Results 561-580 of 704 for speaker:John Kelly

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: I call on the Leader to initiate a debate in this House on the ambulance service in this country. There is an urgent need for the Minister for Health to deal with this. A damning Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, report has received an airing in the media today. It examined the ambulance service response times, understaffing and the quality of the fleet. I have stated...

Seanad: Geological Survey of Ireland: Statements (Resumed) (2 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: The Minister of State, a good Donegal man, is always welcome in the House. Like Senator Whelan, I have serious concerns about fracking. We must have clarity as to Government policy in this regard because the majority of people have huge concerns about the whole process. Senator Daly observed that once big business gets involved, everything becomes hidden and the voice of the people is no...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: I call on the Leader to bring to the House the Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, in order that we can have a debate on issues that have been ongoing in recent years in terms of people's difficulty obtaining the carer's allowance. It appears that in most cases people are initially refused the carer's allowance and they must jump through many...

Seanad: Action Plan for Jobs 2014: Statements (3 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: I welcome the Minister. I compliment him and the Minister for Social Protection on many of the initiatives they have introduced over recent years, which are working well. A great deal of good work has been done to create jobs and there has not been enough appreciation of what has been happening considering the position we were in a number of years ago. The unemployment rate is down to...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Second Stage (4 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. The budget was a good one and did not get the media attention it deserved. It lost out to the water issue. People will start to feel the budget in their pockets from the beginning of the year. Maybe then we will see an appreciation of what the budget contained. I recognise the moves that have been made in the budget to tackle USC this year....

Seanad: Intellectual Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Second Stage (9 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: I welcome the Minister of State. I will be brief, because previous contributions have covered every issue that I could have raised. The Bill makes unrelated changes to current intellectual property legislation in regard to patents and trade marks. It aims to ensure Ireland remains an attractive location for the pharmaceutical sector, which makes an important contribution to the Irish...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: In the past few days we have heard in the media about people's right to protest. I compliment those who protested on Merrion Square, where the protest seemed to be more like a concert. The peaceful nature of the protest resembled protesters who were more or less welcoming water charges. However, on O'Connell Bridge at 2.30 p.m., a few hundred people decided to bring the entire city to a...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: Unlike Senator Norris, I was on O'Connell Street yesterday and saw the thugs who wanted nothing other than to cause anarchy in this country.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: On O'Connell Street there was havoc. Was that very peaceful?

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: I wish to raise the issue of the nursing home support scheme. There are outrageous delays in securing funding for elderly people discharged from hospitals to nursing homes. In my own county there are 15 week delays in securing funding for a nursing home. Whereas the hospital funds the first four weeks, the person has to wait for 11 weeks without funding and when it is granted, there is no...

Seanad: Road Traffic (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage (16 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: I welcome the Minister to the House. Senator O'Neill explained very clearly the technicalities of what this Bill seeks to achieve. I have concerns regarding the retrospective aspect of the legislation. I hope it works, but we will not know that until such time as we see whether there is a legal challenge to it. Perhaps the way around this problem would have been to wipe any penalty points...

Seanad: Road Traffic (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage (16 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: If they did renew the licence, they would not have required it. They let it slip because they got no notification.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: The community in Ballingeary, County Cork, like the community in Dysart, County Roscommon, has had to take a High Court challenge to a decision by An Bord Pleanála to grant a wind farm development. The local community won in both cases. It was ruled that a company cannot get planning permission for a wind farm development without knowing how it will access the grid. The company in...

Seanad: Electoral Commission: Motion (17 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: Hear, hear. That is a valid point.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (18 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: How would they pay €8?

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (18 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: I compliment the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly. It is well acknowledged that he is doing a good job and that he is a fair Minister. He has listened to the concerns of the people and has turned the situation around. We all acknowledge that the way in which Irish Water was set up was wrong and the Minister has dealt with that appropriately....

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (18 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: However, all we have ever paid for through our taxes is the maintenance of a broken system. Since the establishment of Irish Water, I have never seen as much activity in my county, Roscommon, where 20,000 people are on boil water notices. In Boyle and Ardcarn, where 6,000 people are affected, the system has been fixed and the plant is now in operation, all in the space of a number of...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (18 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: I am also somewhat flabbergasted by Senator Walsh's statement that there should be competition in the delivery of Irish Water. That is grand but we know what competition can bring. It can bring cartelism and price fixing, in which case people would have no control over the price of water. I am encouraged by some of the Minister's statements in regard to something that has never happened in...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: Who was that?

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Kelly: Like other Senators, I do not see the need for this amendment. Senator Ó Clochartaigh seems to suggest that the system is not working. Perhaps it is not working in Galway. County Roscommon has had serious water quality issues for the past 20 years, including contamination with cryptosporidium and E. coli. The HSE acted quickly to inform the public in those cases. Public notices were...