Results 4,121-4,140 of 8,245 for speaker:Bríd Smith

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: No. I want to put the proposal I outlined when representatives of ICTU were here. I questioned them and the members heard their answers. An instruction needs to be issued to the board of Bord na Móna to engage with the process of a just transition forum which the WRC chair has already indicated he is in favour of and willing to engage with.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: I cannot really object if it is to come before the committee next Wednesday.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: It is unfortunate because every delay in this matter is regrettable but I cannot really object because the point Deputy Corcoran Kennedy makes is correct; there is hardly anyone here.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Supporting a Just Transition: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: It is unfortunate that members did not stay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Proposed Closure of Cuisle Accessible Holiday and Respite Care Resort: Discussion (21 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: I thank the IWA representatives for the presentation. I want to talk about the promotion leaflet for hotel breaks. The leaflet has quotes that read like comments on Trivago or Booking.com. There are references to the staff and food being excellent and to patrons feeling equal going on holidays with everyone else. They no longer feel that people with disabilities are put in a box. They...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Proposed Closure of Cuisle Accessible Holiday and Respite Care Resort: Discussion (21 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: That does not seem to be what the IWA asked of the Government.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Proposed Closure of Cuisle Accessible Holiday and Respite Care Resort: Discussion (21 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: For two years, the IWA had one type of dialogue, namely, about how it needed money to save Cuisle. In the past month, there was a different type of dialogue, namely, that the hotel model will work, that it will be integrated and that it will help people to develop. There is no evidence that people should be taken from a setting they are used to, where they can meet their friends and where...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Proposed Closure of Cuisle Accessible Holiday and Respite Care Resort: Discussion (21 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: In light of the IWA's report and what it has been quoted in the media as stating, it has not fought hard enough for the users. Ms Keogh stated she only services the board but she is the CEO. Her remuneration reflects her responsibilities, which are not just to the board but to the users, and she has not fought hard enough for them. I do not mean she has sat on her hands for the past two...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Proposed Closure of Cuisle Accessible Holiday and Respite Care Resort: Discussion (21 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: I referred only to thejournal.ie. The quotation to which I referred was included in the IWA's submission.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Proposed Closure of Cuisle Accessible Holiday and Respite Care Resort: Discussion (21 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: I am not referring to anything broader than that quotation. I used it as evidence to suggest that the IWA conceded far too much to the Minister of State and that it did so on behalf of its users, which was the wrong action to take.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: I support the amendment very much. I did not realise a reply had been given last year when this report was requested so we need it now. It was revealed to me in response to a parliamentary question that approximately 300 young people will benefit from the changes. The idea of being able to live independently on meagre money of approximately €118 a week is pie in the sky stuff....

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: Carrying out a survey in respect of fuel poverty levels and how carbon tax increases impact on the most vulnerable should not be the Minister's responsibility but that of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. I am on the climate committee and fought hard to get such a study agreed on. We got it agreed but it never happened. The committee heard from witnesses...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: This is one of the most regressive measures any Government can take. It is especially harsh on manual workers. In the case of a bus driver who retires after more than 40 years, as my father did, it is evident that manual workers' lifespan is much shorter than that of white-collar workers or people who do less hands-on or shift work. Many bus drivers die before they reach 70 years of age....

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: I am inclined not to support it because in supporting it I will endorse what is going on which, in the context of the overall budget, is a disgrace. The most vulnerable - the 136,000 who depend on the national minimum wage - work in industries that are booming, including the hospitality and services industries, yet they are being deprived of the benefits of this measure, while others were...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: Will the Minister tell us what it is about?

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: As we speak, farmers are once again gathering outside the gates. The plight they face in terms of the levels of poverty and the demise of rural Ireland have not gone away. After eight weeks of blockading meat production plants, they are back again to ask us to urgently deal with the issues. Will the Minister in charge of this area be inclusive of all farmer representative groups? I refer...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cancer Screening Programmes (26 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: 52. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to investigate further the significant statistical difference between laboratories in terms of the number of slides reviewed as a percentage of their overall intake, as per the report on the 221 patient group laboratory audit results profile; the reason the 38 slides that showed no difference in grading were not removed from the total of 343 slides...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cancer Screening Programmes (26 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: My apologies but I do not have a copy of the question. I ask the Minister to proceed.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cancer Screening Programmes (26 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: I have asked similar questions to this one many times seeking more precise information on what happened with this group of slides, how they were examined and delved into. It strikes me that we should know what happened, what the rate of error is and what those errors are. I imagine the Minister would want to know that too. The Minister may not have the report in front of him - I am not...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cancer Screening Programmes (26 Nov 2019)

Bríd Smith: The Minister might look at the table to which I have referred later, but I am sure he and his Department have studied it.