Results 5,141-5,160 of 8,245 for speaker:Bríd Smith

Written Answers — Department of Health: Vaccination Programme (3 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: 790. To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider reprioritising persons with disabilities living in care homes in the Covid-19 vaccination schedule; if he will acknowledge that this vulnerable cohort often do not have a voice and often have very complex illnesses and needs which make them much more likely to succumb to the virus; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11298/21]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Vaccination Programme (3 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: 890. To ask the Minister for Health if he has plans to ensure Defence Forces personnel fulfilling duties overseas and in areas with high levels of Covid-19 community transmission will receive the vaccine before embarking on such duties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11701/21]

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Reports (3 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: 1098. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide the necessary resources such as communications and an index for the Crowe report issued in December 2020 which the new board of Waterford Area Partnership is expected to respond to but which will require assistance in doing so. [11717/21]

Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (4 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: I listened to the Minister's speech the last time we discussed the Bill. I congratulate him and his speechwriter as it was a very fine speech indeed, full of high-flying rhetoric, full of absolutely correct observations about the housing crisis and the importance of housing as a basic necessity of life. It stated: ...the State has to step up to the mark to provide affordable homes for...

Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (4 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: I have some observations on the specifics of the Bill. At one point, it states we need to counteract undue segregation in housing between persons of different social backgrounds. On the one hand, to any outsider, it would seem a laudable objective. Who wants segregation? In reality, however, for more than two decades I have heard this time and again, and each time the purpose of...

Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (4 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: Before the debate adjourned, I spoke about the question of cost-rental. Many Members who spoke before me pointed out the significant gaps in this Bill as well as the dangers inherited from the gutting of local democracy to the huge reliance on the private market to deliver. In addition to that, I want to highlight one section which alarms me. It is typical of the gap between the...

Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (4 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: It is co-living, okay. The Minister gave them notice that there was a month to call this off, and within that month, there were eight new applications for co-living. I reference it because it is a significant problem in my constituency. The residents in the area of the Player Wills development, which takes in Player Wills and other sites around it, are themselves having to pay for a...

Impact of Covid-19 on Women for International Women’s Day: Statements (4 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: It is worth reminding ourselves that International Women's Day, 8 March, grew out of the labour movement, the workers' movement, when thousands of women in New York in the early part of the 20th century - 1908, in fact - marched through the city demanding a shorter working week, better pay and the right to vote. The tradition continued right up until the Russian Revolution, when in the same...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Vaccination Programme (4 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: 218. To ask the Minister for Health the date vaccination of the over 70 years of age cohort will commence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12333/21]

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Data Centres (10 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: 40. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will review State policy relating to the building of data centres in Ireland and specifically the impact on energy consumption; if this policy is compatible with national climate-related targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13279/21]

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Data Centres (10 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: There is growing alarm at the spread of data centres, what they are doing to our hopes of reaching the Paris Agreement targets, as well as our climate goals, and whether an economic policy based on the unlimited growth of data centres is compatible with any chance of tackling a climate catastrophe. I am not assured by what is being said about them using sustainable energy. Based on what we...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Data Centres (10 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: First, people should be aware that there is an astonishing growth in the number of data centres in the State. There are currently approximately 54, mainly based around Dublin. Another ten are under construction and planning permission has been granted for another 31. Although the argument the Government makes is that they will have their own renewable energy, that means that by 2030 half...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Data Centres (10 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: I do not believe it is sustainable, or that it is possible to make it sustainable. If we take the climate crisis seriously, we will not go down this road. It is not in our interest to gobble up renewable energy and water on this scale. Ireland bends over backwards to facilitate foreign direct investment. That is fine; that is a different argument for a different day. This is also a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (10 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: By prior arrangement I will take Deputy Kenny's question for him. Like many others we are alarmed at the use of and over-reliance on negative emissions technology, NETs, in the climate action Bill. We have been warned repeatedly by the science and by the scientists that over-reliance on technology that does not actually exist and that gives us hope for the future without dealing with the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (10 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: That is fair enough as an answer but it does not get to the point I am making, which is that the Bill the Minister published had an over-reliance on negative emissions technology. That is a sort of dream into the future because when one unpicks the models of negative emissions technologies, NETs, and a large-scale deployment of them, if it was possible, in the words of the scientist, Kevin...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (10 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: I admire the Minister's optimism but as we know the reality is that for decades carbon capture and storage has been proposed as the silver bullet solution for cutting carbon emissions. Despite billions of dollars in funding and years of research there are no carbon capture storage, CSS, plants anywhere in the world that effectively capture and store carbon. Relying on a hope that it will...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Proposed Legislation (10 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: 58. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if clarification will be provided in relation to the proposed Marine Planning and Development Management Bill; his plans to set up a State or semi-State body to harvest off-shore wind energy for the benefit of the State and to aIl of its climate targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13281/21]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (10 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: 121. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will clarify Government policy in relation to the building of LNG terminals here; if such proposals are compatible with the State commitment to the Paris climate treaty; if he will consider a proposal to remove LNGs from the list in the Planning and Development Act 2000 of strategic infrastructure developments;...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Help-To-Buy Scheme (10 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: 285. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of successful applicants who have applied in each year of the operation of the help-to-buy scheme. [12887/21]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Irish Water (10 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: 374. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if the situation of the service level agreement between Irish Water and local authority workers will be clarified; the number of workers covered by the agreement; the number of workers who have been requested to transfer fully to Irish Water to date; if his attention has been drawn to the number of workers who do not wish to...