Results 441-460 of 1,195 for speaker:Erin McGreehan

Seanad: Teachtaireacht ón Dáil - Message from Dáil (13 Jul 2022)

Erin McGreehan: Dáil Éireann has agreed to the amendments made by Seanad Éireann to the Electoral Reform Bill 2022.

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (14 Jul 2022)

Erin McGreehan: The Minister is welcome to the House. I will not speak for too long but I really welcome the Bill. It is important we work to enact this Bill to address the significant inadequacies outlined by the Minister. Fantastic effort is made by so many of our GALs around the country in looking after children who need that care. It is important to empower both the child and the guardian ad litemto...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Transport Schemes: Discussion (7 Jul 2022)

Erin McGreehan: I thank the witnesses for joining us this morning. This is an issue that often lands on our desks. We get many queries and representations from people in regard to primary medical certificates and the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme. I do not have many specific questions. I thank the witnesses for educating us, particularly in respect of the UK scheme. It seems to be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: British Government Legacy Proposals: Discussion (7 Jul 2022)

Erin McGreehan: I thank the witnesses. I congratulate Professor McEvoy on the hard work that has been done on this Bill. There is a huge irony whereby this legacy Bill compounds a legacy of mistrust, lies, collusion and covering up. The irony is not lost on anyone in this room in terms of trying to deal with something by hiding and continuing to hide. I will take up a point made by the previous...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Education and the UNCRPD: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Erin McGreehan: The Minister is welcome. The committee often speaks about education and how it is the key to many things and a life that people might now have expected but because the door was opened, it is there. I am an example of someone where education was opened to me because of grants which enabled me to go to university. As I said last week, there is absolutely nothing that makes me better than...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Education and the UNCRPD: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Erin McGreehan: The funding and PATH 4 is something the third-level institution will draw down, perhaps annually. It would be positive if funding could not be drawn down if targets were not met. A total of 771 staff is not a huge number -----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Education and the UNCRPD: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Jul 2022)

Erin McGreehan: ----when you think of the number of staff in, say DkIT or the Louth and Meath Education and Training Board, LMETB, further education. That is quite a minimum number of staff. Were there targets which were not met and funding not released? As the Minister knows, the people go after the money. I would appreciate it if the Department could look into that and put in targets and a clear...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Erin McGreehan: I thank the Chair for his indulgence, as I am not a committee member. The Minister spoke recently at the energy summit. He referenced the work of EnergyCloud and how we should use the surplus renewable energy rather than dumping it when, as we all recognise, there are so many people in energy poverty. I looked at the retail value of what was dumped in 2020, and it is way over €300...

Seanad: Energy: Motion (14 Sep 2022)

Erin McGreehan: I move: That Seanad Éireann: agrees that: -while Ireland rebounded strongly from the challenges of the pandemic, in recent months it has become increasingly clear that the increase in energy prices is rendering the international economic outlook very serious; - these inflationary pressures on the price of energy have been exacerbated, to an enormous degree, by the illegal and...

Seanad: Energy: Motion (14 Sep 2022)

Erin McGreehan: The Minister is very welcome to the House. It is great to be here and starting Seanad Private Members' business on a very important issue. All of a sudden, it seems that energy is the cornerstone of everything in the economy and society in terms of how we survive but, in reality, that has always been the way. It is the fuel that feeds us, drives us, heats us and it has always been central...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Erin McGreehan: I wish to share a thought. This Bill is supposed to be empowering for so many people. We all could speak at length about our disappointment. However, I just want to put on the record that we are dangling a carrot in front of people, telling them that we are working towards and listening to their will and wants, and we are improving our advance healthcare directives. We are then kicking it...

Seanad: Impact of Cost of Living Issues on Young People in Ireland: Motion (28 Sep 2022)

Erin McGreehan: I welcome the Minister of State to the House to discuss this very important issue. I wrote a few notes as I listened to Senator Clonan's contribution. In conversations with friends and colleagues yesterday evening, one of the complaints I heard about the budget was the lack of new thinking in it around people with disabilities. Rather than punishing people, we should incentivise them to...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (4 Oct 2022)

Erin McGreehan: I, too, welcome breast cancer awareness month. It is something that is very close to my heart. My colleague, Councillor Teresa Costello, and I had a breast cancer awareness stand last weekend at the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis. It is incredible the number of people who came over to share their stories and knowledge and they asked questions about how to self-check. We had a nurse and a...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Oct 2022)

Erin McGreehan: I wish to highlight an issue I have been raising in the Seanad for a long time now, together with lots of other people, namely, the number of households living in fuel poverty in the State. It is now at pandemic levels. We have a serious issue where people living in very vulnerable households are moving into and staying in fuel poverty. I ask the Seanad this morning to support me in my...

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Erin McGreehan: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am a huge supporter of the motion and it is very simple for me. It is this island's second city and I support the motion and always have done. I am biased, being from County Louth and living between the two capital cities of this island, I believe we should have a passport office in Belfast. I am more prescriptive than the Senator who...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Oct 2022)

Erin McGreehan: We have to listen to Senator Mullen's points. I get what he is saying 100% and I agree with him. Senator Doherty's suggestion is good. It is for everyone to start thinking about if we are making those advance healthcare directives and that is a choice that we would have to stipulate and discuss. As Senator Mullen stated, there cannot be differentiation if there is not a directive there....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Accessibility and Assistive Technology: Discussion (6 Oct 2022)

Erin McGreehan: I welcome the witnesses. It is great to be here for this very important discussion. We all agree that assistive technology is the way forward for so many people. We see it in our houses, where people we know use the Alexa app or the Google app to turn on and off their lights. I know family members who are visually impaired who use that, and they can shout at the light without having to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Accessibility and Assistive Technology: Discussion (6 Oct 2022)

Erin McGreehan: Professor MacLachlan said there were structural changes within the system that needed to be made, and that it was not a tweak but an overhaul that was needed. Have those structural changes been identified? Has there been any progress towards having that streamlined process so that, when our children need X,Y or Z, they can go to a section and say “This is my prescription for...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Oct 2022)

Erin McGreehan: I, too, congratulate both the Leader on her work on this Bill and the Smith family. It means an awful lot to so many people. We cannot be anything but moved by Senator Seery Kearney's words, because so many of us have experienced that loss. We are here and we are listening because we know that that life matters. Even though they are not here, they matter every single day of the week and...

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Domestic Electricity Accounts) Emergency Measures and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Second Stage (13 Oct 2022)

Erin McGreehan: Before calling the next speaker, I welcome our visitors from Skibbereen Community School to the Seanad. I congratulate them on their sustainability project and wish them the very best of luck in their work. They are joined by Deputies Michael Collins and Christopher O'Sullivan, who are also very welcome.