Results 1,781-1,800 of 1,835 for speaker:Chris Andrews

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Feb 2025)

Chris Andrews: Would it be possible to invite the Minister for housing in specifically to discuss the regeneration of flat complexes around Dublin? As an example, the refurbishment and redevelopment of communities and flat complexes in Dublin Bay South and in the south inner city is desperately needed.The regeneration is moving at a snail's pace. Residents are having to live in accommodation that is...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Feb 2025)

Chris Andrews: There was another fatal stabbing in Dublin city centre this weekend. Clearly, Dublin is not safe for anybody using the city centre. There is a real sense of menace. It is no surprise to residents living in the inner city, for example, on Pearse Street and Kevin Street, that there was a fatal stabbing. Right across the inner city, it is no surprise because on a daily basis, residents and...

Seanad: Public Transport: Motion (26 Feb 2025)

Chris Andrews: I congratulate the Minister on his new position. There are a lot of moving parts to it, literally. I wish him the best of luck in that. I do not believe the Minister mentioned the extension of light rail down to the Irish Glass Bottle site. Obviously, he knows about the Irish Glass Bottle site extensively. I know his predecessor put back the Luas, the light rail, down to the Irish...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Domestic Pets (27 Feb 2025)

Chris Andrews: I congratulate the Minister on his new position. It is well deserved. Last year, the Fine Gael Minister in the previous Government spent €400,000 on a campaign to highlight the need for dog owners to be responsible dog owners. A few months later, the Minister was banning XL bullies and targeting specific dogs, rather than targeting behaviour, and letting irresponsible owners off the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Domestic Pets (27 Feb 2025)

Chris Andrews: I thank the Minister. I have to emphasise the importance of having an appeals process and that it is independent. When the ban was brought in, the Government had to bring an independent expert from England, Ms Debbie Connolly, because there is no expertise here in terms of identifying what an XL Bully is. Debbie Connolly trained some of the dog wardens. Some dog wardens did not go to the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Domestic Pets (27 Feb 2025)

Chris Andrews: With the ban, however, the dog is being punished.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 Feb 2025)

Chris Andrews: St. Patrick's Boys' National School in Ringsend is a DEIS band 1 school that serves pupils in Ringsend, Irishtown and Pearse Street. The Department of Education has just notified it that it is going to lose a teacher, which is a huge blow to the school. It has failed to meet the arbitrary 127 retention pupil rate. The staff work themselves to the bone there. The conditions they are...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (4 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: Apartheid Israel has stopped bombing Gaza. It has decided to change its strategy and starve the people of the Gaza Strip. Withholding food and emergency aid is genocide. It is sickening. It is also against international law to continue to do that. Yet, the Irish Government still has not sanctioned Israel. There have been no sanctions. There are no consequences for Israel in the context...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: Pearse House flats, which are located just off Pearse Street, are due to be regenerated as part of the flat regeneration scheme. This regeneration is taking place at a snail's pace. The conditions residents have to live in are absolutely unacceptable. In the past week, two residents have had to be moved out of their homes; both of their flats were completely flooded by raw sewage which...

Seanad: The Diaspora: Statements (5 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: I congratulate the Minister of State on his new portfolio. It is a really interesting role and is one that I know he is very interested in. I wish him the best of luck in it because it is important for everyone that he is successful. The Irish diaspora is a unique feature of our historical and cultural identity and is crucial to our global influence and political future. Irish men and...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Public Parks (6 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: I congratulate the Minister of State on his new role. It is an important role, as we have seen, for communities across the country. It is also important the Minister of State is successful in it. I wish him the best of luck. The Iveagh Gardens is a green lung for this city. They are more than just a park; they are a piece of our living history. They are one of the few surviving...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Public Parks (6 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: I thank the Minister of State. None of the issues I raised was addressed. The Save the Iveagh Gardens campaign is not happy with any proposals to destroy the area.The long boundary wall will be destroyed. I invite the Minister of State to visit the gardens at lunchtime. They ware magnificent. The OPW does a very good job within the boundary walls, but to allow the destruction of the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: I raise the ongoing crisis facing residents in Glovers Court, a Dublin City Council flat complex off York Street, and O'Carroll Villas. Drug dealers run these flat complexes. Glovers Court is like a 24-hour drug shop, with dealers using Kinder eggs to hide their drugs in the playground at O'Carroll Villas.Gangs of young people are egging those using the local shops and businesses. The pace...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: When you think the horror in the Gaza Strip cannot get any worse, it does. It gets worse on a daily basis. First, we had the genocide, the destruction of hospitals, the murder and the slaughter. Then we have the starvation, the killing, the terror, the blocking of food, the blocking of medicines and the turning off of electrical power, which impacts the desalination systems and water so...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: Surgical insemination of greyhounds is deeply disturbing and inhumane. It is a practice that continues to plague the greyhound industry in Ireland. It is a procedure where a female dog's uterus is removed, semen is injected into the uterus, the uterus is then returned to the greyhound and she is then sewn back up and expected to carry the litter of dogs for 60 days while recovering from...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Child Protection (25 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I wish him well in his role. It is an interesting role. It is in everyone's interest that he is successful. I rise here today to ask a question that weighs heavily on the minds of many in this Chamber but, far more importantly, on the hearts of countless survivors throughout the country.Why will the Department not commission a full...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Child Protection (25 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: I thank the Minister of State. I have heard that response before - that is being honest - and it is not acceptable. No one has been held accountable for the abuse at St. John Ambulance. An apology is not enough. Survivors have been to hell and back. Some are struggling with homelessness and addiction and are struggling to cope. An apology is not good enough and accountability is what is...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: In recent days, the Minister for housing has slammed the door on the redevelopment and regeneration of the Pearse House flats. This is devastating for the residents of Pearse House, who put up with completely unacceptable living conditions that are getting worse by the day. This is just another example of the Government abandoning the residents of the inner city, and it is a case of further...

Seanad: Special Education Provision: Motion (26 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: I acknowledge Sarah and Darren and the fight they are undertaking for their son, Freddie. They are replicating the battle that so many people and families have had to put up with in recent years. It does not seem a lot to ask that a child would have access to an education. I acknowledge the Minister of State's new role. It is important and I wish him success. It is important for...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 Mar 2025)

Chris Andrews: I want to raise the ongoing dismantling of Irish neutrality and the attempt to get rid of the triple lock, which it should be noted is being supported by many in the media. The reality is that the only people who will benefit from war and the ending of our neutrality are those in the armaments industry. That industrial complex makes billions of euro. It accounts for a tiny fraction of the...