Results 2,041-2,060 of 2,078 for speaker:Richard O'Donoghue

Post-European Council Meetings: Statements (24 Jun 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I thank the Cathaoirleach. I understand that €540 billion was assigned to a recovery programme for workers and businesses in Europe to strengthen, in particular to strengthen the resilience of the health system and promote innovation in it. How is this being monitored in Ireland? Are we proactively working with our stakeholders, including our wonderfully innovative pharmaceutical...

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (24 Jun 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I am sharing time with Deputy Mattie McGrath. I offer my deepest sympathy to the family of Detective Garda Colm Horkan, who gave his life for the safety of others. May he rest in peace. Section 8 of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act of 2009 has given us legislation on tackling organised crime throughout Ireland. Even through a pandemic, we have seen cases of individuals and gangs...

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

Richard O'Donoghue: I mean the county.

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

Richard O'Donoghue: I could stay here for an hour with the Minister of State. I have been listening to the whole Chamber and the one thing no one has brought up is infrastructure. The Government has failed rural Ireland with infrastructure. I will start with the area where I was elected first, the Adare-Rathkeale district. On a promise from Government, they are waiting 30 years for a storage plant in...

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

Richard O'Donoghue: Ireland is lagging behind in any meaningful engagement with farmers and producers in developing biomethane, which could be used for fuel for heavy goods vehicles as an alternative to fossil fuels. There are easy ways to help the process of anaerobic digestion, which is common in Germany, Denmark and the UK. The process mixes slurry with maize and silage, leaving the materials to ferment and...

July Education Programme: Statements (10 Jun 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I ask the Minister to give information to the providers of July provision. Yesterday I spoke to a representative of a school that takes in 90 children for July provision. At this stage the school should be organising transport for the children, SNAs, teachers, physiotherapists and nurses. School authorities should not be worrying about the conditions of the scheme and whether it will go...

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

Richard O'Donoghue: I thank the Minister for attending the House. This Government has talked the talk but it has not walked the walk. People talk about historical things that happened in the recent election. All the Independent Deputies were elected from outside of Dublin. Why? Because people on the ground in rural Ireland said they were not being listened to. We are the best country in the world for...

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

Richard O'Donoghue: They are just discussions.

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

Richard O'Donoghue: A survey undertaken by NUI Galway regarding Covid-19 found that 83% of people want to work remotely. One in five identified connectivity as an issue. The previous Government had nine Ministers in Dublin. How does it expect the rest of the country to deal with emissions when it has not dealt with them in Dublin? Dublin commuters spend 246 hours in traffic each year. That is higher than is...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (Resumed) (28 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: Many people who are 65 years old have jobs whose job description requires them to retire at that age. The new contracts people sign now refer to 66 years. If one is 65 years of age and has worked all one's life, one has reached retirement age. However, some people do not receive their pension until they are 66 years old. They have to sign for jobseeker's payment at 65 years of age. I do...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (Resumed) (28 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I am from a construction and farming background. Some people who want to return to work in the construction industry cannot do so because of issues with the Safe Pass scheme. For anybody who does not know, construction workers must have a Safe Pass card, which requires doing a one-day course where they sit down in front of an instructor who teaches them about different safety measures. At...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I have another question for the Minister. Is it legal for companies to have contacted their workers and told them that they were going to pay them themselves? I have had a couple of phone calls from people who were working part-time. They were earning approximately €100 a week through college to earn extra money for college and their companies would not release them for the Covid...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I will allow time for him to do that. When this pandemic payment was paid, it was welcomed by many people. I said to the Minister, prior to its launch, that the scheme would have been fairer if people had been paid relative to the wages they were earning at the time. Some people were working part time and earning €100 a week while going to school and finishing their leaving...

Covid-19 (Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht): Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I will redirect my question. I will also contact the Minister with the names of the sites that have come to my attention. They are heritage sites. The Minister can then determine whether they fall under her remit. If it is the case that these CEOs have taken their salaries and the sites fall under the remit of the Minister, I want full disclosure with regard to any CEOs and senior...

Covid-19 (Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht): Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: The Minister has dealt with the issue of the wood pigeon derogation. From a farming point of view, the farming community has already taken a major hit. I am delighted to see that common sense has prevailed on this issue. After speaking to the Minister earlier, I think it must come from her big Limerick connections, which are great to know about. It will make it a lot easier for me to be...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: A company in west Limerick has made great inroads into producing a complete process for temperature monitoring of staff. This company operates to ISO and ICE standards and Food and Drug Administration, FDA, guidelines. It has tested the process in many situations and it is now at the highest standard. The issue for the company is that it is competing with other companies that have brought...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: Some taxis are open for business with health guidelines and for multiple passengers. Driving instructors and testers would have a maximum of eight people in their vehicle daily. There needs to be some easing of restrictions in this regard. One solution could be for instructors to use only their own cars, which are Road Safety Authority, RSA, compliant, and for regulations to be put in...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: When will the Minister employ a pain consultant for children with chronic pain? We have a family in Limerick where one of the parents and two of the children were diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Patches for pain alone cost €130 for one child and this is not covered under the medical card scheme. These children are in chronic pain. The pain gets so bad that the child falls...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: I have praised the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, for the way in which they have dealt with the pandemic, mainly because of the former's medical background. We are lucky we have a person from a medical background in that position. For the past nine years, however, the Government has forgotten about rural Ireland. When the pandemic hit, rural Ireland did not forget...

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in Meat Processing Plants: Statements (21 May 2020)

Richard O'Donoghue: The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, wants to jump in.