Results 1,761-1,780 of 3,652 for speaker:Michael Collins

Criminal Procedure Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I will be very brief. I support the amendments because they are made in good faith to ensure that the Bill is strengthened. As Deputy Mattie McGrath stated, everybody is innocent until proven guilty. Young people are sometimes convicted for small-time crimes. Crime is bad and many great community groups such as Business Watch are trying to help to fight crime. In no way do I condone...

Criminal Procedure Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (11 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I will be brief. I fully support this amendment. We talk about careful pre-legislative scrutiny of proposals here in the Oireachtas and that is certainly the way it should be. I have seen some cases where that has not happened, and that is unfortunate and something which should not have been allowed. In general, we must change the way in which some criminal proceedings are carried out....

Young People and Access to Further and Higher Education: Motion [Private Members] (11 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I fully support the motion. There are so many issues of serious concern to students in higher education. Even last week I raised a matter with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in the Dáil concerning motor mechanics apprenticeships with SOLAS. Although the students completed phase 2 of their apprenticeship in December 2020, they are still...

Ceathrú Chultúir 1916 Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (24 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I support the Bill as well. The UK property group, Hammerson, owns a six-acre site stretching from O'Connell Street to Moore Street and Parnell Street. It is to seek planning permission next month that will involve knocking down buildings and changing the streets. I am in full agreement with the measure in the Bill to put a preservation order on the terrace and curtilage of the premises...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I agree with my colleagues about the tourism and hospitality sector. West Cork is one of the top tourism spots in Ireland and it is particularly badly affected. The lead-in to Easter would have been a boom time for the hotel sector, restaurants, pubs and cafés. They need further supports. They are continuously in contact with me and they feel their voices are not being heard. Their...

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (24 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: Speaking at the European Committee of the Regions on 18 March, the EU Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, said that vaccine alone would not eradicate the virus. She also stressed the importance of tests and contact tracing. According to the Commissioner, tests are particularly important for member states that start reopening after lockdown. The Commissioner also mentioned that more...

Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021 [Seanad]: Second Stage (24 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I am happy to speak to the Bill, which will give adoptive parents the same rights as every other couple who have a child, which I fully support. This is a move in the right direction at a time when so much negativity has been shown to mothers and babies in this country by the Government. Adoptive and single parents should get leave to experience the same joy of having a loving baby in their...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Projects (24 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: 131. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if capital funding has been set aside in budget 2021 for road projects (details supplied) in County Cork. [39488/20]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Counselling Services (24 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: 1476. To ask the Minister for Health if the various unplanned pregnancy counselling services recognised by the sexual health and crisis pregnancy programme and in receipt of State funding are seeing clients face-to-face during the Covid-19 pandemic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14362/21]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Common Fisheries Policy (24 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: 2039. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there is a way of seeking additional unused non-national EU quota (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15758/21]

Covid-19 Vaccination Programme (Health): Statements (25 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I have raised numerous questions from my constituents about Covid, as have Deputy Mattie McGrath and others, but we never receive a reply from the Minister's Department. I hope that the Minister will come back to me about the questions I ask today. I have done my best to raise the concerns of those who want to have the vaccine offered to them but I am not forgetting those who have said that...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (25 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: We have an ideal opportunity to give some sort of hope to people next week. The roll-out is really shambolic of the vaccination side. I was speaking to doctors in Clonakilty and in Bantry last week and they were getting less than half of the vaccines that they were promised. We need to look at a county-by-county reopening because counties like Cork have one of the lowest rates. It has had...

Residential Tenancies Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (25 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I am afraid that this Bill may not protect the majority of people who are facing eviction. I do not think we fully comprehend the difficulties people go through when they are facing eviction. Some people have been fighting for years to try to hold on to their homes. They are willing to pay, have tried to pay and tried to negotiate. They are unfortunately facing the courts, which seem to...

Civil Liability and Courts (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (25 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I certainly support this legislation because we need insurance reform. It is long overdue. I was elected in 2016 to the Dáil and it is embarrassing to face my constituents time and again when they ask me what I have done about insurance. These are business people working their butts off, whether in a garage or elsewhere in west Cork. They are murdered by having to pay huge rates of...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Covid-19 Pandemic (25 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving us the opportunity to speak on this Topical Issue matter. Next week is one of great importance in the church calendar as it is Holy Week with its associated celebrations. It is upsetting for people to think they cannot go into their churches in a very careful manner. When they were allowed to open, the churches were safe. Large number of volunteers...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Covid-19 Pandemic (25 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I am very disappointed with the response of the Minister of State. This was an opportunity for the Government to show it respected people for the careful manner in which churches were opened. Clergy and volunteers had carried it out but unfortunately the Government has turned its back on them once again. It is incredible to say the least. As I said earlier, and the Minister of State did...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 30 - Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (30 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: Let us consider the average income for the schemes when they first started in 1992. Under the rural environment protection scheme, the average income was €5,000. By this measure in today's terms the average should be between €10,000 and €15,000 but that is not the case. Farmers are highly dependent on the environmental schemes and whatever schemes come their way. They...

Caring for Carers: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (31 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I welcome this motion about carers. I have been vocal in my support for carers in west Cork, especially in the times that we live in with Covid-19. Carers are unsung heroes. Many carers give up their everyday lives so that they can care for their family members. This often means leaving them with no time for themselves. The very least that we can do is support them in every way possible....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I want to raise the fishing deal the Government agreed to which is now seen as the greatest political sell-out of any industry that any Government has ever agreed to in the history of our State. This sell-out has angered fishing communities beyond words from Union Hall to Castletownbere, all along the coast to Donegal. New evidence in replies from a series of parliamentary questions...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (31 Mar 2021)

Michael Collins: I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. He said he consulted with the industry but he obviously did not listen to it or to the fishermen's groups. Listening to his reply, it is clear he has no future vision for the fishing sector in Ireland beyond decommissioning. He has no honest answers for the Government's shambolic handling of the Brexit negotiations, from which we came out the worst in...