Results 2,321-2,340 of 6,944 for speaker:Michael McNamara

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: It is a fact that we cannot scrutinise the regulations.

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: In effect, these amendments would give the Oireachtas - the Dáil and the Seanad - the power to scrutinise the regulations that the Minister makes. That is very important. I have spoken previously, as have many Deputies , on the importance of parliamentary scrutiny. I spoke about it on Second Stage and cited an expert who appeared before the Oireachtas Special Committee on Covid-19...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (7 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: 195. To ask the Minister for Finance if the employment wage subsidy scheme will be restored to the November levels for the hotel and hospitality sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60392/21]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (7 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: 608. To ask the Minister for Health if he will support the request by an organisation (details supplied) for the temporary assistance payment scheme to be reintroduced to cover the specific costs incurred to implement intensified infection prevention control measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60369/21]

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: I am not seeking to control the debate.

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: Okay.

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: You did not give him the vaccine.

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: On a point of order-----

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: Did the Minister say that two thirds of all hospital patients are Covid-19 patients, or did I misunderstand him?

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: I do not know of any immunologist or serious academic on the issue of Covid-19 who says it will end. Safety is always relative and complete safety is impossible to attain. Increasingly, people have elected governments to keep them safe and governments have taken more and more powers to keep people safe. Yet, unfortunately, safety is unattainable. Again I ask when is the end. Are we...

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: I agree. I think we will sea a sea change at the next election, it is to be hoped for the better, perhaps for the worse.

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: We will see. The assistant professor in Trinity said: The overarching finding of this report is a significant lack of transparency in how and why important decisions were made during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. Transparency and clarity are key aspects of public health governance and one of our recommendations of this report is the need for far more. [That is, far more...

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: I am weary from talking about Covid. The people I represent are weary. We are all, I think, weary at this stage, nobody more, I suspect, than the Minister. Notwithstanding that, I am here, along with some of my colleagues, to oppose this Bill and to try to explain in brief why I am opposing it. In March 2020, in the first substantive debate on the pandemic after the last general...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Health Services (2 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: I thank the Minister of State. I am glad to hear that the Minister for Health will go with her. I have often wondered whether we should have a Minister for Health and a Minister for Covid response. I do not agree with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, but I appreciate that he must be completely overwhelmed with the Covid response and the requirement to restructure and refocus the healthcare...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Health Services (2 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for taking this matter. I acknowledge it is an issue the Minister of State is aware of but it is important to raise it again. I am far from being the only person who has raised it. I know that Deputies Brendan Smith and Cahill previously raised this issue. The Minister of State will have met a constituent of mine who highlighted to me the...

Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: I am.

Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: Just because something is necessary does not mean it is safe. This measure will do nothing to make us safer. It is simply tokenism of the worst kind. Before he contributes on the Bill, will the Minister tell us what the last chapter of mandatory hotel quarantining cost the State?

Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: I am going to make the same points I made last January with regard to the mandatory hotel quarantine proposals that were introduced then. I questioned how on earth we were going to stop a variant coming in by limiting people coming into some frontiers of the State from some countries. At the time I asked the Minister if the purpose of mandatory hotel quarantining was to stop new variants...

Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Bill 2021 [Seanad]: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: We discussed the potential impact of this Bill and the Minister of State outlined its rationale in detail. I do not wish to characterise the Minister of State incorrectly but if I understood him correctly, he said that if somebody was prosecuted, notwithstanding the fact that the act was humanitarian assistance, and if that person was found guilty, the Minister of State has no doubt this...

Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Bill 2021 [Seanad]: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Dec 2021)

Michael McNamara: I want to clarify three scenarios. The Minister of State has clarified the first, as I hoped he would. If a boat is going down in Irish territorial waters, or just outside Irish territorial waters, and an Irish fishing boat, or any fishing boat, comes across it and brings the people in, can those on the fishing boat be prosecuted? The Minister of State said that, yes, they will have a...