Results 561-580 of 605 for speaker:John Whelan

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Feb 2015)

John Whelan: And what about Bertie Ahern's pension?

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Irish Prison Service (3 Mar 2015)

John Whelan: I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this matter today. It is a matter of great urgency. I am particularly heartened to see the Minister for Justice and Equality here. The Minister has a reputation for being considerate, caring, courteous and credible,and I appeal to those attributes. I ask her to intervene personally, as the Minister responsible, in a festering dispute between the...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Irish Prison Service (3 Mar 2015)

John Whelan: I have every confidence in the Minister and I trust her bona fides and perspective in the matter. I urge her to hold a direct meeting with the POA at the earliest opportunity. I accept that I used strong language but I do not do so lightly. It is informed by ongoing representations I am receiving from prison officers in Portlaoise and across the country. I do not want to be inflammatory...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: General Practitioner Services (24 Mar 2015)

John Whelan: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. While the question was directed to the Minister for Health, it is not at all inappropriate that it is being taken on his behalf today by the Minister of State, because of her remit with regard to rural development and rural areas. While it is not directly under the aegis of her Department, one of the newest challenges facing rural Ireland is for...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: General Practitioner Services (24 Mar 2015)

John Whelan: I acknowledge and thank the Minister of State for a positive and constructive response. It is heartening and positive news for the people of Borris-in-Ossory and surrounding areas that the HSE has managed to secure a replacement and that a new GP will take up duty imminently. I welcome that. However, it would be easier to recruit GPs to rural areas and other communities which are not as...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Mar 2015)

John Whelan: On this day a few years ago, I was born in Portlaoise General Hospital. My own children and my granddaughter were also born there. It is a fine hospital with dedicated staff. Now its reputation and the public's confidence in the hospital are being dragged into an unsavoury row between the HSE and HIQA. I commend the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, on the forthright, common-sense...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: RTE: Governance Issues (25 Mar 2015)

John Whelan: I thank the Chairman and welcome all the delegates. I am glad of the opportunity to speak and I will be as prompt as I can. It is important that we respect each other and do not come in here forearmed with preconceived positions, although we do. We must divest ourselves of those on both sides. It is important to have a healthy strain or tension between both sides. As a poacher turned...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: RTE: Governance Issues (25 Mar 2015)

John Whelan: I am familiar with that point. However, if it is not resolved in reasonably due course I will propose that we change the law.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Mar 2015)

John Whelan: I support Senator Colm Burke's call for a debate with the Minister for Health on the issue of pharmaceuticals and the cost of drugs. Big pharmaceutical industries were busy last week in peddling their propaganda and trying to suggest jobs were being lost owing to the Government's policy on purchasing. Will they tell us how many people have lost their lives or have had their lives damaged as...

Seanad: Order of Business (31 Mar 2015)

John Whelan: It has just been announced by the Minister for Justice and Equality that the independent review into the murder of Father Niall Molloy has been published. I am sorry to tell the House that there will be no justice for Father Molloy or his family because the report, carried out by the serious crime review team and Mr. Dominic McGinn SC, concludes that while there are many unanswered...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Vaccination Programme (2 Apr 2015)

John Whelan: I welcome the Minister of State to the House; she is representing the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar. My request is to ask the Minister for Health to sit down with the parents of the narcolepsy victims, the parents of the children who have contracted this terrible affliction and lifelong disease as a result of a State-sponsored vaccination programme. I cannot understand why the...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Vaccination Programme (2 Apr 2015)

John Whelan: I accept that the Minister of State, Deputy Ann Phelan, is here on behalf of the Minister for Health, whom I also believe to be a sound and fair man. However, the reply is not satisfactory because there is no indication in it whatsoever that the Minister will meet the support group, SOUND. He should do so and his intervention could be very fruitful for the parents and children, their...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Apr 2015)

John Whelan: I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for accepting my Commencement debate. I am grateful to my colleague, Senator Landy, for his support on the matter. It was not an altogether satisfactory reply on the children who suffer from narcolepsy. I support Senator Landy. Will the Leader to ensure the Minister for Health comes to the House at the earliest opportunity to explain why the HSE and the...

Seanad: Department of Social Protection Payment Methods: Statements (2 Apr 2015)

John Whelan: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and for taking this debate at short notice. Several Senators requested a debate on this matter only last week. It is good for Members to outline their views and air their concerns, as well as providing reliable and accurate information on this issue. There is no evidence to suggest the Department of Social Protection, much less the Government,...

Seanad: Department of Social Protection Payment Methods: Statements (2 Apr 2015)

John Whelan: I stand corrected.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Wind Energy Generation (23 Apr 2015)

John Whelan: I welcome the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, as the line Minister dealing with this matter. He has been very receptive at all times on the issues and concerns I have raised with him about the development of wind farms across the country. He has met groups directly and listened to them. More recently while in Edenderry and Mount Lucas, County...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Wind Energy Generation (23 Apr 2015)

John Whelan: I accept that and thank the Minister for his reply. However, he has not addressed the core issues raised in my questions. I am familiar with our responsibilities in regard to renewable energy. The wind industry has the leg, arm and ear of this Government, as it did with the previous Government. It is the favoured child, to the extent of neglecting the potential of the bio-energy sector. ...

Seanad: Ash Dieback Disease: Statements (29 Apr 2015)

John Whelan: I, too, welcome to the House and commend the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes. There is no better man on this issue. He not only has the capacity to deal with it but also has a personal interest in and grá for the topic. That is the kind of focus we require when it comes to a challenge of this nature. It would be wrong not to have regard to the work of his predecessor, our...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 May 2015)

John Whelan: I call on the Leader to facilitate a full debate in the House at the earliest juncture on the HIQA report on Portlaoise General Hospital. This does not just have to do with Portlaoise as it has ramifications for health services and all regional hospitals the length and breadth of the country. I do not know if any hospital could hold up to the forensic scrutiny that has been brought to bear...

Seanad: Cultural Institutions: Motion (13 May 2015)

John Whelan: I move: “That Seanad Eireann: commends the Government:- for the work done to maintain services in the National Museum, National Library, Natural History Museum and National Gallery, in the face of the economic difficulties experienced by the country since 2008; - for the continued high value being placed on the educational merit and appeal of these institutions as international...