Results 2,681-2,700 of 4,305 for speaker:Martin Kenny

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Payments (25 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: 697. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a person (details supplied) was entitled to an arrears payment for invalidity pension in 2013 from the date of application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26068/19]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Mayoral Election (25 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: 729. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans for a plebiscite to allow for a directly elected mayor in Sligo town. [26053/19]

Community Policing and Rural Crime: Motion (20 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: I welcome the report and congratulate the justice committee on its work. The issue of community policing and rural crime affects most constituencies and counties. In the rural constituency of Sligo-Leitrim, we are all conscious of the fear that often exists in isolated rural communities, not least in respect of crime against older people, farm theft and so on. Sometimes, we can quote...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: I welcome the opportunity to present this Bill for detailed scrutiny. When I was elected, I promised the people in my constituency that I would try to address their needs in the Oireachtas. The issue of depopulation in the north west is a long-term and insidious blight on my county of Leitrim and other parts of the region. There are many reasons for this. We need jobs, infrastructure and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: Yes, that work is being done at TCD.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: As I said, the work the school has done on the ET system has been examined for a number of years. One of its objectives was to achieve a zero discharge. That was its logic. It found that, as of yet, it was virtually impossible to achieve a zero discharge, mainly because of rainfall rather than effluent entering it. In a standard house, less than 1,000 l of wastewater enters the system...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: It is a similar situation. In Leitrim approximately 80% of the soil is dense. Anyone who goes to a funeral in County Leitrim and looks into a graveyard can see that six inches down we have good soil but when we look below that we have dog heavy soil. That is what we find in much of County Leitrim. In west Cavan we have a similar situation, but west Cavan has considerable mountainous areas...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Discussion (20 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: What the Vice Chairman is really asking is how much of a backlog there is. I do not know how many planning applications have been refused. However, I know how many people would go and meet with a planning officer and say they were thinking about applying for planning. People are always encouraged to have a pre-planning meeting. In many of those pre-planning meetings they are told they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of the Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Bill 2018 (20 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Chairman. Dr. Ryan said the ET system does a very good job in general, but he has particular issues around E. coli and how it can be dealt with. Are there possibilities there? Many systems in the past have had a polishing element at the end which eliminates E.coli. Does Dr. Ryan think it would be possible to add a polishing system to ET systems in order to do that, or does he...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of the Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Bill 2018 (20 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: In the EPA report that has already been produced the conclusions stated: However, chemical and microbiological sampling of the water in the sumps and ponded water over the winter periods showed improved water quality, equivalent to surface runoff from the other systems that had not been fed any effluent If the runoff was equal to areas with no effluent, that suggests there is already E....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of the Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Bill 2018 (20 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: Would it be a statutory instrument that would bring us to that point, which could be moved more speedily than legislation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of the Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Bill 2018 (20 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: A statutory instrument could be brought forward. Does Mr. Ó Coigligh believe it is possible to do that within the confines of the legislation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of the Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Bill 2018 (20 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: In general there is shallow topsoil and then we come to daub, which is almost like the plasticine we had in school long ago. In some places, one can go through 8 or 10 ft of daub before coming to a gravelly subsoil. In other places, there is less of it. It creates a very difficult environment in which to work. This has an impact not just for one-off housing but a range of issues. E. coli...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (19 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: In an earlier reply to Deputy Harty, the Taoiseach said there are many vacant posts in the HSE that are not really vacant because there are people already working in them. I know of one post that is definitely vacant, namely, that of specialist diabetic nurse in the north west diabetes services. People who have type 1 diabetes and have been prescribed an insulin pump are unable to avail of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan: Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment (19 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister for his comments. I am learning something here. I want to focus on agriculture mainly and on the custodians of the land and the opportunity that may be there for them in future. Forestry has been mentioned as one of the major methods of sequestering carbon. There is a vast amount of forestry in Leitrim. We have more than our fair share at this stage. Almost 30% of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan: Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment (19 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: It is with scale

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Direct Provision and the International Protection Application Process: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: I am not a member of the committee so I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute. There was a direct provision centre in Ballinamore, County Leitrim, for many years and I knew many of its residents. I often say that none of those residents so much as broke a window in the town in their time at the centre. They were very well integrated into the community. There were issues with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Direct Provision and the International Protection Application Process: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: Hatch Hall.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Direct Provision and the International Protection Application Process: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: Some individuals might have a social worker because many of them have had trauma in their lives in the past. When they move to somewhere far away, how does that fit in? Will services locally be required to step in? In many cases, even local residents are finding it very hard to find those services. Those are also concerns people have.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Direct Provision and the International Protection Application Process: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2019)

Martin Kenny: Does an element of that secrecy and people not knowing in advance relate to fear that if information is made public, it will lead to something such as what happened in Rooskey, or is the reason purely one of commercial sensitivities?