Results 19,921-19,940 of 24,361 for speaker:Jerry Buttimer

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Appointment Process for Chair of Irish Aviation Authority: Engagement with Department of Transport (18 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: Why is that the case? Mr. Towey is the senior civil servant before the committee today.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Appointment Process for Chair of Irish Aviation Authority: Engagement with Department of Transport (18 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I accept that. However, the IAA remit includes civil aviation safety regulation, aviation security regulation and inspection and air traffic management, which is a fairly wide remit and a very onerous set of functions. Given that, surely we as parliamentarians, independent of Government, should have a more substantial role in vetting people to be board members or chairpersons. Let me add...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Appointment Process for Chair of Irish Aviation Authority: Engagement with Department of Transport (18 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I thank Mr. Towey. I appreciate his candour.

Seanad: National Development Plan: Statements (22 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I welcome the Minister and I wish him well in his brief. His stewardship of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will be judged not on his current actions, but his future actions. The majority of us in this Chamber today are not from Dublin. There is an over-reliance on Dublin in this country that needs to be addressed. That would be the Minister's legacy, in part. The...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies Bill 2021: Second Stage (26 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I welcome the Minister of State. It is important that, in a debate on housing, there is a degree of listening and understanding. There is no silver bullet. I hear members of particular parties claiming in the House to have the answer to everything and that they are the only ones to understand people but that is not true. We can all relate to, understand and know the situations of a great...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (29 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I ask the Leader to organise a debate on the travel industry, travel agents and the issuing of travel vouchers. As the Leas-Chathaoirleach and Leader will be aware, EU Regulation 261/2004 protects the rights of consumers and travel agents. Travel agents have been without income, or have had negative income, for a year as a result of Covid-19. Our travel agents now operate under what is...

Seanad: Covid-19 Vaccination Programme: Statements (29 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I thought the Senator was not going to be adversarial.

Seanad: Covid-19 Vaccination Programme: Statements (29 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I thank Senator Burke for sharing time. I welcome the Minister and wish him well. The vaccination programme is the single most important public health campaign in a century and we must have confidence in it. I commend the Minister for the work he is doing. I ask him to expedite work with regard to the role of our pharmacists in the vaccination programme. Our pharmacists play a key role....

Committee on Public Petitions: Work of the European Ombudsman during Covid-19: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: Cúirim fáilte roimh an ombudsman. In November, the ombudsman published a report on the procurement of faulty face masks and the lack of co-ordination and transparency in regard to their supply and the contract. Was there a reply from the European Union?

Committee on Public Petitions: Work of the European Ombudsman during Covid-19: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I think the contract with the European Union was worth approximately €1.5 billion. Did the EU follow up with the ombudsman on that?

Committee on Public Petitions: Work of the European Ombudsman during Covid-19: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: It may not necessarily have been Ms O'Reilly and I may stand corrected on the issue. I agree with her regarding face masks. There has been a rolling change of position in respect of them. Did she make the ECDC aware of her personal view on face masks at the time?

Committee on Public Petitions: Work of the European Ombudsman during Covid-19: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: That is fine. I thank Ms O'Reilly for her excellent presentation and her ongoing work. When she was based in Ireland, I dealt with her office on a number of occasions and her staff were fantastic. I thank her for her communication with me, as a parliamentarian. She might comment on the impact of the virus on the work of the European Union and on its future. She spoke about the European...

Committee on Public Petitions: Work of the European Ombudsman during Covid-19: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: Mr. O'Sullivan has sent me the information I was seeking. I thank him for that. Will Ms O'Reilly comment on the transparency between the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and our policing authorities in the context of people's fundamental civil and human rights?

Committee on Public Petitions: Work of the European Ombudsman during Covid-19: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I thank Ms O'Reilly.

Committee on Public Petitions: Work of the European Ombudsman during Covid-19: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: In the context of the last discussion with Deputy Murphy on the procurement and roll-out of vaccines and the role of the Commission and the member states, I, as a parliamentarian at a remove, would be critical of the European Commission. If a straw poll were taken of members of the public, they would say unambiguously that their confidence in the European institutions as a consequence of...

Committee on Public Petitions: Work of the European Ombudsman during Covid-19: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: My final comment is on the role of our committee and of the European Network of Ombudsmen. How does Ms O'Reilly see us engaging further with Europe, with her and with other petitions committees in the European Union?

Committee on Public Petitions: Work of the European Ombudsman during Covid-19: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: On that point, when will the minutes of the meetings be made public?

Committee on Public Petitions: Work of the European Ombudsman during Covid-19: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: The minutes of the meetings will not be published.

Committee on Public Petitions: Work of the European Ombudsman during Covid-19: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: They will not be published in the short, medium or long term.

Committee on Public Petitions: Work of the European Ombudsman during Covid-19: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: There are outstanding issues that we have to address and the Chairman also has issues to address on behalf of the committee. We have raised these previously but I will not go through them this morning with Ms O'Reilly present.