Results 2,041-2,060 of 2,919 for speaker:Séamus Healy

Leaders' Questions (10 May 2012)

Séamus Healy: The household charge.

Private Members' Business. Domiciliary Care Allowance: Motion (8 May 2012)

Séamus Healy: I support this motion and commend the Technical Group on introducing it. The first thing we must realise is that life for families where there is one or more children with special needs is a daily struggle. All of us in this House see parents on a daily basis who explain exactly what life is like for them. It is a struggle and as parents get older they worry how the children will be cared...

Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Bill 2012: Second Stage (8 May 2012)

Séamus Healy: I commend the survivors of child abuse, many of whom are in the Visitors Gallery, and in particular those who spoke out. But for that, we still might not be aware of the horrendous situation. It may not have come to light were it not for those people who were courageous enough to speak out at a cost to themselves. They were criticised as being dishonest and as having an agenda against the...

Road Safety Authority (Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (2 May 2012)

Séamus Healy: I welcome the opportunity to speak to the Bill. We must consider the various methods of transport. We should consider whether more advantageous methods of transport of commercial goods are available and whether they should be considered and planned for in the future. I refer to the transport of goods by rail which has fallen out of favour in recent years. However, as a method of...

Private Members' Business. Protection of Employees (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (1 May 2012)

Séamus Healy: Earlier, I heard the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, invoke the name of James Connolly. The Labour Party has nothing in common with James Connolly, the great trade unionist, socialist and republican who gave his life for the working classes. There is no doubt but that James Connolly would turn in his grave if he saw the savage attacks the Government, and the Labour Party in particular,...

Private Members' Business. Motorist Emergency Relief Bill 2012: Second Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Séamus Healy: I support this Bill. It is a modest proposal. A total reduction of 5%, including VAT, in the cost of petrol or diesel would certainly be of help to hard-pressed families, particularly those with two individuals driving to work. This is increasingly the case nowadays. Fuel costs almost twice what it cost three or four years ago. In rural constituencies such as my own, a reduction would...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Séamus Healy: I regard the contribution made by the Minister earlier as a smokescreen for what is a serious assault on the incomes of lone parents. It is clear that the package introduced in budget 2012 plus these proposals are a serious assault on the incomes of lone parents. She said she wants lone parents to become financially independent and removed from the poverty trap. It is absurd and ridiculous...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Séamus Healy: I, too, ask the Minister to delete this section. I see it as an example of what I described last night as the dismantling of social welfare benefits. These benefits have been won by generations of workers and their unions and this is an example of that targeting. This particular group - single parents - have been targeted not only in this Bill, but in the various proposals outlined in...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Motion to Instruct Committee (24 Apr 2012)

Séamus Healy: I wish to share time with Deputies Boyd Barrett and Luke 'Ming' Flanagan.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Motion to Instruct Committee (24 Apr 2012)

Séamus Healy: I reject this motion and the Bill out of hand. It is difficult to stand here and listen to a Minister introduce this Bill and this series of cutbacks and attacks on people who are very poor. A little more than 12 months ago this Minister would have been on the Opposition benches and would have been hopping mad and dancing a jig in opposition to these amendments and proposals. It is equally...

Written Answers — Army Barracks: Army Barracks (18 Apr 2012)

Séamus Healy: Question 1048: To ask the Minister for Defence the current location of the church bell recently removed from Kickham Barracks Clonmel, County Tipperary; if he will arrange to have the bell returned to Clonmel; the details of any annuity, ground rent or other such payment, if any, payable in respect of Kickham Barracks; the details of protected structures and listed building on the site of...

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Séamus Healy: This is a household charge.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Séamus Healy: What about a wealth tax?

Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (22 Mar 2012)

Séamus Healy: I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill. It is opportune that today marks the publication of the Mahon tribunal report because it impinges directly on the provisions and culture of the Bill. In 1997 the Mahon tribunal, originally the Flood tribunal, commenced its business of inquiring into the planning history of 726 acres of land in north...

Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (22 Mar 2012)

Séamus Healy: I have four children as well.

Written Answers — Hospital Accommodation: Hospital Accommodation (21 Mar 2012)

Séamus Healy: Question 715: To ask the Minister for Health if, in view of the recent threat of closure of St. Anthony's unit for the elderly, Clonmel, County Tipperary, he will confirm that the unit will remain open and fully operational for both residential and respite care; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15777/12]

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (13 Mar 2012)

Séamus Healy: Question 196: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will reverse the loss of eight teaching posts, approximately one third of staff, at a school (details supplied) in County Tipperary in view of the consequences for the education of pupils at the school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13881/12]

Written Answers — Schools Building Programme: Schools Building Programme (13 Mar 2012)

Séamus Healy: Question 203: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when he intends to make funding available for the construction of a Gaelscoil (details supplied) in view of the fact that this Gaelscoil has been waiting 18 years for a new school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14030/12]

School Staffing (8 Mar 2012)

Séamus Healy: Last Saturday, I learned from parents and teachers in Carrick-on-Suir that eight of the 25 teaching posts at the Presentation primary school there are being withdrawn by the Minister. The school received notification of this on 29 February last. The loss of this number of teaching posts is unacceptable. This, effectively, is an assault on students and teachers at the school and on the...

School Staffing (8 Mar 2012)

Séamus Healy: I had hoped the Minister would accept this was an extraordinary and exceptional situation because I had certainly not encountered a case involving the withdrawal of eight teachers, or one third of the teaching staff of a school. Moreover, I remind the Minister that last year this school lost three special needs assistants, SNAs, and will lose a further SNA this year. I ask him to consider...