Results 261-280 of 1,301 for speaker:Pauline O'Reilly

Seanad: National Maternity Hospital: Statements (2 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I apologise that I could only give you a minute and a half. It is just that Senators ran over time.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (2 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: From our point of view, farmers are the custodians of the land. This climate transition will not happen without the participation of farmers, because they are there on the ground at, literally, the grassroots. Therefore, we must support them. If there is criticism of farming and farmers, it is certainly not coming from me. I state that because we in the Green Party recognise the part that...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (2 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: There are four different definitions of climate justice in these amendments. We also looked at the Mary Robinson Foundation definition in our pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill and many of us were not happy with that. It took a lot of conversation to come up with the recommendations we came up with. What is in the Bill does not entirely align with the recommendations that were made. It...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (2 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: There is a difference between politics and taking cheap, populist shots at other people who have spent hundreds of hours on this Bill. I will point out to Senator Gavan again that he was absent during those hours and his colleague, who was present, is not here today. We absolutely put a just transition at the centre of everything we do. I intend to propose my own amendment, No. 142, which...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (2 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (2 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I just wish to say that the Green amendment inserts three words. It is the Sinn Féin amendment that only inserts one. I will also make another point. It is a similar case to that of the definitions of "climate justice". If I have counted correctly, five different wordings have been suggested for a definition of "just transition". I will make the same point as I made in respect of...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (2 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I take on board the points Senator Ruane is making. However, myself and Senator Higgins are probably the only people here who sit on the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action committee and we had extensive discussion and back-and-forth on how to define a just transition. That is fact. We also had witnesses before the committee talking about just transition. It is not easy....

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (2 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: My issue here is around the language in amendment No. 30 where it speaks of being "consistent with the State’s highest possible ambition", which suggests this is written somewhere. The Bill is actually saying "by no later than"and therefore leaves room for that. We did considerable work in the committee on changing the language to be consistent with the Paris Agreement. That is all...

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I welcome the Minister to the House. We had extensive conversations on this issue on Committee Stage but I will reiterate some of the points because they are arising here again. We have been waiting for this legislation since 2017, and most of us have probably been waiting for it most of our working lives as women.

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: It is important that we now move ahead with the Bill. I thank the Minister for accepting an amendment on Report Stage in the Dáil because the review will be key. We must not renegotiate something else at this point or postpone this for another three or four years. We need this legislation enacted and in place now. It gives us transparency and an understanding of what is happening...

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: Any time I speak on Committee or Report Stages I am always honest, even with our own Minister, and I point out what I think could be changed in a Bill. It is very important that we have flexibility. If we pass legislation that does not have flexibility when it comes to regulations, we will be no longer able to make regulations that are robust and exactly fit for purpose. It is only at the...

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I thank the Acting Chairperson. There is no better person to preside over Committee Stage. Others have spoken on this. The Minister has outlined everything that has been done apart from this Bill. It is important to look at this Bill in that context. A number of amendments were about firming up some of the decision-making about gender pay gap legislation. I can understand it when...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: When we talk about these amendments and the things we can add in, we forget about all the things that are already in the Bill. As the Minister of State noted, and the Minister referred to this on Friday as well, the actions of the Government and the Minister must be consistent with the UNFCCC and Articles 2 and 4.1 of the Paris Agreement. Let us not forget the number of commitments in those...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: Absolutely, but we are moving on to other issues that are not in the amendments.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: On a point of order-----

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: This is in reference to somebody talking about amendments that were not included in the group being discussed. We are talking specifically about these amendments.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I have clarified that point. It has nothing to do with that. The issue is that we cannot go forward while talking about other amendments. We are talking about specific amendments.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I thank the Deputy Leader for taking the Order of Business today. Some 200 million people across the globe are living on land that is projected to be permanently below the tideline by the end of this century. Apart from that, chronic floods are set to affect 300 million people within the next three decades. We do not have to look that far ahead. In recent days, Dublin Cycling Campaign has...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: The concerns that were raised were valid ones. Farmers were concerned that sequestration was not going to be taken into account. As I said on Friday, anything that we can do to allay farmers' concerns is very important. We are all on the same side. As Senator Garvey stated, and I said last week, we recognise that farmers are the custodians of the land. The work they do must be taken into...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: We are very much behind both a just transition and climate justice. Everybody needs to be clear on that. The decision not to accept Senator Higgins's amendment to remove the definition is one with the best of intentions. This is not academics but law, and it is important to get that law right. As I said last week, we have spent a long time discussing climate justice and a just transition....