Results 1-20 of 1,852 for speaker:Eamon Scanlon

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Disease Eradication Schemes. (16 Oct 2002)

Eamon Scanlon: I thank the Cathaoirleach for accepting this matter and the Minister of State for being here to reply. I want him to investigate the circumstances surrounding the disposal of TB cattle belonging to farmers from County Sligo to a meat plant in Dublin, which has subsequently gone out of business. What steps will he take to ensure that the farmers concerned are compensated for their loss? Since...

Seanad: Health Services: Motion. (23 Oct 2002)

Eamon Scanlon: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Before the last general election, if one was to believe the newspapers, one would have thought that every hospital in the country was closing down. As a member of the North Western Health Board, I wish to put some facts before the House on the improvements that have taken place in the health board with which I am most familiar. In 2001 the North...

Seanad: Agriculture and Food: Statements. (6 Nov 2002)

Eamon Scanlon: I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House this evening to listen to our concerns. There is no doubt that this has been a tough year for agriculture. In my own county in the north-west, farmers received €32 million in direct payments this year alone but that is not to say that farmers are millionaires. They are not, but farmers have to be treated differently from PAYE workers...

Seanad: Report of the Inspector of Mental Hospitals, 2001: Statements. (7 Nov 2002)

Eamon Scanlon: I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, on his appointment and I wish him well in his tenure. When I was growing up the world of mental health was a taboo subject. Nobody wanted to know anything about it. Over the last number of years great efforts have been made to change that attitude. As a member of the North-Western Health Board I know that the board was a pioneer in...

Seanad: Order of Business. (3 Dec 2002)

Eamon Scanlon: I support Senator Ormonde's call for a debate on An Bord Pleanála. In two instances of which I am aware a local authority granted planning permission for developments, objections were made to An Bord Pleanála whose inspectors visited the sites and recommended that the local authority decision be upheld, yet the board refused permission. That was totally outrageous. There are questions to be...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Second Stage. (10 Dec 2002)

Eamon Scanlon: I welcome the Minister. The net effect of the Bill will be more housing for those in greatest need and a green light for over 70,000 new houses over the next two years. Furthermore, it enshrines in legislation the requirement that builders play their part. The Minister has proposed a number of changes to the housing supply provisions of Part V of the Planning Act, 2000, but the provision of...

Seanad: Alcohol Consumption by Young People: Statements. (11 Dec 2002)

Eamon Scanlon: There has been much discussion in recent weeks about the chronic alcohol problem this country is facing. However, precious few solutions have been offered. Scanning the newspapers or listening to local radio in my area, the north-west, one would believe that all crime is drink related. Practically every court case we read about or hear about on local radio involves a drink related incident....

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Dec 2002)

Eamon Scanlon: I support Senator Ross's call that the House put whatever pressure it can on the banks. The ECB has awarded a 0.5% reduction in interest rates. However, if there had been an increase, everyone in the House and elsewhere would be paying it by now. It is regrettable that the banks have not passed on the 0.5% reduction and we should put whatever pressure we can on them to ensure they do so.

Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)

Eamon Scanlon: I second the motion. Senators will be aware that the Irish economy is heavily reliant on our indigenous food industry. That our food industry is dependent on markets abroad is even more startlingly evident. We are self-sufficient in all of the major commodities. For example, we are over 1,000% self-sufficient in beef and almost 1,000% in butter. We must be able to market our produce abroad,...

Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)

Eamon Scanlon: Direct payments are the major part of most smaller farmers' income. The system of modulation proposed by the European Commission would reduce the direct payment to these farmers who may only receive over €5,000 in payments. Modulation could not be justified in these circumstances. Providing funding for rural development at the expense of farm incomes, which have always been the mainstay of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (18 Feb 2003)

Eamon Scanlon: A constituent who is a farmer contacted me by telephone yesterday. A car pulled up beside him last Friday as he was doing drainage work on some land he bought recently. A man got out and read him his rights. The man told my constituent that if he wished to remain silent, that was fine. The individual in question was from the Dúchas office and the lands had apparently been designated as a...

Seanad: Order of Business. (18 Feb 2003)

Eamon Scanlon: I can raise it on the Adjournment, but to be fair to the gentleman concerned, it is a little underhanded to deal in that fashion with somebody who is trying to improve his land.

Seanad: Order of Business. (18 Feb 2003)

Eamon Scanlon: I would like to get some answers.

Seanad: Rural Development Policy: Statements. (18 Feb 2003)

Eamon Scanlon: I will be brief because I know that the House is pressed for time. I wish to share my time with Senator Leyden. I welcome the Minister to the House and commend his work over the past two years. There is no Minister with a better understanding of rural Ireland and its problems. The Minister introduced the CLÁR programme for areas that have suffered serious depopulation over the years. Thanks...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Designated Areas. (25 Feb 2003)

Eamon Scanlon: I welcome the opportunity to speak on a matter which has arisen in my area. I refer to the need for the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to clarify the position on lands designated as special areas of conservation but not registered as such by the Land Registry. Following the purchase and reclamation of such lands, Dúchas is now insisting that they be returned to their...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Designated Areas. (25 Feb 2003)

Eamon Scanlon: He had been in ownership of the lands for approximately two months at that stage. The person from whom he purchased it had been living in America and would have had no knowledge of the SAC designation process.

Seanad: Order of Business. (27 Feb 2003)

Eamon Scanlon: I support Senators Feighan and MacSharry in their concerns about the Sligo railway line. We have the best line in the country, about which there is no question, but the rolling stock is totally unsuitable. There are trains with no buffet car and no heating. As Senator MacSharry said, this is because of the age of the rolling stock. Senator O'Toole mentioned auctioneers. I also have some...

Seanad: Suicide Incidence: Statements. (27 Feb 2003)

Eamon Scanlon: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate. As the time is pushing on, I will be brief. I am a member of the North Western Health Board which has done a study on suicide over recent years. While the figure for the number of people who take their own lives is frightening, the study showed that it may not even be an accurate figure, that there may be even more people taking their...

Seanad: Protection of the Environment Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 Mar 2003)

Eamon Scanlon: County Sligo signed up to the Connacht waste management plan a number of years ago in the belief the plan would be implemented. The only landfill site we had in the county at that time has now been closed. Since then we have been held to ransom between counties Donegal and Mayo and wherever else we have to take our waste. We have four licensed refuse collectors in the county who are paying...

Seanad: Protection of the Environment Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 Mar 2003)

Eamon Scanlon: They are not in place. The plans are on paper but they are not being implemented in the counties where they should be implemented.