Results 2,161-2,180 of 2,189 for speaker:Richard O'Donoghue

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (Resumed) (28 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: Many people who are 65 years old have jobs whose job description requires them to retire at that age. The new contracts people sign now refer to 66 years. If one is 65 years of age and has worked all one's life, one has reached retirement age. However, some people do not receive their pension until they are 66 years old. They have to sign for jobseeker's payment at 65 years of age. I do...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (Resumed) (28 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I am from a construction and farming background. Some people who want to return to work in the construction industry cannot do so because of issues with the Safe Pass scheme. For anybody who does not know, construction workers must have a Safe Pass card, which requires doing a one-day course where they sit down in front of an instructor who teaches them about different safety measures. At...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I have another question for the Minister. Is it legal for companies to have contacted their workers and told them that they were going to pay them themselves? I have had a couple of phone calls from people who were working part-time. They were earning approximately €100 a week through college to earn extra money for college and their companies would not release them for the Covid...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I will allow time for him to do that. When this pandemic payment was paid, it was welcomed by many people. I said to the Minister, prior to its launch, that the scheme would have been fairer if people had been paid relative to the wages they were earning at the time. Some people were working part time and earning €100 a week while going to school and finishing their leaving...

Covid-19 (Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht): Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I will redirect my question. I will also contact the Minister with the names of the sites that have come to my attention. They are heritage sites. The Minister can then determine whether they fall under her remit. If it is the case that these CEOs have taken their salaries and the sites fall under the remit of the Minister, I want full disclosure with regard to any CEOs and senior...

Covid-19 (Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht): Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: The Minister has dealt with the issue of the wood pigeon derogation. From a farming point of view, the farming community has already taken a major hit. I am delighted to see that common sense has prevailed on this issue. After speaking to the Minister earlier, I think it must come from her big Limerick connections, which are great to know about. It will make it a lot easier for me to be...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: A company in west Limerick has made great inroads into producing a complete process for temperature monitoring of staff. This company operates to ISO and ICE standards and Food and Drug Administration, FDA, guidelines. It has tested the process in many situations and it is now at the highest standard. The issue for the company is that it is competing with other companies that have brought...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: Some taxis are open for business with health guidelines and for multiple passengers. Driving instructors and testers would have a maximum of eight people in their vehicle daily. There needs to be some easing of restrictions in this regard. One solution could be for instructors to use only their own cars, which are Road Safety Authority, RSA, compliant, and for regulations to be put in...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: When will the Minister employ a pain consultant for children with chronic pain? We have a family in Limerick where one of the parents and two of the children were diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Patches for pain alone cost €130 for one child and this is not covered under the medical card scheme. These children are in chronic pain. The pain gets so bad that the child falls...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I have praised the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, for the way in which they have dealt with the pandemic, mainly because of the former's medical background. We are lucky we have a person from a medical background in that position. For the past nine years, however, the Government has forgotten about rural Ireland. When the pandemic hit, rural Ireland did not forget...

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, wants to jump in.

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: The Minister does not know.

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: It is ironic that the Minister said I got the letter on 1 April. That is April Fool's Day, and that is exactly what she has given me back. Every other Minister I have contacted had the common courtesy to give me a quick call back. As a new Deputy, I offered my help. Deputy Humphreys is the only Minister-----

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: -----who thought she was above that station. She would not answer a phone call or a text to help somebody elected to this House for the first time. All the rest of the Ministers helped out and worked with me. Deputy Humphreys was the only one who would not reply to a call. As she said, she replied to me on April Fool's Day. Fair play to her.

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: In the time I have been in this Dáil, I have never seen a Minister go around in circles answering questions as much as the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed. I have never been so disappointed in the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, for not getting back to Deputies. I asked the Ministers, particularly the Minister for...

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: The Minister will wait until I am finished. I asked her for help because I had information that would help her to help others but she believed she was above everyone and did not even acknowledge us. Limerick has stood up to the test and has offered help around this country. I had to contact Ministers to tell them there was a company in Limerick making masks that was exporting to...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (7 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: When hospitals and other HSE facilities closed on 16 March, dentists were told to continue working. No PPE was offered to them, yet they had to provide emergency cover. All GPs are getting €30 per Covid telephone consultation and a capitation fee for medical card holders. The Minister said he is meeting with dentist representatives tomorrow and I will take it as read that these...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I extend my sympathies to the families of all the people who have lost their lives and a huge "well done" to the front-line services. The Taoiseach mentioned earlier moneys being made available for businesses to start up again. Cash flow is the biggest problem for any business. When a small to medium-sized business comes out on 18 May, it will start back into work. Companies are paying...

Covid-19 (Housing, Planning and Local Government): Statements (7 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: With regard to one-off houses I know of, especially in Limerick, planning permission was granted by the authority for applications that were up for decision in the first quarter of this year, subject to minor objections or observations, but they were refused by An Bord Pleanála. This is because it is implementing the 2040 plan, which has not yet been enforced. If the 2040 plan is...

Health (Covid-19): Statements (Resumed) (23 Apr 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I concur with all of the sentiments we have heard from across the House. It is all about the leaving certificate, and rightly so. The point has been raised that not everyone has connectivity through good broadband and Wi-Fi, particularly in rural areas where people are lucky to have phone reception. The children there cannot even participate Skype or Zoom. It has been rightly said that...