Results 21-40 of 44 for going forward speaker:John McGahon

Seanad: Local Government (Surveillance Powers in Relation to Certain Offences) Bill 2022: Second Stage (26 Jan 2022)

John McGahon: ...in local authorities for longer than me and they would say the same, that this is a very common issue. I commend Senator Malcolm Byrne and the rest of the Fianna Fáil group on bringing this Bill forward. Over the past year Senator Wall has been very forceful about this matter as well and has put forward some very good ideas. I will offer my own 2 cent on it. To give the context,...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Electric Vehicles (14 Dec 2021)

John McGahon: ...I start into the merits of it, I will give the Minister of State the context of it. I am a big advocate of electric vehicles and of the charging infrastructure, and I was amazed a couple of weeks ago when I came across what I found to be a strange anomaly, that is, in Ireland one can only avail of an electric vehicle home charging point if one has a private driveway. That is simple...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Business of Joint Committee
Engagement with WAVE Trauma Centre (9 Dec 2021)

John McGahon: I sincerely apologise for only coming on this call at 3 p.m. This is one of the most important meetings that I have been involved in since becoming a member of this committee more than 18 months ago. I will watch all of the testimony later this evening, from the start to the point that I missed, on the Oireachtas website because it is so important. While I have not met many of the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Further and Higher Education (2 Dec 2021)

John McGahon: ..., TUs, starting up yet Dundalk is not there. The reason is very well known. I am not here today to cast blame on individuals as to why we are not at that standard. I am here to try to find a way forward with the Minister for the future of DkIT and higher education in the north east. There are a couple of key questions I am hoping to get some clarity on from today's debate. The first...

Seanad: Covid-19 and the New Measures (Health): Statements (1 Dec 2021)

John McGahon: ...vaccines, and antigen tests were not in use. We had to lock down the entire country when we had the number of cases we have today because we did not have any other way to combat the problem. Fast forward 12 months and we have one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe, which is incredible when one sees the problems Austria and other countries face in trying to vaccinate their...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Sep 2021)

John McGahon: .... I am raising this issue because I ask for the assistance of the Leader and the House in trying to get some clarity from the National Transport Authority, NTA, regarding the process of moving forward with introducing this type of ticket. The response I received from the NTA referred to TaxSaver tickets being governed under tax legislation from the 1990s, which states that such tickets...

Seanad: Report of Independent Review Group Jadotville: Statements (15 Jul 2021)

John McGahon: The Minister has delivered on his commitment and I thank him for that. Several months ago when he stated that the report would be initiated, he gave a clear and definitive timeframe in respect of when he would come back to the House and he has fulfilled that commitment today. I thank him for that. I also thank him and his officials for the engagement they have afforded me and every other...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (21 Jun 2021)

John McGahon: ...quite clear that this legislation is one of the most transformative climate action Bills. It is important to recognise that this is also probably one of the most transformative Bills to that has gone through the Oireachtas in the past couple of years as well. I wish to pay tribute to the Chairperson of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Action, Deputy Brian Leddin. He has done a...

Seanad: Right to Housing: Motion (4 Jun 2021)

John McGahon: I want to take a more rounded approach to this discussion around housing. It is good that the entire discussion in this House today has revolved around housing, and in the last two weeks as well. It shows we all see the urgency behind this issue and the importance of getting it solved. I will take a wider approach and touch on some of the comments I made during the Second Stage debate on...

Seanad: Young People: Motion (17 May 2021)

John McGahon: I congratulate my colleague, Senator Seery Kearney, on bringing forward this very important topic. It is good to get this discussion going. Young people have borne the brunt of society's anger at certain things so many times over the past 12 months and they have been forgotten about in certain matters. One thing that has annoyed me is that young people have had to sacrifice so much by...

Seanad: European Digital Green Certificate: Statements (7 May 2021)

John McGahon: ...to be sending to the European Union and the world. The digital green card will allow us to do that.I have no problem with that, and I will be the first in the queue to get it. I am really looking forward to it. It allows for safe travel and the safe reopening of European airlines. Colleagues discussed how public sentiment swayed decisions a couple of months ago. We had zealots...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Covid-19 Pandemic (26 Apr 2021)

John McGahon: ...despite these warnings at times over the past 12 months there has been little joined-up thinking in order to put those patients first and ensure that we have first-class care for them. Six months ago, at the Oireachtas Special Committee on Covid-19 Response, representatives of Diabetes Ireland specifically recommended that the HSE should develop a clinical consultation service for type 1...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: ^ General Scheme of Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Mar 2021)

John McGahon: ...reasons. It has reached the stage where I believe it is beginning to undermine our democracy. Twitter is 15 years old and I do not buy the case that this is how Twitter started 15 years ago. Political discourse on Twitter has changed. Ten years ago, Twitter was a wonderful platform where one could engage with people who had different viewpoints. One could engage in and have...

Seanad: Living with Covid-19: Statements (29 Mar 2021)

John McGahon: I will follow on from Senator Craughwell's remarks about aerosol transmissions. A year ago, people were mad about washing and sanitising their hands, and we were afraid that touching a surface someone with Covid had touched might mean we might get Covid. That is not as serious as we thought and science is looking more at airborne transmission. The German Parliament uses an aerosol cooling...

Seanad: Remote Working Strategy: Motion (15 Feb 2021)

John McGahon: I second the motion. We can see how impressive Senator Currie is because of the clear and detailed ideas she has put forward. Credit has to be given to her for that. In my part of County Louth, the national broadband plan will have to play an important part if remote working is to be successful. I pay tribute to Fine Gael and particularly its website, finegael.ie/broadband, which was...

Seanad: Covid-19 Vaccination Programme: Statements (26 Jan 2021)

John McGahon: Over Christmas I took a strong interest in vaccines, the history of vaccines and everything else. Let us consider smallpox, a disease that has ravaged mankind for millennia. We can go back as far as the death of Ramesses V, who died in 1,145 B.C. When his mummy was exhumed in the 1970s the experts could see evidence of smallpox legions on the mummified corpse. They identified him as being...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: The Northern Ireland Economy: Discussion (8 Dec 2020)

John McGahon: I thank Professors FitzGerald and Morgenroth for their contributions. It is great to see Professor FitzGerald again. I heard his presentation to the Joint Committee on Climate Action a few weeks ago. It is always enjoyable to hear him speak. I was reading over the weekend and it is amazing how the history of the economy on this island changes. At the turn of the 20th century, Belfast...

Seanad: Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020: Second Stage (1 Dec 2020)

John McGahon: ...way up to Donegal and right along and in between. The type of social fabric that I am talking about could include anything, whether it is being married to someone from across the Border, the kids going to school in north Louth but playing football in south Armagh, or living in south Armagh but working in Dundalk.I also want to make reference to how reassuring President-elect Joe Biden's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Establishment of an Independent Public Inquiry into the Murder of Pat Finucane: Motion (26 Nov 2020)

John McGahon: ...it reminded me of my own part of the world where Seamus Ludlow was murdered in 1976 through collusion. It is galling in the extreme when one thinks of the lengths the Finucane family has had to go to, speaking to legislators across the world, whether in the US Congress or the Oireachtas, trying to bring a Government, which made a clear-cut commitment to the family, to deliver on what...