Results 301-320 of 4,004 for speaker:Martin Browne

Committee on Public Petitions: Campaign for a Walking and Cycling Greenway on the Closed Railway from Sligo to Athenry: Discussion (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: Do any Members wish to come back in? I call Deputy Cannon.

Committee on Public Petitions: Campaign for a Walking and Cycling Greenway on the Closed Railway from Sligo to Athenry: Discussion (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: We totally understand your frustration, lads, but for this committee to do its job properly, we need to tease out where the sticking points are with Mayo County Council, Irish Rail and the Department. The Department, as Deputy Cannon said earlier, has serious questions to answer in that it is on one hand supplying money for this and, on the other, putting stumbling blocks in the way. The...

Committee on Public Petitions: Campaign for a Walking and Cycling Greenway on the Closed Railway from Sligo to Athenry: Discussion (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: You are not as bad as some in here, Mr. Quinn. Do not worry about that.

Committee on Public Petitions: Campaign for a Walking and Cycling Greenway on the Closed Railway from Sligo to Athenry: Discussion (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: I suggest that, through your supporters, like Ciarán, if you had questions, when the Department representatives are sitting there, Ciarán, Marian and others can put them to them in order that we can try to get answers. I am not bringing you back in-----

Committee on Public Petitions: Campaign for a Walking and Cycling Greenway on the Closed Railway from Sligo to Athenry: Discussion (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: Yes, but I am going up through the table.

Committee on Public Petitions: Campaign for a Walking and Cycling Greenway on the Closed Railway from Sligo to Athenry: Discussion (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: I have no doubt, with the meeting being public, that there are people from Mayo County Council and so on listening in to the presentation. As has been said, you put a very good presentation in front of the committee, and that is all we can ask. We will follow it up as much as we can for you. Ms Brennan, do you wish to comment?

Committee on Public Petitions: Campaign for a Walking and Cycling Greenway on the Closed Railway from Sligo to Athenry: Discussion (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: To be fair to Deputy Kenny, I think that is the message he was trying to get out. Both sides of the argument need to be qualifying. It is not one against the other.

Committee on Public Petitions: Campaign for a Walking and Cycling Greenway on the Closed Railway from Sligo to Athenry: Discussion (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: If we start pitting one side against the other, we will be back here in five to ten years' time again because people will dig in their heels and back into a corner.

Committee on Public Petitions: Campaign for a Walking and Cycling Greenway on the Closed Railway from Sligo to Athenry: Discussion (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: Yes. I want to thank Mr. Quinn, Ms Casserly, Ms Brennan, Mr. Cunniffe and Mr. Mulligan for making presentations today. It was very beneficial. Like we have said, we will get in the other witnesses as quickly as we possibly can in order that we can let them put their case, as the witnesses have, and we can make a recommendation or we can put something to the Minister at that stage. That is...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: We have ten petitions for consideration today. The first is No. P00042/21, from Ms Joanna Curtis, which is about saving the services at the Owenacurra centre in Midleton, County Cork. The clerk received an email from the petitioner thanking the committee for all of its support, seeking advice on how to close the petition given that the Owenacurra centre is going to be rebuilt. Two homes...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: I could not; it broke my heart to read it twice this week. Petition No. P00009/23, on reform of the Irish mental health services, is from Mr. Eoin O'Sullivan. This petition has three parts. First, that without delay counselling, psychotherapy and psychological services are deemed an eligible expense for tax relief in line with other health expenses, thereby reducing costs and giving more...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: Yes, there is a lot of stuff between the Department here, the secretariat and the European Ombudsman on that. Next is petition No. P00026/23 regarding equal opportunities for HSE counselling positions, from Ms Áine Daly. This petition relates to the exclusion of the National Association for Professional Counselling and Psychotherapy members from the eligibility criteria for...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: As I said, steps are being taken to afford protections in this area. We will wait for the petitioner to come back to us. P00046/23 is on reducing the age of candidacy for all elections to 18 years of age. The petition is from Mr. Cillian Fraher. It states that in order to create a more diverse and inclusive but well-represented society, it would be in order to have discussions on the...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: Petition No. P00048/23, stop the eviction of Doon men's shed, from Mr. Tom Richardson. A convent in Doon that was publicly funded closed in 2016. In 2018, Doon men's shed started in a space from the nuns at a nominal rate. Ballyhoura Rural Services took over trusteeship for free two years later. It was to continue the nuns' charitable work under the auspices of the Charities Regulator....

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: The correspondence indicated that the SEC is responsible for the operation, delivery and development of State examinations and for the scheme of reasonable accommodations at certificate examinations, RACE. It stated that set out in an attached appendix was detailed information by the SEC about the extensive range of supports available for students with special educational needs who are...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: We will do so. I will go through the first part, concerning background information on the RACE scheme. It indicates that the SAC is responsible for the operation, delivery and development of the State examinations scheme of reasonable accommodation run by SEC facilitates access by candidates who would have difficulty accessing the examinations or communicating what they know to an...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: The reply has gone to the association for it to come back to us.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: We try to move it forward. It is looking for something very-----

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: Nobody would disagree with Senator Lombard. The correspondence has gone out. We should receive a reply in the next couple of days. If we bring the association before us over the next month or five weeks and get that what we need from it, we can then go to the Department and the examination board and try to have changes made this year, if possible. If not, then we will try to have them...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (25 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: If the Senator is happy with that, as soon as we get correspondence back from the association, we will bring its representatives in for discussions. They can outline exactly what the association requires from us in the context of going to the examination board or the Department.