebrate a day of peace and...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (Repeal of Part V Leasing) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (6 May 2021)

Gary Gannon: I want to begin by thanking my colleague, Deputy Cian O'Callaghan, for bringing forward this Bill and for the leadership he has shown on this issue throughout his time in Dáil Éireann and beforehand. The inability to access housing and a home is destroying lives in this country, and has done for more than a decade. This debate happens regularly in this Chamber, as it should as...

National Autism Empowerment Strategy: Motion [Private Members] (29 Apr 2021)

Gary Gannon: My thanks to the Labour Party for bringing forward this important Private Members' motion. My thanks go to the previous contributors for outlining their personal experiences on the issue as well. Those of us in the Social Democrats are highly supportive of the motion. An emerging theme in most of the contributions in the Dáil in recent months has been the issues that we cannot...

Ireland's participation in MARSUR III: Motion (22 Apr 2021)

Gary Gannon: .... The conversations we had were thorough and well-thought-through. At the time, I felt that the responses from the Minister were quite adequate in terms of why this motion is being brought forward and what we stand to benefit from it. The contributions I made then have not changed. I will reiterate them here. There is a substantial difference between Irish neutrality and...

Caring for Carers: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (31 Mar 2021)

Gary Gannon: I move amendment No. 1: (a) To insert the following after "with less support or respite": "— despite promises from previous Governments to find a solution, many carers fall between the cracks in the Irish State Pension system and face a retirement characterised by financial uncertainty; — the Programme for Government commits to finding a 'pension solution' for carers; and...

Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Mar 2021)

Gary Gannon: ...a parent but this could be open to spouses or family members when this would not be the case. In many cases the parent in a one-parent family parents the child alone and is isolated. I cannot go back to them while saying I facilitated passage of this Bill because the Minister reassured me a spouse or other family member may emerge in future. It is not good enough. The amendment...

Ceathrú Chultúir 1916 Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (24 Mar 2021)

Gary Gannon: ..., albeit a Henry Street trader rather than a Moore Street trader - there is a difference. I commend Sinn Féin on introducing this Bill and I commend Deputy Ó Snodaigh not only on bringing it forward today but on the work he has done over decades with regard to preserving revolutionary history, preservation for which he has advocated both in his role as a Deputy and as an...

Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Motion [Private Members] (24 Feb 2021)

Gary Gannon: I was taken with a number of aspects of the Minister's contribution, in particular, his point that the Government is not tabling a countermotion because it is willing to provide practical solutions. That suggests the motion does not aim to provide practical solutions. I have an alternative view as to why the Government is not tabling a countermotion. It was reported in yesterday's...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Second Stage (9 Dec 2020)

Gary Gannon: Before I speak to the Bill, I want to counter a couple of points that have been made by the Minister and Government representatives about inequality. It has been pointed out that inequality has been falling in Ireland over the past couple of years, which is true, but I want to speak to those trends so that it is not further misconstrued. The at risk of poverty rate, also known as the...

Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science: Statements (19 Nov 2020)

Gary Gannon: ...-off Covid payment of €250 for full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students. It is very welcome and will alleviate some of the stress on some of the students, but I recognise it does not go far enough in some instances. In particular, there has been an omission in respect of part-time students who do not avail of it, and I would like to see if we can potentially address that....

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

Gary Gannon: I was planning on going on some wanderings but I will not do that now. What we are talking about today, if we cut out the substance of what I was going to say, is power, privilege and the manner in which they replicate. This happens not only in the Irish education system but in Irish society as a whole. Education in Ireland is defined by many characteristics. It is full of decent people,...

Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another Matter, Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Oct 2020)

Gary Gannon: I initially put my hand up to speak on this topic out of anger because I spent a large part of this morning going over the amendments and preparing what I was going to say. Then, 20 minutes into the debate we were told the Minister would not be accepting any amendments. That is an extraordinary admission to make that resulted from an insightful question from my colleague, Deputy Cairns. ...