Results 101-120 of 1,759 for speaker:Lynn Boylan

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2021)

Lynn Boylan: I would like to raise the distressing news that the delay in the Stardust inquest commencing is due to the Department of Justice and its stonewalling of the legal teams representing the families and the release of funds. We were given repeated commitments by the Minister for Justice and by the Taoiseach, when he announced the budget last year, that there would be sufficient funding put in...

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

Lynn Boylan: I raise the issue of the housing assistance payment, HAP, and figures that were released to Deputy Gould. These figures show that this system of housing supports is not working and that it is time for a review of all rent subsidies. HAP does not offer security of tenure or help people in need of long-term housing and HAP limits are not in line with market rents. HAP rates are particularly...

Seanad: Student Nurses (Pay) Bill 2021: Second Stage (19 Feb 2021)

Lynn Boylan: I am afraid that I will not get to come in.

Seanad: Student Nurses (Pay) Bill 2021: Second Stage (19 Feb 2021)

Lynn Boylan: The Senator could have kept talking. I welcome the Minister and commend Senator Hoey on her work in respect of this issue. I welcome the Bill being brought forward by the Labour Party. We have heard today that the exploitation of our student nurses and midwives is absolutely scandalous. They are filling vital roles in a healthcare system that has been deprived of resources and chronically...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Housing Assistance Payment (22 Feb 2021)

Lynn Boylan: I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House today to address what I see as a very urgent issue. It has come to my attention that under the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 housing assistance payments, HAP, including homeless HAP, are being taken into account as a means or an income when a person applies for civil legal aid. I am sure the Minister of State, in his role in the Department...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Housing Assistance Payment (22 Feb 2021)

Lynn Boylan: Given that it is subject to regulations, I hope the Minister will change the regulations to ensure that interpretation is not taken in terms of HAP. How is it legal that the State in one case is treating tenants in local authority housing or that of housing bodies differently from those tenants, eligible for social housing, but who due to the chronic shortage of social housing are forced...

Seanad: National Climate and Air Roadmap for the Agriculture Sector: Statements (22 Feb 2021)

Lynn Boylan: I welcome the Minister. We are here to discuss the Ag Climatise plan published last December. However, we all know that before the ink had even dried, the Minister of State, Senator Pippa Hackett, was instructing Green Party members to ignore the plan for emissions on agriculture. Perhaps the Minister could start with confirming if we should ignore this plan as well. We know our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Decarbonising Transport: Discussion (23 Feb 2021)

Lynn Boylan: I will be very brief. I thank the witnesses for their brilliant contributions . Most of my questions are for Mr. Murphy. He referred to Scania and its move away from fuels towards electric freight, and the fact that the EU has a new hydrogen strategy. From an Irish perspective, should we consider hydrogen from an energy storage basis rather than for freight, rail or anything like that?...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Mar 2021)

Lynn Boylan: I raise the very concerning report in today's edition of The Irish Timesthat Forest Industries Ireland lobbied the Government to appoint the author of the Mackinnon report and offered to pay some of the costs. Regardless of differing opinions on the Mackinnon report, and putting aside the fact that we all accept there are deep systemic problems in the forestry sector in Ireland, this is...

Seanad: Local Government (Use of CCTV in Prosecution of Offences) Bill 2021: Second Stage (5 Mar 2021)

Lynn Boylan: I too welcome this Bill. Everybody knows illegal dumping is the scourge of many communities. The Bill addresses a very specific problem identified by the DPC in investigating the use of surveillance technology in the area of illegal dumping. We know this Bill would place the use of CCTV by county councils on a secure legal footing and enable them to investigate and prosecute offences. I...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Value Added Tax (8 Mar 2021)

Lynn Boylan: Everyone of us became more aware of the issue of plastic pollution over the last number of years. This is not just because of the unsightly nature of it but because we are now very aware of the knock-on impacts plastics have on all manner of wildlife. When I worked on the EU single use plastic directive, we were told that period products are the fifth most common item found in marine litter...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Value Added Tax (8 Mar 2021)

Lynn Boylan: I thank the Minister of State for his response. I welcome that he has confirmed Ireland is pushing at an EU level to change the VAT rules. However, there needs to be urgency on it given the level of plastic pollution and the fact that cost is a real barrier to accessing these products. I welcome the VAT rate was reduced but it is still higher than the 9% VAT rate on restaurants, pubs and...

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

Lynn Boylan: I apologise for arriving late and for trying to do two jobs.

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

Lynn Boylan: Women are familiar with that situation. I am on a committee as well as in the Seanad Chamber. Today, I wish to raise access to justice, in particular for women. We have good laws, but they are not enforced or people do not have the resources to access justice to see them enforced. I wish to raise two barriers that prevent women accessing justice. The first relates to the housing...

Seanad: International Women's Day: Statements (8 Mar 2021)

Lynn Boylan: Guím Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan sona do gach éinne sa Teach. I used to love International Women's Day. It was a day to celebrate one's feminist heroes such as Kathleen Lynn - I am wearing a brooch commemorating her. She was a proud republican woman who fought for the freedom of her State, but she also played a significant role in addressing inequalities in mothers'...

Seanad: Private Rental Sector: Motion (8 Mar 2021)

Lynn Boylan: I second the motion. I am delighted to be able to be in the position to do so because as my colleague, Senator Warfield, said, the housing crisis is definitely out of control. This motion could not be timelier. It addresses many of the problems faced by renters such as short-term letting, prices being driven up, people being forced to move home and rents that are too high and insecure.Our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Decarbonising Transport: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Mar 2021)

Lynn Boylan: I thank the speakers for their presentations. Like Deputy Farrell, many of the questions I had have been answered at this stage, but I might expand on them. There has been much talk about moving away from a cost-benefit analysis and striking a balance right between what the cost, social benefit and emissions will be. Is a set of criteria or best practice used for those transport projects,...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Mar 2021)

Lynn Boylan: I condemn any threats that have been made against any elected representatives. We all agree such threats are inappropriate and should be condemned by everybody, no matter what political background we come from. I will address the 105th anniversary of the Easter Rising. I commend the work of my colleague in Dáil Éireann, Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh, on a Private Member's Bill to...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Mar 2021)

Lynn Boylan: It gives me no pleasure to raise this issue. I thank my colleague, Senator Gavan, who was due to speak today and has given me his speaking time. On 12 February, I raised the issue of funding for the Stardust inquest. I spoke of how the Department of Justice had been warned repeatedly that the legal aid route was not the appropriate mechanism to address an inquest of this size and public...

Seanad: Reports on Department of Health Policy in RTÉ Investigates Programme: Statements (29 Mar 2021)

Lynn Boylan: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I too thank her for being honest and up front about her horror at the "RTÉ Investigates" programme. The findings of that programme were extraordinary in that at the same time as families of children with autism are fighting to ensure their children get proper access to services to which they should be entitled, the Department of Health is...