Results 41-60 of 935 for speaker:Mary Moran

Seanad: Health Awareness and Physical Fitness: Motion (23 Nov 2011)

Mary Moran: I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I too commend Senator Coghlan on his excellent briefing booklet on physical fitness and education. He will have to run home tonight with all the praise he is getting here today. We are all aware of the importance of a healthy lifestyle and physical fitness to improve our well-being and health, both physical and mental, and our hectic life...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Dec 2011)

Mary Moran: Every day in this Chamber it amazes me to hear Fianna Fáil blame everybody else for the cuts when we are in this position because of that party's work during the past 14 years.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Dec 2011)

Mary Moran: It is dreadful. That is the reason we are in this position and why we have had to make the cuts we did. Nobody likes to do that. I agree wholeheartedly with Senator Mullins it would be a fantastic idea to arrange a debate on job creation in the new year. I also agree with and welcome the news from the Taoiseach that the proposed cuts for disability will be reversed. I am delighted at...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Dec 2011)

Mary Moran: I welcome that and the fact we are working together, leading, and that we will do what we can for the poor and vulnerable in this country. I ask for a debate and review on the whole issue of disability and disability allowances. The problem is that people tend to place all disabilities into the one basket. That cannot be done because there are multiple layers of disability. The people who...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Second Stage (13 Dec 2011)

Mary Moran: I also welcome the Minister and thank her for coming into the Seanad today. Before I start, I would like to pick up on the point raised by Senator Mooney, where he talked about the mother in Newry, where the cost of living is lower. As a mother who lives in Dundalk, relative costs are not so different and many mothers from Newry often travel to enjoy the facilities, including socialising...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (18 Jan 2012)

Mary Moran: I, too add my sympathies to the family and colleagues of Mr. Aengus Fanning on his passing. I refer to the decision by Diageo to close its plant in Dundalk and relocate everything to St. James's Gate. I have submitted a request to raise the matter on the Adjournment and I look forward to having the opportunity to speak on this as soon as possible. I also highlight, as many of my colleagues...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (25 Jan 2012)

Mary Moran: I, too, welcome the Minister to the Seanad. As stated, the Education (Amendment) Bill was presented to the Dáil by the previous Government but did not receive a hearing in the previous Seanad. On the housekeeping aspects of the Bill, I welcome the provision to abolish two quangos, the Educational Disadvantage Committee, which concluded its work in 2005, and the Scientific and Technological...

Seanad: Services for People with Disabilities: Motion (25 Jan 2012)

Mary Moran: I also welcome the Minister of State to the House. She has been a great source of information and she is always been approachable when we have questions. I highly commend the motion and Government Members are in difficult position, given an amendment has been tabled, but there is not much difference between them. The bottom line is we all want to do away with the stigma associated with...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jan 2012)

Mary Moran: I welcome the U-turn by the Ulster council of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann on its decision to support Derry's bid for the All-Ireland fleadh next year. I would also like to compliment Senator Ó Murchú on the work he has done in this area as president of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. As a former music teacher and as someone who has been involved in the fleadh at local level, I know the...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Mary Moran: I welcome the Minister. As I agree with the Government on this matter, I cannot support the amendment. As a teacher, I am of the opinion that the two must be kept separate. The key is that a link is provided through resource teachers. It is good that this is the case because when it is recognised that a child requires assistance in communicating, speech therapy or other services can be...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Mary Moran: I add my support. As has already been stated, it is unusual to get 100% agreement among everybody. The important thing, as previous speakers said, is consultation. It is the fairest way.

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Mary Moran: I agree with Senator Jim D'Arcy on this issue. It will not always be possible to get agreement; that is human nature. Therefore, it is important that there be somebody at the top, that is, the Minister, with the deciding power. That said, I welcome the Minister's undertaking on the redeployment, for example, of teachers to gaelscoileanna. It is important that consideration be taken of the...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Mary Moran: Boards of management may have power but much of the time those boards may not even be consulted. I have personal experience of this matter and I am aware that the first one will hear about a particular teacher being employed is when one receives a telephone call to ratify his or her appointment. There might have been no consultation prior to said telephone call being made. What the...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Mary Moran: All Members agree that it is preferable to have qualified teachers teaching children, where possible, but there are exceptional cases. I am in agreement with the Minister on this point. I taught music which is very much a minority subject and sometimes it was difficult to find a substitute teacher to teach subjects such as music or physics. A person with a relevant degree who is not a...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Mary Moran: In response to Senator Norris, for what it is worth I will add my tuppence-ha'penny. When the regulations stipulating that one was obliged to register with the Teaching Council were introduced a number of years ago, mea culpa but I was one of those who forgot to re-register at the end of that year. It simply was a time lapse as I was too busy in the classroom. I also mentioned this point...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Mary Moran: The distinction being made in this regard is the difference between a qualified teacher and a registered teacher. A qualified teacher has all his or her qualifications but has not registered with the Teaching Council, whereas to be a registered member of the Teaching Council, one must be a qualified teacher.

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 Jan 2012)

Mary Moran: As I noted a few minutes ago, we want to see our newly qualified teachers gain as much experience as possible. I agree with Senator Power and others and perhaps we can examine the issue.

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Feb 2012)

Mary Moran: I welcome the announcement made yesterday by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, and Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, that all second level schools will have access to high speed broadband by 2014 and it will be available in 200 schools from September 2012. As an educator, I have long campaigned for efficient, high speed...

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Feb 2012)

Mary Moran: The previous Government's promises did not materialise. I call on the Leader to ensure that in addition to providing all schools with high speed broadband access, all classrooms are equipped with a digital board. Sometimes we have broadband but if we do not have the digital boards and the equipment to go with it, we are really not fulfilling anything. Will they be introduced also? Will...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Political Funding Bill 2012: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2012)

Mary Moran: I welcome the Minister back to the Seanad. I wish to focus on Part 5. As previous speakers have said, this is a vast Bill and we simply do not have time to speak in detail about all the areas. I will hone in specifically on the gender balance question. Many of the facts and figures have been discussed and have arisen between today and last week. When we reflect on the 15% of women in the...