Results 81-100 of 969 for speaker:John McGahon

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Dec 2020)

John McGahon: I want to talk about the issue of housing maintenance, particularly in my own county of Louth. This follows on from issues on which I have been working and from the meeting that all Louth Oireachtas Members had yesterday with the council executive. There is, essentially, no housing maintenance budget in County Louth. The three engineers are each down to approximately their last...

Seanad: Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Bill 2020: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2020)

John McGahon: The Senator should conclude.

Seanad: Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Bill 2020: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2020)

John McGahon: We will move on to the group 4 amendments, which pertain to residential tenancies, the disapplication of Part 3, the subject matter of amendment No. 15 and the Seanad Report Stage amendments Nos. 9 to 17, inclusive.

Seanad: Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Bill 2020: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2020)

John McGahon: Does the Minister want to come back in?

Seanad: Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Bill 2020: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2020)

John McGahon: We now move to the amendments in group 5, which pertain to residential tenancies – notice of termination and prohibition on rent increases, the subject matter of amendments Nos. 16 and 17, and Seanad Report Stage amendments Nos. 18 to 24, inclusive.

Seanad: Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Bill 2020: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2020)

John McGahon: Group 6, on public hearings on residential tenancies. It concerns the subject matter of amendment No. 19.

Seanad: Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Bill 2020: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2020)

John McGahon: Yes.

Seanad: Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Bill 2020: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2020)

John McGahon: We are finished with the groups. Does the Minister want to conclude?

Seanad: Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Bill 2020: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2020)

John McGahon: As the discussion on all the groups has concluded, we will now move to the formal moving of each of the Senators' amendments. I remind Senators that, on Report Stage, each non-Government amendment must be seconded. The first amendment is amendment No. 1, in the names of Warfield, Ó Donnghaile, Gavan and Boylan. It arises out of amendments made in the Dáil and has already been...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Dec 2020)

John McGahon: It is funny that we are talking about reflections and so forth. This day last year was my last day in Leinster House as a member of staff, after seven years. I finished to focus on the general election that I hoped would be called in the summer but it was called about two weeks later. If it had not been called, we would have gone straight into Covid-19 and many of us would not be sitting...

Seanad: Covid-19 Vaccination Programme: Statements (26 Jan 2021)

John McGahon: Over Christmas I took a strong interest in vaccines, the history of vaccines and everything else. Let us consider smallpox, a disease that has ravaged mankind for millennia. We can go back as far as the death of Ramesses V, who died in 1,145 B.C. When his mummy was exhumed in the 1970s the experts could see evidence of smallpox legions on the mummified corpse. They identified him as being...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Enrolments (1 Feb 2021)

John McGahon: I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter. He selected it before Christmas but I got my days mixed up. I apologise to him for that. The Haynestown and Blackrock area, just south of Dundalk, is one of the fastest growing areas in County Louth in respect of population. Some 1,650 planning applications have been submitted for housing and more than 500 houses have been...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Enrolments (1 Feb 2021)

John McGahon: I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive reply. It is very much appreciated. I would like to make two points about it. It may be too late for this debate but we need to treat the Haynestown and Blackrock area separately from the Dundalk planning area, which is utilised by the Department. Dundalk is a town of approximately 40,0000 people. The Blackrock-Haynestown area, which...

Seanad: Response to Covid-19 (Housing, Local Government and Heritage): Statements (1 Feb 2021)

John McGahon: I would like to talk briefly about voids in the Louth County Council area. Some 97 voids have been brought back into stock in the last year and families are now living in them. Louth County Council has been one of the most ambitious local authorities in terms of taking voids back into use since 2016, when we were using compulsory purchase orders to take vacant houses. It is not all doom...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Feb 2021)

John McGahon: I would like to raise the difficulties facing more than 20,000 people living with type 1 diabetes in Ireland during the Covid-19 pandemic. The latest data from across the globe shows, and HSE advice states, that those with diabetes face far worse outcomes if they contract Covid-19. The HSE also advises diabetes patients to avoid visiting hospitals and GP care at all times where possible,...

Seanad: Mental Health and Covid-19: Statements (12 Feb 2021)

John McGahon: To lead off on the final few points that Senator Byrne made, my sister, Ruth, is 20 years of age. She is in her second year in UCD and she has spent her whole second year on Zoom lectures at home. She does not know it, but I feel so sorry for people of her generation who are missing out on what are the best years of their lives. I look back on my three years in UCD as the happiest times of...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Feb 2021)

John McGahon: I will raise an issue today on which the Leader has much experience and has been vocal about, both inside and outside this House, namely, the Irish aviation industry. At some stage in the future, I would appreciate if we could table a debate and have the Minister for Transport come into this House to outline his plans - really good, detailed plans - for the Irish aviation industry. I raise...

Seanad: Remote Working Strategy: Motion (15 Feb 2021)

John McGahon: That is a hard act to follow because Senator Currie has been talking about remote working since long before Covid existed.

Seanad: Remote Working Strategy: Motion (15 Feb 2021)

John McGahon: I second the motion. We can see how impressive Senator Currie is because of the clear and detailed ideas she has put forward. Credit has to be given to her for that. In my part of County Louth, the national broadband plan will have to play an important part if remote working is to be successful. I pay tribute to Fine Gael and particularly its website, finegael.ie/broadband, which was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: The EU and Irish Unity - Planning and Preparing for Constitutional Change in Ireland: Discussion (16 Feb 2021)

John McGahon: I have three or four key questions, which I will get through quickly. I remember when I was on Louth County Council in early 2017, approximately six to ten months after the Brexit referendum happened, that Sinn Féin had a motion calling for a border poll. One of the points I made back then, which I still believe now, is that we are far better off having a border poll when we know we...