Results 2,461-2,480 of 5,632 for speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

Seanad: Budget 2024 (Finance): Statements (10 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I am very pleased to appear before the Seanad to discuss budget 2024, which was presented to Dáil Éireann earlier today by the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. I have copies of the speech. Recent years have seen the Irish economy grapple with a series of economic shocks - Brexit, the pandemic, Russia's invasion of...

Seanad: Budget 2024 (Finance): Statements (10 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I will pick up some of the points made directly. Perhaps I will start with housing. I have always worked very constructively with Senator Warfield on a number of different committees and I am glad to hear him speak about the importance of homeownership because, along with people who want to buy their own homes but are living in their parents, it is not something I hear often from Sinn...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Youth Services (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: No, for the Topical Issue.

Seller's Legal Pack for Property Buyers Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I will stay.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Family Law Cases (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I thank Deputy Durkan for raising this important issue. I convey the apologies of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, who cannot be here. I am grateful to have the opportunity to provide clarity on some of the issues raised. I must obviously clarify that the management of the courts, operational matters and logistical functions are the responsibility of the Judiciary and...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Family Law Cases (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I will say, very carefully, that I understand this pressure and the issue well as a consequence of my work as a Deputy, but also due to some background work I have done. I would be very careful to describe it in terms of gender or a particular experience, so I will remove myself from that conversation and simply speak to the process. It is intolerable that voice of children is not...

Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Referral to Select Committee (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)(a) and 181(1).

Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Second Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Yes.

Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Second Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Yes, that is fine. No problem.

Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I would like to address as many of the issues raised by Deputies as I can. I thank Sinn Féin for its support in managing the process of this Bill. I confirm my understanding that it is not legally retrospective as such, as Deputy Connolly said. The EU Council has agreed to give assistance. It allows the European Commission to raise the funds in time to dispense the funds in Ukraine....

Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Second Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: We are not talking in terms of figures and profits.

Finance (State Guarantees, International Financial Institution Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Second Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the opportunity to address Dáil Éireann on this Bill, which was published on Monday, 18 September 2023. It is important to remind ourselves that Ireland is entirely supportive of the European Union and its financial institutions playing an important role in the resilience and recovery of Ukraine in line with...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Textbooks (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I thank the Senator for raising this issue. It is universally agreed that it is a good idea to try to reduce the cost for parents of their children attending school and to treat all families, or nearly all families, equally. Many in my constituency are not included in the scheme, but we are talking here about all of the rest of them. The Senator raised important issues. I do not think...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Textbooks (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The free primary school book scheme benefits up to 558,000 pupils in approximately 3,200 recognised primary schools, including pupils in 130 special schools. I cannot even imagine the number of books and copybooks that is but it is a very considerable amount of paper and a considerable opportunity for wastage. Certainly in my own constituency of Dún Laoghaire, schools are very...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Children in Care (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I thank the Senator for raising this really important issue. These children are the most vulnerable, and the State is their parent in providing the opportunity for a different form of care for them. That is best done, in the vast majority of cases, in the foster care system. It is the preferred option for children who cannot, for any reason, live with their birth family. Foster carers...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Children in Care (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: It is really important that the Senator highlighted this issue today. Those figures about the decrease of 4% in the number of foster carers that are there are very worrying. Of course that comes at a time of population increase of greater than 4% or anything remotely equivalent to it. Quite a number of children have come from very difficult circumstances around the world, many of whom may...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Referendum Campaigns (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: First of all, I was a member of the Joint Committee on Gender Equality that considered the recommendations of the citizens' assembly and I may be incorrect but I do not recall the Senator attending that committee to make these views heard at that stage. This Oireachtas committee considered the recommendations of the citizens' assembly, what it had said, and its detailed reports. We heard...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Referendum Campaigns (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I am asking why the Senator did not engage.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Referendum Campaigns (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I genuinely did ask a question, yes.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Referendum Campaigns (5 Oct 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The Citizen's Assembly on Gender Equality made three recommendations that centred on the Constitution: to insert gender equality and non-discrimination; to remove the reference of women within the home; and to amend Article 41 to protect family life to make sure that children in the family are not discriminated against whether their parents are married or not. As I said, great work was done...