Results 2,461-2,480 of 4,153 for speaker:Martin Kenny

Violence against Women: Statements (Resumed) (25 Jan 2022)

Martin Kenny: I express my condolences to Ashling Murphy's family on what happened. In recent weeks all of us have received phone calls and emails in our offices from members of the public wanting to know where we stand on the issue of zero tolerance of domestic violence and gender-based violence and how we can do more to ensure we stamp it out forever. Many the issues we speak about particularly are...

Coercion of a Minor (Misuse of Drugs Amendment) Bill 2022: First Stage (26 Jan 2022)

Martin Kenny: The Bill is designed, as my colleagues have said, to ensure unscrupulous drug dealers who often use children as couriers to move drugs around can be prosecuted for it. Very often with these children, and it has been an experience in many areas throughout the country, they get involved at a very young age in doing that and later become addicts themselves and get caught up in the whole system....

Youth Mental Health: Statements (26 Jan 2022)

Martin Kenny: This is an issue we have all been dealing with for the last number of years and we are well aware of it. I spoke to the Minister of State previously of a situation in Sligo-Leitrim, in CHO 1, where there are 280 children on the waiting list for CAMHS. That is almost 10% of the national figure. In most cases there is meant to be a multidisciplinary team in place. I understand the...

Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (26 Jan 2022)

Martin Kenny: As my colleagues said, we are supporting this legislation because we believe it is necessary. As was also alluded to, the CIF has for a long time had this voluntary code, where building contractors and workers have been registered. However, there are a number of reservations as to how much of an impact it has had. Everyone recognises this. That is why we feel it would be correct and...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister of State for his remarks in respect of this issue. Broadband is one of the key pieces of infrastructure, particularly for all of rural Ireland and indeed for a lot of urban Ireland as well. We always come across people who tell us this is not just a rural problem. There are many areas of the country, even in towns and larger towns, that have difficulties getting stable...

Legacy Issues in Northern Ireland and New Decade, New Approach: Statements (1 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: Reconciliation, peace-building and looking at the legacies of the past is a problem for everywhere in the world where there has been conflict, whether that be Ireland, South Africa or wherever else. There are always issues and difficulties. In 2014 that was recognised and the Stormont House Agreement was agreed by everyone, including both Governments and all the parties in the North as the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Job Losses (2 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: These job losses will impact greatly on this small community. Eighty jobs is a large number to be taken out of it. This factory opened in 1984. At that time there was a larger facility, Gowna, which has closed in the town, having at one time employed up to 700 people. This factory has been there for a long time, it has sustained the community through very difficult times and it is very...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Job Losses (2 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: The truth is that the Sligo area and the whole north west has always been behind because we do not have the infrastructure or technological expertise needed to maintain jobs in the area. Many of us are sending our children to college to get degrees but there are no jobs for graduates in the north west. That is a problem that needs to be addressed. The only way to regrow and facilitate work...

European Union Regulation: Motion (3 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: This is an important debate and we are glad to be engaged in it because the fund and the initiatives and policies for which it provides money are important and deserve debate. I wish to raise a number of matters. The first relates to EU migration policy as a whole. We face a migration crisis brought by war, climate change and systematic discrimination, especially in Africa and the Middle...

Redundancy Payments (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (3 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: The Redundancy Payments (Amendment) Bill is welcome. It is a short Bill. We support it and we support what it sets out to do. However, there are other issues in this area that also need to be examined. I am sure the Minister of State is aware that many workers face redundancy and a very uncertain future. It is a difficulty that arose in this particular situation. Section 12A of the...

Electricity Costs (Domestic Electricity Accounts) Emergency Measures Bill 2022: Second Stage (3 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: This Bill is an emergency benefits scheme to give relief to families that have been victims of significant price increases across the board. Recently in my constituency, we held an online meeting of people who were concerned about the cost of living crisis they were facing. It could be broken down into a number of areas. Energy was one of the main ones - we are trying to do something...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Northern Ireland (3 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: What Edwin Poots has done as Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in the North is absolutely scandalous and reckless. It flies in the face of international law and is in breach of an international agreement between the European Union and Britain and in breach of the protocol. It is very clear that the DUP, for some very narrow and nationalistic reason of its own, and the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Northern Ireland (3 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: The issue here seems to be that Edwin Poots went completely outside his remit. He claims to have got independent legal advice outside of his Department, which is quite unusual for any Minister to be claiming as a basis for carrying out such a dastardly deed. I understand the British Government has the option to override a decision made by a Stormont Minister in the circumstances where it is...

Dignity and Equality Issues in the Defence Forces: Motion (8 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: The truth is that people throughout the country were horrified when they heard Katie Hannon's programme last September as it laid bare something people could never have imagined would happen within the Defence Forces. I guess most people would have considered the Defence Forces as a place with a command structure and controlled environment. Of course, as we know from other institutions,...

Competition (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (9 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: This legislation is welcome. All of us have come across situations of price fixing and anti-competitive practices in the State. The insurance industry is probably the most obvious one people are aware of. There are many examples of it across all kinds of situations. One example that certainly comes straight to my mind was during the early 2000s when grant schemes were in place for...

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: As other speakers have noted, this legislation is about moving responsibility for a particular sector from one Minister to another. It will not have the effect we would very much like to see, which is the provision of additional funding and resources in this area. There will be clarity now in that responsibility for disability services will be under the Minister for Children, Equality,...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 – Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 – Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (8 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister for her opening remarks. I have a couple of minor points. On the youth justice strategy and the youth diversion programmes in place in many areas, will there be additional training for rank-and-file gardaí to ensure they are adequately trained to deal with the kinds of incidents involving juveniles that we have been seeing more of recently? Body cams are supposed...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 – Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 – Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (8 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister for that. My other question is on public transport, which has been a focal point in the past several months. The trade unions whose members drive trains and buses are very exercised over the dangers faced by the public and employees. They feel there needs to be a section of An Garda Síochána to deal with public transport. I agree and believe it is a...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 – Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 – Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (8 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: I hope not as that would mean more crime, in one sense.