Results 5,241-5,260 of 6,188 for speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Like a lot of these matters, it is not so much a report I am looking for as for the Minister to do it, but I have to put down my amendment in that way.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I gave an example last week of a floor-layer I know. I did not quite get it right in the Chamber last week but I was talking to him about the details again. He does a full week's work and he has to take the first two or three days off the following week. He is just not able for two solid weeks in a row and he is 63 so he still has a good bit to go as things stand. If the Minister is...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I wish to check one or two things. I asked some of these questions at the briefing and I think I have it right but I want to double-check. Hereafter, when the budget is announced, there will be two primary sets of figures for the pension, namely, a rate for the 66-year-olds; and three different rates for the 67, 68 and 69-year-olds. Each of those people will follow a trajectory that would...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: It is pegged to the base rate, so once the Government keeps the base rate paced with inflation that will be addressed.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The big stabiliser is the-----

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I will be very brief. I want to flag an issue and, if possible, the Minister might give a brief response. The point has been made to me that decisions taken with regard to other parts of the budget - that is, an increase in the minimum wage, which is welcome - have meant that the comparative advantage of the wage subsidy scheme has been a bit lost. It has not kept pace. I suppose that...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: It was increased about 18 months ago, I think.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Yes, if it cannot keep pace, it should be pegged to it realistically.

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Offshore Islands (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 165. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the strategic objectives underpinning the provision of subsidies for the transportation of freight to the offshore islands. [52724/23]

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Offshore Islands (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 166. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development to explain the metric on which the maximum pricing for the transportation of freight to the offshore island set by her Department is based; if the maximum pricing applies to all islands equally regardless of distance from the mainland; and if so, the reason for this. [52725/23]

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Offshore Islands (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 167. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the ongoing monitoring mechanisms that are in place to oversee that the service provided by subsidised offshore island freight operators is working in the best interests of island residents. [52726/23]

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Offshore Islands (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 168. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if there are minimum equipment requirements specified for subsidised freight operators on the various routes and for the island piers; and to outline how this is monitored. [52727/23]

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Offshore Islands (29 Nov 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 169. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if there is any PSO element in the freight contracts between her Department and the various operators; and if not, the reason for same. [52728/23]

Confidence in the Minister for Justice: Motion (5 Dec 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I agree with the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, on gender-based violence. It is not a soft issue by any manner or means. It is an issue of crucial importance that all parties must tackle. I am aware that he was not referring to Sinn Féin in that regard but it is important to put that on the record nonetheless. Is minic a deirtear i dtaobh rúin mímhuiníne go bhfuil...

Confidence in the Minister for Justice: Motion (5 Dec 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: -----and the opponents it would dearly wish to have. It is beside the point.

Confidence in the Minister for Justice: Motion (5 Dec 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Government TDs are entitled to their characters. Some of them believe them and some, less honourably, do not. That is neither here nor there and is of no concern to communities on the ground. When we boil this down, there are now fewer gardaí on the streets and fewer Garda stations open than there were when Fine Gael took office. We are two years past the 2021 targets and in terms of...

Confidence in the Minister for Justice: Motion (5 Dec 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I believe the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is a decent woman who is committed to public service. I believe she has empathy but empathy will not put any additional Garda boots on the ground where we need them, on the streets. People have talked a lot about the spectre, as they see it, although the public and gardaí on the ground do not see it like that, of a Sinn Féin Minister for...

Renters: Motion [Private Members] (5 Dec 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Last week's report from the RTB, as shocking as it was, was no great surprise. It only confirmed what we already knew, which is that there has been a shocking increase in rent across Cork and across the country on this Government's watch. We know this from the ever-increasing number of people calling to our constituency offices who simply cannot put a roof over their heads any longer....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Sports Funding (5 Dec 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: In the context of sport, perhaps our most unique sport is the game of hurling. There has been a fair bit of controversy in recent weeks in respect of the proposals relating to the counties where clubs do not have hurling teams. Does the Minister of State have concerns about the proposal that exists? If we are going to promote the game in those counties, the game generally needs to be...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Assisted Decision-Making (5 Dec 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: This is similar to the last debate. I do appreciate the Minister of State making time to be here. I do not generally have an issue with Ministers of State taking Topical Issues, but is it is preferable when the Minister of State is in the relevant Department. Maybe it is a function of late night Topical Issues and the way the Dáil is structured at the minute, but I do not think-----