Results 2,761-2,780 of 8,978 for speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Corporate Social Responsibility Stakeholder Forum: Discussion (15 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I was pleased to see the public sector are partners on this very representative forum. However, I have a concern. As public representatives, we are all very familiar with the fact there is always demand for services, and it could be the public sector or the NGO sector providing critical services on behalf of the State. What I would like to know is whether the forum ensures that the...

Seanad: Industrial Development (Amendment) Bill 2019: Second and Subsequent Stages (10 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Much of what is in this Bill has been presented to the Dáil and to us in the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Act 2019. At that time, my colleagues engaged with the Minister about the poor uptake of the range of supports relating to Brexit. I will read into the record what was said. My colleague, Deputy Quinlivan, stated:Just 81 loans...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Accommodation Provision (3 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: We are approaching next Tuesday's budget. The day after last year's budget, our local Minister in County Donegal, Deputy Joe McHugh, told the people of Donegal on Highland Radio that all 20 beds in a short-stay ward that had been closed would be reopened. He said that recruitment was commencing that day and that he had spoken to the manager of the hospital. We were worried that this...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Accommodation Provision (3 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: When one reads the response drafted by departmental officials on behalf of the Minister, one gets to the core of the issue. The response confirms that five beds have been provided. I remind the House that the Ministers for Health and Education and Skills said that all 20 beds would reopen. They said a year ago that they had contacted the manager of the hospital and that the recruitment...

Seanad: Beef Sector: Statements (3 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I listened to my colleague Senator Marshall speak in a previous debate here in which he referred to the EU cheap food policy. That is the framework that led us to this crisis. There has been a failure at both European and Irish level to ensure farmers receive a fair price for their produce. Increasingly, the single farm payment is a subsidy for the meat factories and the multiple retailers...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition Law and Trade Associations: Discussion (1 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: In preparation for this meeting, I reflected on the anger at the CCPC following its intervention during the beef protest. I read the comments of the various spokespersons and leaders of the farming organisations. The common thread was how ABP's takeover of Slaney Foods and the merger between Dawn Meats and Dunbia would impact on prices. In July 2017, a senior Irish Farmers Association,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition Law and Trade Associations: Discussion (1 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I have listened intently to what has been said. The difficulty is that most objective observers would agree the environment that led to the protests in recent times is such that it has been felt by producers across the board that the meat factories have been setting prices universally at a level that is absolutely unsustainable for farmers. The commission has been given reports before and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition Law and Trade Associations: Discussion (1 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Towards the end of Mr. O'Leary's presentation, he focused on the producer organisations. If I am missing something, I ask him to correct me. What I am taking from the presentation and the responses today is that the commission obviously operates under European and Irish law and implements it as an authority. The terms of reference - the framework the commission has been given as an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition Law and Trade Associations: Discussion (1 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: That is a fair point. To clarify, I mean fitness for the purpose of addressing the issues pertaining to the recent beef crisis. Is that fair enough?

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Sep 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I will place on record a profound failure of policing in my home county of Donegal. I have agreed with the victim's family that I will give this brief account. There is a long-established housing development in a town in Donegal. A number of years ago, two persons moved into a house in the development, one of whom, a man, has a long criminal record and has been convicted of dealing drugs...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Sep 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: All I can say is-----

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Sep 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: -----that I have seen incontrovertible video evidence. I accept the guidance of the Cathaoirleach. I will wrap up. I thought long and hard before I decided to read this into the record. The whole community in the area in question is asking why this criminal thug, who violently assaulted a pensioner, has not been arrested. The pensioner in question was taken to a Garda station yesterday....

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Sep 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: That is a very good point. Well said.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Jul 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: There are serious concerns in the south Inishowen area at activities on what was known as Grianán Estate. It is the largest farm in the country. This estate was purchased by Glenmore Estate in 2017 and earlier this year The Irish Timesreported that it was estimated that hundreds of trees including ash, sycamore, birch, whitebeam and willow, had been destroyed and miles of hedgerows...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Voluntary Organisations in the Health Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I am not a member of the committee and the protocol is non-members ask their questions last, as is right and proper. I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the discussion. I was asked by the Inishowen Childrens Autism Related Education, iCARE, organisation in Buncrana, County Donegal, from where I come, to attend the meeting and tell its story as part of this dialogue. The issues...

Seanad: EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement: Statements (3 Jul 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Yes. We will take five minutes and three minutes.

Seanad: EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement: Statements (3 Jul 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I propose we take five minutes and three minutes, respectively.

Seanad: EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement: Statements (3 Jul 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: As the Minister will know, the Amazon rainforest represents half of the world's remaining rainforest. Last month, an area of 739 km2 was destroyed which equates to two football pitches every minutes. She is doing commerce with one of the most right-wing political leaders in the world, President Bolsonaro.

Seanad: EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement: Statements (3 Jul 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: President Bolsonaro is a climate change denier and is up to his neck with the ranchers and people who are destroying the rainforest whom he funds and backs. He has made no secret of the fact that this is his agenda. Farmers in Donegal and any other county in this State live up to very onerous environmental legislation and regulations and inspectors check farms of all sizes. Farmers rely on...

Seanad: EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement: Statements (3 Jul 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: We absolutely did, given the waters that we gave away. I suppose it was always going to come to this, but we are now selling out the farming sector. Beef farmers have been struggling for so many years under the cheap food policy of the EU, as my colleague Senator Marshall mentioned. We have forced farmers into a market where the meat factories, supermarkets and corporations dictate the...