Results 321-340 of 7,404 for speaker:Mick Wallace

School Staffing (15 Dec 2011)

Mick Wallace: I am sure the Minister is well aware that an ESRI report stated that the scaling back of guidance counselling in schools will be most keenly felt among young students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Such students are more reliant on advice from their school in making post-school decisions, particularly those relating to higher education entry and educational quality and standards. The...

School Staffing (15 Dec 2011)

Mick Wallace: There is nothing wrong with the notion of giving more responsibility to the schools themselves but I have spoken to teachers from two different schools who feel they are under more pressure to deal with the children's problems. I do not know whether that is down to the principal not allocating the resources in the most efficient manner. I accept there have been cutbacks and everything is...

Written Answers — Hospital Services: Hospital Services (11 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: Question 11: To ask the Minister for Health his plans to provide a neonatal unit and the relevant parental accommodation as part of the new National Children's Hospital due to open in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1218/12]

Written Answers — Hospital Accommodation: Hospital Accommodation (11 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: Question 35: To ask the Minister for Health his proposals in the long term to assist the parents of premature babies in neonatal intensive care units who face separation from their child if they cannot afford to pay for private temporary accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1219/12]

Private Members' Business. Special Educational Needs: Motion (Resumed) (12 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: It is welcome that the Minister will review this decision. A person who cannot change his or her mind would not know how to change anything. I spoke with some of the parents involved in yesterday's protest. It is mindboggling how the Government allowed matters to get to this point and it is to be hoped the Minister's review will not be a token one. I spoke yesterday with the parents of...

Private Members' Business. Special Educational Needs: Motion (Resumed) (12 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: Fine. Three non-contracted teachers are being laid off and the guidance teachers are going back into the mainstream system to replace them. It is the biggest school in Ireland with 1,500 kids and because of the various strands of children entering it, the school cannot afford to cut the subjects and it considers its only option to be to lose three guidance teachers. This is a school that...

Road Network (12 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: Question 3: To ask the Minister for Transport; Tourism and Sport if he is concerned that there are a number of serious inaccuracies (details supplied) in the Route Selection Report for the proposed Oilgate to Rosslare Harbour, County Wexford road upgrade project; the action he proposes to correct these inaccuracies in a report which fails to justify the proposed project, which has so far...

Road Network (12 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: I am not much the wiser having heard that reply. As Minister with responsibility for transport, it would great if the Minister had a little more control over the NRA than the previous Minister had. I do not understand the position if it is the case that the legislation does not allow Minister to have more impact in these decisions. Many of the decisions made by the NRA indicate that it...

Road Network (12 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: There is potential to develop the existing road to meet the requirements of Rosslare Harbour, if it were developed into a serious port at some point in the future, but in the meantime the notion of freezing the 300 m corridor along it and affecting all the people who have businesses there does not make sense. These people are affected by this decision. For example, a vegetable farmer has...

Road Network (12 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: Something like that is fine but this is a different scenario.

Human Rights Issues (17 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: Question 31: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the use of Shannon Airport as a stopover by US forces en route to Afghanistan, in view of the footage which emerged in recent days that appears to show US marines urinating on the dead bodies of Taliban fighters and laughing; his views on the fact that the Guantánamo Bay detention camp remains open...

Human Rights Issues (17 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: The fact that the US Government is looking into the matter does not give me much comfort. To take one example, Frank Wuterich, a US marine, was charged in 2005 with killing 24 Iraqis. He was commanding a group of soldiers who burst into the victims' homes and shot men, women and children in their night clothes. This individual is accused of manslaughter.

Human Rights Issues (17 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: With regard to our involvement in these matters, Colm O'Gorman stated last week: "Ireland is not an innocent bystander. We have been complicit in kidnapping and torture by allowing Shannon airport to be used as a stop-over for rendition flights". Last year, in its concluding observations on Ireland, the UN Committee against Torture highlighted allegations of complicity in rendition and the...

Human Rights Issues (17 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: The UN is clearly unhappy with our performance.

Human Rights Issues (17 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: The programme for Government states: "We will enforce the prohibition on the use of Irish airspace, airports and related facilities for purposes not in line with the dictates of international law". I ask the Tánaiste to outline his plans to investigate the use of Shannon Airport as a stopover point by aircraft on the rendition circuit and to address any shortcomings in Irish law which...

Foreign Conflicts (17 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: Question 34: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the action he has taken to date and any future action he plans to take in addressing the ongoing disturbances in Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain, in view of the reports of civilian deaths; his views on the export of weapons to these States by countries such as Britain; and if he will make a statement on the matter. ...

Foreign Conflicts (17 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: Question 54: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the manner in which he is addressing the ongoing civil unrest in Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain, in view of the fact that he was keen to lend moral support to the NATO intervention in Libya in 2011; his views on the sale of arms by Western States such as the UK to these countries; and if he will make a statement on the...

Foreign Conflicts (17 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: The restrictions placed on Syria are welcome. However, it is a pity he has not taken the same robust approach to Yemen and Bahrain where the disturbances might not be on the same scale but the principle is similar. In Bahrain, for example, the US gave a green light to Saudis to go in and crush local peaceful protest, enhance religious sectarianism, organise secret trials and sentence...

Foreign Conflicts (17 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: I did not say you had.

Foreign Conflicts (17 Jan 2012)

Mick Wallace: The Tánaiste says he is only responsible for Irish issues. However, while he did not set up Guantánamo Bay himself, he has criticised it and was dead right to do so. It is an absolute disgrace that of over 800 people who were thrown into it, only six were convicted, which is a smaller number than the military personnel who have left because of the unfairness of the system there. We might...