Results 381-400 of 1,995 for speaker:Joe Flaherty

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: An Garda Síochána (21 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: 83. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of gardaí assigned to stations in County Longford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51553/21]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: An Garda Síochána (21 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: The Minister will be aware that Garda numbers have fallen for the past five consecutive months and are now at their lowest since January 2020. This is a cause of concern and annoyance within the force but also across rural communities. Will the Minister of State give some figures on the number of personnel in each Garda station in County Longford?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: An Garda Síochána (21 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: The Minister may be aware that an unexpected but very beneficial consequence of the Covid pandemic was that trainee gardaí from Templemore were dispatched nationwide to support the Covid policing effort. This was transformative in County Longford because it allowed stations to move from a traditional roster of six ten-hour shifts to a more effective and productive roster of four 12-hour...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: An Garda Síochána (21 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate that the programme for Government has an ambitious target for the growth of garda numbers nationwide but Garda strength fell from a high of 14,500 in 2009 to 12,800 in 2014. It is great that we will have 450 new officers coming out of Templemore this year. I emphasise that a significant number of those new officers need to be deployed in rural...

Covid-19: Reframing the Challenge, Continuing our Recovery and Reconnecting: Statements (21 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: I will take this opportunity to acknowledge the vaccination team at Newtownforbes in County Longford. I am aware the Minister visited there a number of months ago and that he was greatly impressed with all that he saw. As of 3 p.m. today the centre has administered 27,600 vaccines, and that number is set to rise further as the centre remains open with its walk-in clinic today until 8 p.m....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: I want to make a couple of points on the legal advice that ultimately found its way into the Grant Thornton report. There were four people involved, which included a solicitor, a junior counsel and a senior counsel. Who was the fourth one?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: We would have started with the solicitor. The solicitor would have got the junior counsel and the junior counsel would have got the senior counsel. At all times the one team was probably going to provide the advice. Was it ever thought to step outside and look for alternative legal advice?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: They would have all come from the same farm. Legal advice is like a set of statistics; you can get two interpretations from the same one.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: That is fine. Coming back to professional indemnity, which each vet and nurse in a practice would have, my colleague, Deputy Cahill, made a good point about a practice operating that did not have a vet at a particular point. Hypothetically, if I went into a practice and got medication for my in-foal mare and she tragically died, what would my recourse be?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: No. I would have gone in and got the medication but there would have been no vet in that practice. I have no recourse then because there is no professional indemnity.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: If there was a two-month period when there was no vet in a practice it comes back to the issue of ownership and the policing of same. More specifically, going back to the Veterinary Practice Act 2005, which according to the report of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission would appear to prohibit vets from incorporating. I am conscious that Ms Muldoon said that the VCI does not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: Ms Muldoon will probably feel we are going back over the same issue but I would make the point that the VCI probably should have been doing that. If there was a specific section in the 2005 Act that said that practices should not be incorporating then the VCI probably should have been doing that at the time. I accept that it was not being done. I will ask Ms Muldoon an easy question to...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (21 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: 134. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the plans in place for the expansion of the Garda mountain bike unit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51552/21]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disability Services (19 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: 121. To ask the Minister for Health the key measures for services for persons with disabilities in the Health budget for 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50711/21]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Care of the Elderly (19 Oct 2021)

Joe Flaherty: 198. To ask the Minister for Health the main measures for older persons services in the Health budget for 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50710/21]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Industrial Development (2 Nov 2021)

Joe Flaherty: I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. I am very pleased that an advanced building solution is now a Government priority for inward investment in County Longford, in line with similar comments from IDA Ireland. Ann-Marie Tierney-Le Roux, head of regional business development, told a recent meeting of Longford County Council that the agency is committed to developing a committed facility...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Industrial Development (2 Nov 2021)

Joe Flaherty: I agree that "advanced building solution" is not the best term. I am old enough to remember when we referred to such premises as advanced factories, which probably made more sense. It is very good that IDA Ireland is committed to such a facility for Longford but it would be a missed opportunity if we allowed it to take the easiest solution by simply acquiring the lands owned by the county...