Results 1-20 of 459 for speaker:Joe O'Brien in 'Dáil debates'

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Dec 2019)

Joe O'Brien: I thank the people of Dublin Fingal for their support in the by-election and I congratulate my three colleagues who were also elected. I made a very conscious decision about 20 years ago to dedicate my life's work to the area of human rights. It was a time when immigration was new to Ireland and I was determined to work to help ensure that as a society we would treat people new to our...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Dec 2019)

Joe O'Brien: The Taoiseach has not answered the question. I suppose I should get used to this.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Dec 2019)

Joe O'Brien: I remind the Taoiseach he did not answer the question about whether he plans to develop a national action plan against racism. I sit on the monitoring committee for the implementation of the migrant integration strategy. There are a limited number of actions relating to racism in that strategy and they are not being implemented. Is the Taoiseach planning to develop a national action plan...

Taoiseach a Ainmniú - Nomination of Taoiseach (20 Feb 2020)

Joe O'Brien: I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle on his election. I nominate Deputy Eamon Ryan for appointment by the President to be Taoiseach. On Monday, I stood in the back garden of the home of David and Sharon Shevlin of the Burrow, Portrane, in my constituency of Dublin Fingal. The Shevlins are just one of a number of families in Portrane who have seen their homes rapidly shrink and disappear...

Health (Covid-19): Statements (16 Apr 2020)

Joe O'Brien: Bearing in mind the time allocations, I will try and make these the best 15 seconds ever. I ask the Taoiseach to consider a mechanism whereby front-line and essential workers who have died due to Covid-19 will be formally acknowledged by the State and a mechanism to ensure that the families of such workers are not left in a worse financial position after the death of their family members....

Health (Covid-19): Statements (23 Apr 2020)

Joe O'Brien: I wish to open by expressing my condolences to the family of the 31 year old carer who worked in a private nursing home in Swords, in my constituency, and whose death was announced in recent days. That underlines the issues and questions raised by other Deputies regarding nursing homes. In many respects, the virus and the State's response to it have given rise to a type of human rights...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (7 May 2020)

Joe O'Brien: I have questions and will leave time for some answers. I refer to the situation of thousands of people in institutional, communal accommodation called direct provision. I note this in the context of great national and governmental effort to tackle Covid-19 where there has been a massive communication campaign to inform everyone about what they need to do in terms of social distancing and...

Covid-19 (Transport): Statements (13 May 2020)

Joe O'Brien: I will leave time for the Minister to answer my questions. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted travel patterns across the world in a profound way. In a variety of ways, transport will never be the same again. The 2 km and 5 km restrictions coupled with economic shutdown and the requirement to socially distance have pushed us to walk and cycle more. We need to do all we can to retain as...

Covid-19 (Transport, Tourism and Sport): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Joe O'Brien: Aer Lingus's parent company, IAG, has informed investors of its €10 billion war chest to see it through the pandemic. They are currently in talks to acquire additional airlines in Spain and Austria, all the while taking advantage of wage subsidy schemes in Ireland, England and Spain. I wish to raise concerns about the actions of Aer Lingus management in the Dublin area in terms of...

Covid-19 (Transport, Tourism and Sport): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Joe O'Brien: I have three follow-up questions although I do not expect the Minister to have the answer to the first one. Do all aircraft landing in and leaving Ireland have high efficiency particulate air, HEPA, filters, which can block Covid from travelling? That may be a question for referral to the Irish Aviation Authority. What efforts if any is the Minister making to try to separate Ireland from...

Covid-19 (Transport, Tourism and Sport): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Joe O'Brien: I want to get clarification on trying to separate Ireland from the UK in terms of how our European partners view us. Is anything happening with that? I want to express concern about that.

Covid-19 (Transport, Tourism and Sport): Statements (3 Jun 2020)

Joe O'Brien: I want to express concern about the issue of HEPA filters. Does the Minister have any idea how many aircraft or what airlines do not have HEPA filters? He said Ryanair and Aer Lingus do but what percentage do not?

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Joe O'Brien: The fact is that the climate action plan got it wrong in a variety of ways. Seeing as we are on the topic right now, one of the main ways the climate action plan got it wrong related to modal shift. It is well and good having ambition for electric vehicles because ambition is good. I was home-schooling my nine year old today. I think that if I showed her the figures for electric vehicles...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Joe O'Brien: I am not proposing we further subvent electric vehicles, just to be clear. Could the Minister give me an update on progress for BusConnects projects outside Dublin? I understand that there is a delay in Dublin, I think due to the inability to perform site visits. Will the Minister provide an update on the other projects? What cities are being considered? On the climate action plan, why...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Joe O'Brien: What about emissions from shipping?

Covid-19 (Sport): Statements (11 Jun 2020)

Joe O'Brien: No, I am taking it all myself. I will leave time for questions. I will make my contribution in two tranches. The Minister and Minister of State have already touched on some of the issues I wanted to talk about. I welcome the announcement of the sports recovery action plan. I ask the Minister of State to delve into it in a little bit more detail and outline a timeline for when he expects...

Covid-19 (Sport): Statements (11 Jun 2020)

Joe O'Brien: I would also like to raise the issue of racism, particularly as it pertains to sport. I bring it up because Ms Nadia Power, the Irish athlete, recently asked us to continue the conversation on racism. We need to continue it in an appropriate and positive way. That is the only way we will make a difference to the various ways that people of colour and people from ethnic minorities...

Supporting Inclusion and Combating Racism in Ireland: Statements (17 Jun 2020)

Joe O'Brien: I welcome this discussion. My colleague has already recognised that there is a fairly obvious deficiency in what we are doing. We are basically a room full of white men talking about racism. It is important to say that.

Supporting Inclusion and Combating Racism in Ireland: Statements (17 Jun 2020)

Joe O'Brien: Apologies. I had a look around earlier but did not spot Deputy Catherine Murphy sitting right behind me. As we go forward, we should have a committee session on this where we can hear people talk directly about their experiences. I want to address a couple of points. Racism is not exceptional. When we start talking about racists as individuals, we lose the ability to see how imbued...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Community Services Programme (22 Jul 2020)

Joe O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for his input. We shared a different chamber not so long ago and I recall him passionately defending his community there. There are not too many speeches I remember from that chamber but that was one of them. I thank him for doing that and for defending a crucial community resource in this case. There are two halves to the answer to the question, the first of which...