Results 401-420 of 431 for speaker:Lorraine Higgins

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Farm Inspections (6 Oct 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: -----that I referred to as fluffy. There is no legal basis for it.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Farm Inspections (6 Oct 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I thank the Minister for his response. I fully understand why farm inspections happen and I am also well aware that some occur without a physical visit to the land. I am not interested in those, but I am interested in situations where there is a physical inspection. I acknowledge that the Minister has made efforts with the charter of rights for farmers, but there is nothing wrong with...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Farm Inspections (6 Oct 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: May I come back in?

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Oct 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I call on the Minister for Justice and Equality to come to the House to have a debate on rural crime. I wish in particular to discuss why many of the recent criminals robbing and plundering rural Ireland have not been disqualified from driving. Section 27(1)(a) of the 1961 Road Traffic Act provides that where a criminal has used a mechanically propelled vehicle in the commission of a crime...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Staff Recruitment (7 Oct 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. I call on the Minister for Health to provide a derogation for 20 health care assistant-multi-task attendant and nursing posts to be advertised and filled locally for St. Brendan's community nursing unit, Ballinasloe, County Galway, in light of the failure of the HSE to hire these staff. This had been agreed last February when...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Staff Recruitment (7 Oct 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I know that this is not the Minister of State’s specific area of responsibility and that she is standing in for the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, but that answer is not satisfactory. I am not disputing the Government’s level of care, but I am disputing the fact that decisions were made last February to hire 20 staff for the unit in question. In his response the...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Tourism Policy (4 Nov 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I thank the Minister of State for taking this Commencement Matter and welcome him to the House. The issue I am raising is very important for rural revival and the survival of rural towns and villages, particularly in my constituency of Galway East. I request that the Minister of State consider pursuing a tourism strategy that would allow for the development of additional tourist trails off...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Tourism Policy (4 Nov 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I thank the Minister of State for his response. He has undoubtedly done a great deal of work with tourism initiatives in his county of Mayo, on which I commend him. The Wild Atlantic Way has been a major success. Anyone caught in a traffic jam between Kilcolgan and Kinvara understands that. I welcome the consideration of adding loops to the route. They would be beneficial for areas...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Easter Rising Commemorations (11 Nov 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I want to raise what I view as the necessity for the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to state if she will agree to hold the wreath-laying ceremony for the Athenry 1916 Rising commemoration at the commemorative garden at the Back Lawn, Swan Gate in Athenry. This is where Liam Mellows and his comrades originally congregated on Friday, March 24 1916. On that day, Mellows was...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Easter Rising Commemorations (11 Nov 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I thank the Minister of State for this detailed response. I am a little disappointed that the main ceremony will not be held at the Back Lawn site. While I acknowledge public safety concerns have to be of paramount importance, the town park is a good distance from the site. If it is the most suitable for it, there is little I can do about it, however. I am glad the Minister is looking at...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Easter Rising Commemorations (11 Nov 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I thank the Minister of State.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Dec 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: A major issue has surfaced in my home town of Athenry relating to school admission procedures and the patent unfairness of the system which is in place. I have been contacted by numerous parents on the failure to have their children accepted into the school of their choice in the town. It is clear from the information I have gleaned from parents that there are a number of discrepancies in...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Dec 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I accept that but if this is happening in Athenry, it is happening in Portumna, Tuam, Loughrea, Gort and throughout Ireland. Some parents are applying to have their children educated in numerous schools and are clogging up the system for others who are trying to get their children into just one school. It is unfair and there are issues relating to the enrolment process which require further...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Flood Relief Measures (2 Dec 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I welcome the Minister of State. This is the first time I have had the opportunity to address him since he took office, so I am glad the matter is a pressing one for the people of east Galway. It is not a new issue either. The Dunkellin river has flooded on a number of occasions in the past six years and these events have had a major impact on the local people, who live in constant fear...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Flood Relief Measures (2 Dec 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I thank the Minister of State for his very detailed response. As somebody with an interest in the environment who once wrote a thesis on intergenerational equity and the environment, I totally understand the environment considerations in respect of this project. However, there is a bit of a trade-off going on between the environment and the human right to safety for the people living along...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: Once again, I call for a debate on the need to introduce time limits for An Bord Pleanála decisions. This is a very pressing at the moment for none more so than people living in east Galway who have been subjected to such an unmitigated disaster in recent days with the flooding. It is clear that families' lives are being destroyed along the Dunkellin river and the Aggard stream all...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: It is wrong-----

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: -----and unacceptable. I was told the last time the River Dunkellin-----

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: I ask Senator Ó Clochartaigh to allow me to finish my contribution.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2015)

Lorraine Higgins: This is a very serious issue and I would like to finish my contribution.