Results 2,041-2,060 of 6,944 for speaker:Michael McNamara

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (23 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: I apologise for not being here earlier. I was dealing with a constituency matter. Turning to constituency issues, many childcare providers in advance of the general election, and certainly in advance of the shutdown, were already speaking about the huge difficulties in staying open because of insurance costs and the administrative burden being shifted onto them, primarily by the Department...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (23 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: Have childcare providers been offered any additional support to pay for that additional administrative workload? Ms Donohoe's story of staying up all night filling in paperwork is typical of what I have heard from childcare providers whom I met in Clare in January and February.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (23 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: Are they being increased?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (23 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: The reopening grant applies to all businesses in the State that do not have any additional administrative burden.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (23 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: To go back to the issue of insurance, do the witnesses know if all insurers are giving an premium extension to cover the period that crèches and childcare facilities were closed?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (23 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: Some insurers are being decent about it and others are being typically indecent.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (23 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: That is disappointing but maybe it is not surprising.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed). (23 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: Following the question on insurance costs, in the session which preceded this one we heard that some insurance companies are refunding money to crèches which have not been open for the past three months but that others are not. For a crèche which is not open, there is absolutely no insurable interest whatsoever. Given that all of these moneys come from parents and the Exchequer,...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed). (23 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: I greatly welcome that, particularly in view of the fact that we heard from our previous witnesses that there are instances where some insurance companies are not giving refunds or are not extending the time limits on cover. My next question pertains to the administrative burden on small crèches, many of which began operating in people's homes as a form of self-employment. We heard...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed). (23 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: I greatly welcome that. With regard to the fact that it is computer-based, I have received complaints from childcare providers in areas where there is relatively poor broadband connection that they simply cannot download these forms and cannot interact with the system. I urge the Department to take into consideration that not every place in the country has the same quality of access to the...

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (24 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: I understand I cannot technically move the amendment until the earlier amendments are dealt with. I intend to press the amendment.

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (24 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: I will move the amendment. I would like to get on to the substance of it. I welcome that the Minister will carry out a review but what is a review? If it is something that his Department will examine internally, I regret that I cannot have much confidence in that. We know what the Department thinks is necessary because the Minister put the motion before us, as he did last year and the...

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (24 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: I have already. Deputy Pa Daly probably has more experience of the criminal courts than everyone else in this Chamber put together and he made the point that many of the gangland trials were carried out in normal courts and that much of what affects trials is not neutered by having it in the Special Criminal Court because there still are witnesses and there is no more witness protection in...

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (24 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: -----that can be taken. I am not going to propose them now but would ask that the Law Reform Commission look into this.

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (24 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: I move amendment No. 2: To delete the words "June, 2021" and substitute the following: "January, 2021, before which date a report of the Law Reform Commission into the Offences against the State Acts, 1939 to 1998 shall be requested by the Attorney General to be completed no later than the 31st December, 2020. The Attorney General shall, as soon as may be, send a copy of the report to the...

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (24 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: It is time the Law Reform Commission considered this issue.

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (24 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: I move amendment No. 1: To delete the words “June, 2021” and substitute the following: “January, 2021, before which date a report of the Law Reform Commission into the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009 shall be requested by the Attorney General to be completed no later than the 31st December, 2020. The Attorney General shall, as soon as may be, send a copy of the...

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (24 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: I am pressing the amendment. I believe the Law Reform Commission should look at this issue while the law is continuing in force.

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (24 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: It is not agreed. Vótáil.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Testing and Tracing (25 Jun 2020)

Michael McNamara: We have a quorum and we are now in public session. We have been notified that Deputy Gannon is substituting for Deputy Shortall. There may be other such notifications later. I welcome our witnesses to our hearing on testing and tracing. We are joined in the Dáil Chamber by Professor Paddy Mallon, professor of microbial diseases in the school of medicine at University College Dublin,...