Results 4,241-4,260 of 7,404 for speaker:Mick Wallace

Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: If the Minister of State wants to debate this in public with me I will have a debate at any time. Whether he likes it or not, I understand the industry. It annoys me that the people in this Government who make the decisions around the supply of housing do not seem to understand it. They do not even seem prepared to talk to the people who do understand it. I want to give credit to a few...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Transport Policy (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: 52. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will consider reviewing his Department's focus away from road infrastructure towards a more rail centred policy approach in view of Ireland's EU 2030 emissions targets and the role of the transport sector in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38767/16]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Network Expansion (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: 65. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will consider upgrading the Rosslare to Connolly Station rail line in order to make journey times shorter and attract more passengers; if the future of the Rosslare to Gorey rail line will be guaranteed in view of current trends of increasing passenger numbers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38768/16]

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: I am looking forward to going to An Garda Síochána to complain about the quality of sex I had the night before.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: That is a fair point.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: It is the non-Garda phone.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: We understand the legislation is, supposedly, intended to empower sex workers, but their position will be empowered far less by it. A recent report by Amnesty International examines the issue in Norway. It is entitled, Norway: The human cost of 'crushing' the market: Criminalization of sex work in Norway. It explores the effect of similar legislation introduced in Norway in 2009. One of...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: Trafficking is a separate area. We are adamant there should be greater enforcement to prevent trafficking. We are discussing a separate area today. This legislation will not address the problems of trafficking. We need stronger enforcement of existing laws to ensure trafficking is diminished. We are arguing about what is happening here and there and obviously do not agree. There have...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: Rather than reviewing the legislation "within a shortish timeframe of two or three years", would the Minister not consider reviewing it after a year has passed?

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: As always.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: The Tánaiste says this is the best way forward and, obviously, we think otherwise. Other countries are realising criminalisation of a lot of things does not work. The so-called "war on drugs" has been an abysmal failure. The points raised in the amendments address the core of the problems better. Rather than hitting people with sledges or putting them in prison, it...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: No.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Trade Agreements (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: 8. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views regarding CETA's potential negative effects on workers' rights, particularly in view of the notable lack of penalties in the text for countries or companies that violate labour laws, as highlighted by Corporate Europe Observatory; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39116/16]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Trade Agreements (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: I have raised this issue previously with the Minister. Where will the safeguards be? As the Minister knows, we do not agree with this agreement. The Government keeps telling us that it likes the agreement, but how will workers' rights be impacted by it?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Trade Agreements (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: Most independent observers of CETA will point to excessive liberalisation and deregulation and its weakening of the Government's right to regulate in the public interest. Last month, 450 civil society organisations from the EU and Canada published an open letter urging legislators to vote against CETA in February. They were all in agreement that CETA's investment court system, ICS, granted...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Trade Agreements (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: The Minister said we will be able to look after our own labour issues but in fact a corporation coming to a country in Europe will be allowed to use the investment court system to overrule domestic legislation. On 8 November the Minister said she had received advice to the effect that the investment court system model contained in CETA would effectively be a dispute resolution process which...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IDA Site Visits (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: 9. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she is satisfied with the number of IDA site visits to County Wexford in the past two years; if she will provide details of long-term measures she has planned in order to counteract economic stagnation in the south-east region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39113/16]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IDA Site Visits (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: In regard to the previous question, less than 20% of the negotiations on CETA and TTIP concerned trade. I will now proceed to my question about jobs in Wexford. The national average unemployment rate is 7.2% while Wexford's unemployment rate is 18.4% - the third worst in the entire country. According to the South East Economic Monitor project, the south-east's economy continues to be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IDA Site Visits (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: I dispute the Minister's figures. The national average unemployment rate at the moment is 7.2%, the unemployment rate in the south east currently stands at 12.5%, while the unemployment rate in Wexford is 18.4%. It is a separate county, although I accept it is not classified as such, but not only is the south-east region badly served, Wexford is the worst served part of the south-east...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IDA Site Visits (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: I have no problem with meeting the chairman. It still does not change the fact that unemployment is 18.4%. I have not been told about any direct actions that will happen. I was in here last week with the Minister for Social Protection who told me that I should be happy to hear that the number of people on the live register in the south east had dropped from 28,500 to 24,900. In fact, the...