Results 15,741-15,760 of 24,567 for speaker:Róisín Shortall

Confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government: Motion [Private Members] (3 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: The Minister is wrong.

Confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government: Motion [Private Members] (3 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: I ask the Minister to produce the evidence.

Confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government: Motion [Private Members] (3 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: It is our Private Members' time.

Confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government: Motion [Private Members] (3 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: Fianna Fáil should do something.

Confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government: Motion [Private Members] (3 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: Did Deputy O'Brien read the motion?

Confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government: Motion [Private Members] (3 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: I will start by thanking all of the contributors to the debate. I have to say I was somewhat amused by the similarity of scripts between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government: Motion [Private Members] (3 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: It was the single transferable script. They do come from the same background and hold the same type of ideology. There is not a cigarette paper between them. Deputy Heydon should know we were required to submit our Private Members' motion last Wednesday so it was not a question of looking for publicity.

Confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government: Motion [Private Members] (3 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: We were required to have it in last Wednesday and we did that. I have to say I am somewhat concerned and I wonder about the memory of the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. This morning, I heard him having a right swipe at me on "Morning Ireland". He referred to hypocrisy. He said our party never tabled amendments on the rent reform Bill earlier this year. What is wrong with the...

Confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government: Motion [Private Members] (3 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: There is no doubt the housing crisis is one of the main challenges facing the country and the failure to address this crisis represents a major failure of responsibility on the part of the Minister. Ensuring an adequate supply of housing at affordable cost is a basic responsibility of any Government. The Minister has abdicated this responsibility by outsourcing it to the market. The market...

Confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government: Motion [Private Members] (3 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: The experience with the Ó Cualann housing co-operative in Ballymun has demonstrated how very good-quality, carbon-neutral, three-bedroom houses can be built for €200,000.

Confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government: Motion [Private Members] (3 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: There is no reason we cannot build large numbers of houses at that price on the very many publicly-owned sites available in Dublin and throughout the country. This is the type of approach taken by many Governments in the past, even when times were very hard. It is a cruel irony that at a time when the country was never wealthier, so many people are locked out of housing completely. There...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: Tomorrow afternoon, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, INTO, and teachers from DEIS band 1 schools will gather at the Department of Education and Skills to hand in a letter to the Minister about their concerns regarding a lack of targeting of educational disadvantage in the budget. The pupil-teacher ratio was reduced for other schools but there was no corresponding reduction for DEIS...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: I am talking specifically about disadvantaged schools.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (4 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: The pupil-teacher ratio has not been reduced for them.

Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: I know a lot of my constituents enjoy bingo and play it quite a bit. As a social outlet, bingo has a lot to recommend it and Deputy Burton went through a number of the attractions of it. It is an innocent pastime and it is a way for a lot of people to socialise that does not cost a lot of money, does not involve alcohol and is harmless fun. Rightly or wrongly, people's concerns have been...

Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: A lot of the talk is about fundraising events, GAA clubs and different community organisations. However, a huge number of people participate in bingo that is run on a commercial basis. Is that a legitimate commercial activity?

Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: The Minister of State is shaking his head. Is it the case that bingo is a form of entertainment? Is it valid to say that with this form of entertainment in which a lot of people participate, enjoy and get a lot of satisfaction from, there should be an imposition of a requirement to donate 25% of the proceeds to charity? How fair is that as an approach? If the Government is saying that...

Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: The Government is therefore lumping bingo in with all lotteries and gambling and because of that it is not regarded as a separate activity in its own right. It seems that what the Government is proposing to do is unnecessarily rigid and potentially unfair. That is how it strikes me. I wish we had a proper briefing from the Minister of State to address the concerns that have been expressed...

Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: The Minister of State said in his response that there is so much push-back on this issue he can only imagine what might happen when it comes to dealing with the heavy stuff. It might have been better if he had started off with the heavy stuff such as the element of gambling that is problematic and causing huge social problems, particularly within families. It would have been better if he...

Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)

Róisín Shortall: Yes, it is a business but it is an entertainment business without too many downsides to it. Why not regulate it properly and deal with it in a different way? I am not aware that the Minister of State was seeking to take a contribution for charity from any other commercial entertainment activity or business but if he wants to do that, he should do so in a reasonable way. Can he tell me...