Results 2,081-2,100 of 2,988 for speaker:James O'Connor

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety: Discussion (27 Sep 2023)

James O'Connor: Can we just let our participants answer the question, please?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety: Discussion (27 Sep 2023)

James O'Connor: How much is the financial penalty?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety: Discussion (27 Sep 2023)

James O'Connor: Given what would happen in any other setting where an agency or contractor gets fined by a State body, it does not wash that the RSA cannot tell the public how much is involved here. For all we know-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety: Discussion (27 Sep 2023)

James O'Connor: Let me ask my question. I was mid-question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety: Discussion (27 Sep 2023)

James O'Connor: So €3 million is what Applus has been fined.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety: Discussion (27 Sep 2023)

James O'Connor: It has been fined €3 million to date.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety: Discussion (27 Sep 2023)

James O'Connor: That is significant.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety: Discussion (27 Sep 2023)

James O'Connor: How long was the previous contract?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety: Discussion (27 Sep 2023)

James O'Connor: The timing is what I find so baffling. During this one month of the political calendar in a four- or five-year period, there is a lot of uncertainty because there is a Cabinet coming to the end of its mandate and there is a Dáil being elected with a new mandate. A Dáil was dissolved and the only people here at that time would have been the Seanad until its mandate ended. I feel...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety: Discussion (27 Sep 2023)

James O'Connor: That would be helpful. Thank you.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety: Discussion (27 Sep 2023)

James O'Connor: I agree but the operational risks would be significantly higher with something like this when queues could occur. You will not have that in tolling or other aspects. You will get them with NCT when failures occur. Queues grow rapidly and we come to very serious road safety risks.

School Transport 2023-2024: Statements (3 Oct 2023)

James O'Connor: I thank the Minister for being here. This issue, as we all know, is hugely contentious in rural areas. I want to acknowledge the point that has been made by my colleague in Cork North-Central, Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan, that this year has seen a huge increase in the number of people who are taking bus transport. Due to the work that is being done by the Department, difficulties have...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Agriculture Schemes (4 Oct 2023)

James O'Connor: My apologies for being late this morning. I meant no disrespect to the House or the Minister. I got badly delayed in traffic while coming in.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Agriculture Schemes (4 Oct 2023)

James O'Connor: I thank the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, for being here to deal with the issue of targeted agriculture modernisation scheme, TAMS, grants. It has been raised by many of my colleagues. My constituency office has been getting several queries on the matter. TAMS has been very successful in providing to farmers additional capital resources from the State and European funding to enable them to...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Agriculture Schemes (4 Oct 2023)

James O'Connor: That is very helpful information. I reiterate that the waiting lists and the backlog that is occurring in the TAMS administration office within the Minister’s Department needs to be reduced urgently. It is great to hear of the work that is being done in terms of prioritisation of cases. May I bring a couple of cases to the attention of the Minister? These are people who are very...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (5 Oct 2023)

James O'Connor: The issue I want to raise concerns our national development plan, NDP, and the road budget funding. I have been raising continuously the issue of the implementation of the existing NDP that was revised by the Government under one of the first acts of the programme of Government. Within the NDP, I am particularly concerned about the lack of the appointment of a design consultant for the...

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

James O'Connor: The SouthDoc service in my area spans the five Dáil constituencies of County Cork and the whole administrative area of County Kerry. We have seen significant challenges with SouthDoc services and they have come down to doctor shortages. Whistleblowers in SouthDoc have described problems relating to doctors not wanting to take shifts over weekends that may be in some way awkward. There...

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

James O'Connor: I come from a family of healthcare workers. My siblings are involved in healthcare and pharmacy and one is studying medicine at the moment. I am very aware, therefore, of the importance of community-based healthcare and how critical it is for people. In the past eight years, we have seen a very steep decline in GP services in my local community. It started to erupt post 2016, when stories...

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

James O'Connor: I might just make one further point, which I also made to the Secretary General of the Department of Health. It relates to the recruitment of GPs. We understand, from previous meetings of the Committee of Public Accounts and questions I put to Mr. Watt, that there was a 1,000-GP deficit in Ireland, and that the rate of retirement just about fell underneath the rate of recruitment at the...

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive: Financial Statements 2023 (5 Oct 2023)

James O'Connor: The average age is in the late 50s at present. Is that correct?