Results 841-860 of 4,399 for speaker:Martin Browne

Post Office Network: Motion [Private Members] (7 Jul 2021)

Martin Browne: I thank the Regional Group of Independents for tabling this motion as well as Deputy O'Rourke for bringing the amendment. That we are again talking about the future of the post office network is testament to the continued refusal of the Department to support our post offices and to support rural areas and their local economies. At this stage it seems as though the Department of the...

CervicalCheck Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Jul 2021)

Martin Browne: The purpose of the CervicalCheck tribunal was to foster and rebuild trust between women and the health services as an alternative option to the courts dealing with claims against the State. It was supposed to be a forum where women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal and their families and survivors could give an account of their experiences and be compensated for the dreadful failings to...

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: I welcome everyone to our public virtual meeting using Microsoft Teams. The Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil, Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl, and the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Senator Mark Daly, have appealed to everybody in the parliamentary community to continue to follow public health advice, to wear a mask and to maintain social distancing. I request that members, witnesses...

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: I thank Dr. Muldoon. I am sure all the members will have plenty of questions but I will start. It is frightening to read the report and see some of the things that are going on in direct provision centres, especially with regard to young children being totally neglected, for want of a better word. One of the concerns raised in the opening section of the report is that residents are...

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: I will make a couple of points before I bring other members in. From reading the report by the Ombudsman for Children's Office, it comes across as though our responsibility for children in direct provision was taken on begrudgingly by some. It looks like a system that was not really devised or thought out in any constructive way, but instead was developed on the hoof without any...

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: I thank Dr. Muldoon. I will come back in later on. I call Deputy Buckley next, to be followed by Deputy Devlin.

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: I thank Dr. Muldoon, and I call Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan.

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: I have a few more questions. During your work on direct provision and the challenges faced by the children you have obviously seen how Covid-19 has limited the provision of certain services. Has Covid-19 been used as an excuse for the lack of services to begin with in some cases? For example, you found that IPAS had approximately one clinic rather than two in each direct provision centre...

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: That is grand. Do all staff in these centres understand their obligations under the Children First Act 2015? Is the child and family services unit adequately resourced? Is there a procedure in place to identify children with special needs, especially in a timely manner, in centres such as these? Has Tusla developed an intercultural strategy to inform the provision of social services to...

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: If nothing else goes out from here today - and it has come up on several occasions - it should be the number of professionals and trained people who could make a massive difference to our communities and the country if they were not caught up in the system year upon year. It has been flagged over and over again, with regard to the whole system speeding up. These professionals want to work...

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: The perception of a social welfare state for people in direct provision needs to be done away with. There are people in direct provision who would gladly start working, paying tax and being a major addition to this country tomorrow morning. I take it that no other member wishes to contribute. We are running against the clock anyway. Do Dr. Muldoon and Ms Ward wish to make a final comment?

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: The discussion has been beneficial and informative. On behalf of the committee, I thank our witnesses for attending, even though it has only been virtually. I hope that they will be able to visit the Oireachtas committee in person in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, we wish them the best for the summer and hope they stay safe.

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: We lost the video feed during the meeting, but thanks to the staff here, we got it back fairly quickly and we were able to watch and listen again. I wish to correct the record. I said that the minutes were April's, but they were actually from 25 May.

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: If no members wish to raise any other business, then the committee will adjourn until 11 a.m. on Thursday, 8 July for a virtual private meeting, to be followed by a public meeting at 12.30 a.m. The details will follow. I thank Mr. Leo Bollins, Ms Barbara Hughes and the other secretariat staff for their work.

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Martin Browne: I thank Ms Ward and I call Deputy O'Donoghue.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (8 Jul 2021)

Martin Browne: 193. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will increase the funding that his Department makes available to local authorities for the housing adaptation grant; his views on the way in which the level of funding is continually excluding many persons from getting work done; his views on the way Tipperary County Council’s budget for 2021 is already fully...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (8 Jul 2021)

Martin Browne: 194. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his views on the way the underfunding of the housing adaptation grant results in families being unable to get sensory rooms fitted out; his further views on the fact that when families apply for this funding from Tipperary County Council that the money allocated has been spent; his views on the impact that his is having on...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cannabis for Medicinal Use (13 Jul 2021)

Martin Browne: 41. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the medicinal cannabis access programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28321/21]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cannabis for Medicinal Use (13 Jul 2021)

Martin Browne: I ask the Minister for Health the status of the medicinal cannabis access programme and if he will make a statement on this matter.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cannabis for Medicinal Use (13 Jul 2021)

Martin Browne: The Minister will not be surprised to hear I am again highlighting the plight of Ms Vera Twomey and her daughter, Ava, who suffers from Dravet's Syndrome. This family and other families still have to fork out €9,500 every three months to get Bedrocan and they have to wait as long as five to six weeks to get reimbursed. I know the Dutch authorities will not allow the commercial export...