Results 6,481-6,500 of 6,944 for speaker:Michael McNamara

Planning and Development Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: We have this tome of 720 pages to reform our planning Acts and we must ask why. It seems many of us do not really know why. We know there were problems with the planning system and that reviews were carried out, but we do not really know what those reviews found as they have never been published. There was certainly a problem with An Bord Pleanála. There were many cases in An Bord...

Planning and Development Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: Exactly. What we do not want is a scenario like the one in "My Cousin Vinny" where there are very high-powered legal teams on one side but not on the other because the costs that can be obtained are so low. We have never had an inequality of arms in Ireland.

Planning and Development Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: The Minister can come back in at the end. I have very limited time.

Planning and Development Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: Yes, Vinny won the case but that was Hollywood. There are many Vinnys who do not win. The Innocence Project in America works with lots of people who claim they were badly represented. Indeed, there are people in jails in Ireland who would claim they were badly represented. What we want to make sure is that people are not deterred on the basis of fees and that fees are not intentionally...

Planning and Development Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: I am going to finish on this point.

Planning and Development Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: Deputy Fitzmaurice has offered me a couple of minutes of his time.

Planning and Development Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: There was an argument in the past about fees for criminal defence lawyers. The Bar Council approached the then Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Brendan Howlin, to say that there was an inequality of arms in that prosecution lawyers were getting a little bit more than defence lawyers. The Minister remedied that by cutting the higher fees but at least there was an equality of arms...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: The Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) Bill 2023 is on the agenda this week. In 2019 the people of Limerick voted to have a directly elected mayor. It may not be the only one in the country, but it will certainly be the first. They were told he or she would have executive powers, notwithstanding that many of the powers of the CEO are not being transferred over. Many of the powers of the...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: Will we have time to debate the powers of devolution?

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: Will the debate on the mayor of Limerick Bill be guillotined?

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: I thank the Taoiseach.

Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) Bill 2023: Instruction to Committee (12 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: I would be loath to call a vote on a motion to recommit something to committee but I have two reservations I want to outline to the Minister of State and to the House. The first concerns the subject matter of the proposed amendments for which the Bill is being recommitted. Do I understand correctly that those amendments have almost nothing to do with the mayor of Limerick? Did somebody do...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Agriculture Schemes (13 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, for coming in this morning. I note that the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, is not here. I very much appreciate the Minister of State who has come in here although it is not for her Department. I know the Minister was at COP but he is back; he was around the House last night. We were told that in the event the Minister was not here and...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Agriculture Schemes (13 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: The Minister of State outlined the reasons for the delay, including the fact that it is not scored like the previous measures. However, it was the Department that determined there would be scoring in this. The Department set all the parameters of the scheme. Farmers had a simple choice to make, take it or leave it. They took it because they believed they had nothing to lose. In fact,...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Agriculture Schemes (13 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: Yes, I am out of time. However, the Minister is arguably out of order by not being here. That is all fine with the Ceann Comhairle's office.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Agriculture Schemes (13 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: It is a pity the Minister does not take some of his speaking time.

Increased Fossil Fuel Divestment: Motion [Private Members] (13 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: I thank my colleague Deputy Pringle for bringing forward this motion which I support, but with certain caveats or clarifications which I might seek. I very much support the spirit of the motion. There has been a lot of talk in Ireland about developing renewables. There has been a lot less action from the Government in actually developing renewables. We see that there has been an increase...

Digital Services Bill 2023: Second Stage (13 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: I certainly will not utilise that. If Deputy Wynne needs additional time, I am happy to share.

Digital Services Bill 2023: Second Stage (13 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: I have reservations about some aspects of the Bill. How Covid played out in the media was an enlightening and salutary experience for me. It was a strange thing to see what happened to medical doctors and people who head research centres in universities. I am thinking in particular of Professor Carl Heneghan, a British academic. Some of what he said was being flagged on Facebook as...

Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (13 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: I was going to say that I too wish to speak in favour of amendment No. 9, but I am not quite clear whether Deputy Leddin has spoken in favour of the amendment or against it. In any event, I believe it is an important amendment. Unlike Deputies Leddin and Quinlivan, I do not live in Limerick and did not vote in the Limerick plebiscite, but I have an interest in Limerick. I grew up 20 miles...