Results 61-80 of 118 for speaker:Maria McCormack

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Challenges Relating to the Delivery of Housing: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Maria McCormack: I really welcome that. That is lovely. Thanks a million.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Standards of Care, Related Practices and Oversight in Nursing Homes: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

Maria McCormack: I am from Laois and live in Portlaoise. Unfortunately, when I was watching the programme I recognised some of the residents and workers. It is very difficult for them. I have a lot of questions so I will go through them and I request brief answers. I have to correct the record by noting that The Residence, Portlaoise opened in October or November of 2023, not in 2024. There have been...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Standards of Care, Related Practices and Oversight in Nursing Homes: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

Maria McCormack: That is okay. I want to move on. Of the 17 reports of serious injury that resulted in hospital admission or death, when was the first of them reported?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Standards of Care, Related Practices and Oversight in Nursing Homes: Discussion (18 Jun 2025)

Maria McCormack: Was there a death related to abuse in the nursing home?

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Jul 2025)

Maria McCormack: There is a lack of GPs in Laois. We have had a large population growth but do not have services, especially GPs, to match this. The national average GP ratio is 1:1,000 but in Laois at the moment the ratio is about 1:1,600. There are large areas in Laois that have no GP. To use the town of Ballickmoyler as an example, it has a population of approximately 1,100 people and hundreds of new...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Housing Delivery, Service and Supply: Discussion (1 Jul 2025)

Maria McCormack: I will pick one issue and explain and give an overview of it. I mention Hollybrook, a developer in County Laois. I feel like piggy in the middle in this situation. Eighty houses have been sold to families, some of whom have reached out to me. They were originally supposed to move into the houses in February 2025. The date was pushed back to April or May 2025 and then again to October...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Housing Delivery, Service and Supply: Discussion (1 Jul 2025)

Maria McCormack: Before Mr. Rossiter comes in, can he provide me with some kind of date for these 80 families? We can imagine how stressful it is for them.

Seanad: Pregnancy Loss (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Second Stage (9 Jul 2025)

Maria McCormack: I welcome the work that Senator Ryan and my party, Sinn Féin, have done on this issue. I thank Nicole for sharing her personal and powerful story. It is a story to which, sadly, the one in four women who experience a miscarriage can relate very well. There are approximately 15,000 miscarriages a year in Ireland. We know this loss can have a profound emotional impact not only on the...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Second Stage (9 Jul 2025)

Maria McCormack: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill on behalf of the Sinn Féin team. This legislation started from a really good place, namely, the intention to address the historic injustice whereby children of cohabiting parents were treated less favourably than those of married parents, a provision found to be unconstitutional in the O'Meara case, as we all know. While this is welcome...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

Maria McCormack: I want to talk about Laois and especially the neglect of commuter counties. We take the overspill from the housing crisis. Laois is one of the fastest-growing populations but if the LDA was concentrating on the bigger cities, Laois was really left behind, so there are a couple of issues. The biggest issue is the affordability of the houses. It is like feeding a monster. I bought a house...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

Maria McCormack: Yes. There is then the piece around engagement on the infrastructure. If we are going to build more houses, every development that gets built in Portlaoise now will face the same problems. It is a case of having all the systems working together or else there is no point in doing it. We do not have many affordable schemes in County Laois. One started in Stradbally a couple of weeks ago....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

Maria McCormack: Okay. I thank the Minister.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Jul 2025)

Maria McCormack: Today, the Sinn Féin team will bring the first ever motion on endometriosis care to Dáil Éireann. I am so proud of this motion. Since I first rose to speak about endometriosis and Women's Health Week on 5 March, so many women have reached out to me. We have held nine public meetings and engaged with thousands of women. We heard harrowing stories of the failures they...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

Maria McCormack: I move amendment No. 1: In page 5, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following: “(3) Before the coming into operation of this Act, the Minister shall publish a report which outlines the following: (a) the degree of financial dependence that families with divorced or separated parents have on those parents; (b) an overview of the legal issues with not providing the same...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2025)

Maria McCormack: First, I would like to mention the shocking attacks on the aid flotilla to Gaza today, which is yet another disgraceful breach of international law.This is a humanitarian fleet of over 500 civilian volunteers and it was subjected to co-ordinated attacks in European waters off Crete. Aid is so desperately needed for the starving people in Gaza and everything that can be done must be done to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Affordable Housing: Discussion (23 Sep 2025)

Maria McCormack: I thank everybody for coming in. I am delighted we get to have a session solely on affordable housing because this is the biggest crisis we have at the moment. If you are in a rural community like Laois, it is nearly non-existent. I have two questions. First, Mr. Taaffe mentioned in his opening statement that out of the 31 local authorities, there are 18 that have been identified as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Affordable Housing: Discussion (23 Sep 2025)

Maria McCormack: I am sorry to interrupt Mr. Taaffe but is he saying that if the local authorities submit that they can build or supply more affordable housing, there will be more budget there? The budget is not based on the target.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Affordable Housing: Discussion (23 Sep 2025)

Maria McCormack: More budget.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Affordable Housing: Discussion (23 Sep 2025)

Maria McCormack: Okay, that is fine. Mr. Coleman was in here in June and that was fantastic but with the LDA, when you are outside of Dublin or a big city, we are left behind. I read Mr. Coleman's opening statement. I know the LDA has not been able to focus on rural communities yet but I loved that when we got past all the progress in all the big cities and got to the last lines, it was stated: "The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Affordable Housing: Discussion (23 Sep 2025)

Maria McCormack: Great. I know I am over time but within the next two months, when Mr. Coleman has this plan, can he please share it with the committee?