Results 641-660 of 4,010 for speaker:Martin Kenny

Coroners (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (8 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: The Bill is welcome. Sinn Féin will not oppose its passage. We hope to see it speedily go through the various Stages. On the Bill itself, we all recognise there have been serious issues with the Coroner Service, particularly with regard to delays. Dublin has been the victim of many of these problems. This legislation will deal with Dublin specifically or almost entirely. The issue...

Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (8 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: We welcome many of the provisions in this Bill, and it goes some way to dealing with the difficulties people have. As Deputy Doherty has outlined, there are many people who are in serious difficulty and who are finding it hard to manage because their loans have been sold to vulture funds, which do not fall under this and do not have access to any recourse when they have a complaint or...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (7 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister and his staff for the presentation. An issue at the forefront of all our minds after the tragedies in the past month of road deaths is investment in roads. Some of the accidents happening are on roads with stretches that need work. That road in County Carlow is one of those where applications have been made numerous times for works to be carried out on stretches of it...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (7 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: There is also a body of work to be done on traffic calming measures, particularly near towns or other areas where people move from a lower limit to a higher one. The foot goes down and people start driving fast. Often, this is happening in areas where there are quite a number of houses and junctions. There needs to be a re-emphasis on installing mechanisms to calm traffic in such areas. I...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (7 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: It is a question of getting the balance right. I agree with the Minister that, in some cases, it will not be popular but there are many local roads with limits of 80 km/h where you would be taking your life in your hands if you tried to drive that quickly. It is ridiculous that they have those limits. A common-sense approach needs to be taken to limits, but the main thing this comes down...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (7 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: The Minister can understand the frustration. Did he say 960 schools had applied?

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (7 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: Few of those projects have been completed or funded, though. There is frustration. I understand that the programme is now closed to applications. Action is required if there is to be enough traction to move this along. Work is under way on BusConnects and other bus projects in Dublin, but many people are frustrated and feel that they are not getting the service they used to. I know...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Role of Chairperson and Future Contributions of Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Board: Inland Fisheries Ireland (6 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: I thank Professor Collins for his opening statement and for taking on the role. I have a few things we might tease out a little. Professor Collins mentioned the report and the prognosis and that there is a set of prescriptions there and a number of actions to be taken. Some are priorities and are urgent. Have any of those been put in place yet? At what stage does Professor Collins expect...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Role of Chairperson and Future Contributions of Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Board: Inland Fisheries Ireland (6 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: Professor Collins mentioned that the organisation has been in the storms. I think that is certainly the case. We all look forward to and hope for finer weather ahead under his stewardship. I detect a certain note of caution in some of his answers, which I think is quite understandable in the circumstances. Are any employees or past employees under investigation in the organisation, such...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Role of Chairperson and Future Contributions of Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Board: Inland Fisheries Ireland (6 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: Is there potential to get us to a place reasonably quickly, with the implementation of the recommendations, so that we can be in a situation where that fine weather can open up and these storms can be put behind us? While there may be past issues, and certainly they need to be examined and lessons learned from, we all want to get to a place where we have an organisation that functions well,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Bus Services (1 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: I support Deputy Ward in respect of this. The issues of antisocial behaviour and vicious attacks on both commuters and the drivers of our public bus, train and rail services have been ongoing. It is something we need to deal with. The reality is that if we are to have more people using public transport, there will be centres of community movement. We would want to understand that...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Bus Services (1 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: We all want bus services throughout the State, especially in Dublin and other urban areas. In Dublin, where the network has been rolled out and BusConnects has happened to a certain degree, we still have a lot of difficulties, with ghost buses, buses that are full and timetables saying a bus will arrive in three minutes, whereas 20 minutes later, there is still no sign of it. There is great...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Bus Services (1 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: One of the main frustrations is that the system very often does not connect. Part of the issue is that people were used to the old system and they knew which buses would bring them to a certain place at a certain time, and they find that is not working anymore and that there is not the same connection between other modes of transport, whether trains, buses and so on, as there was in the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Bus Services (1 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: 3. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he can provide an update on the current progress of the BusConnects programme; the possibility of integrating timetables between other forms of public transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4819/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Bus Services (1 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: BusConnects is about expanding the network, about putting in new lanes and about delivering a better service, in particular, across the city of Dublin and in other cities. To look at the Dublin situation, I understand there are also issues here in regard to funding. There are difficulties in respect of that. The NTA is also looking to partner with some other group, and it has a list of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Road Safety (1 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: 1. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he can outline what measures are being taken to improve road safety, including those related to road maintenance and upgrade works expected on road projects as part of the national development plan. [4818/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Road Safety (1 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: This is quite a difficult morning for people in Carlow. Three people were killed on the road last night. Last year we had record numbers of deaths on our roads. In January we saw so many families unfortunately being ravaged by the tragedy of road deaths. We have spoken on this on many occasions. I know some proposals have come forward for measures in regard to road safety but clearly...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Road Safety (1 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: The difficulty here is that we do not believe that the projects you are putting forward are actually working and delivering. In The Irish Timesthis week we have seen a report that the Department of Transport wrote to the RSA in 2023 and asked for a plan in regard to enhanced road safety. It came back with that plan and the RSA looked for funding of €6 million to roll it out. The...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Road Safety (1 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: I did not dismiss it.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Road Safety (1 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: The roads policing unit the Minister of State is talking about has had its numbers cut consecutively every year for the past ten years. Bringing in new laws to reduce speed is welcome and appropriate on many roads. There is no problem with that; nobody is saying otherwise. Nobody is disagreeing with the Minister of State there. The problem is that on most roads there are no gardaí to...