Results 3,201-3,220 of 20,695 for speaker:Mattie McGrath

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: The mountain fell down but thank God it did not fall on top of anyone as there would have been an even greater calamity. I am aware that matter is the subject of a court case as well. The approach to this Bill is totally anathema to good governance and good legislation. It smacks of pure disrespect for the Opposition and everybody else. It will be wide open for legal challenges. I...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: I will raise a point about this situation we find ourselves in this evening. Maybe the Minister of State will explain to us. Last Thursday, when we were dealing with the Bill, the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, was here. I do not think he has any role in it, or maybe he has. I did not get to check his portfolio, but I thought it was education. We should all be in education...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: The Minister of State should be in a pantomime.

Electoral Reform Bill: From the Seanad (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: There have been numerous Bills before the House in the past two weeks. Someone did an analysis and critique of them in the context of legislation passed by the House earlier in the term and what is before it now. We knew all along that the House would finish up in the second or third week of July. The way this is being done is rushed and distasteful. We are not doing our duty, quite...

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: The Minister of State did not answer the question about the warships.

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: In an earlier contribution, I asked about the warships that were at the quay in Cork. As a neutral country, why do we not assert on all occasions the fact we are a neutral country? We should be proud of it. The Taoiseach told me it was not mentioned at the World Economic Forum, good, bad or indifferent. On another point, if there are strict and robust sanctions, how is it that we can...

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: I too am glad to speak on this. I am quite alarmed about a number of things. At Taoiseach's questions I asked about the recent visits to conferences and whether neutrality was ever mentioned. The Taoiseach practically ignored me, but then I asked him a second time he said no, neutrality was never mentioned. Our neutrality is being undermined daily and sidelined, with warships coming into...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: Get the wellies on and go and meet them.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: There is much concern about the level of policing in our cities, towns and villages or the lack thereof. People feel intimidated by gangs of young people taking drugs and engaging in antisocial behaviour of all kinds. Indeed, in many cases people are afraid to walk down the main streets of their towns and villages. This is a pity. The lack of gardaí is staggering. We never had such...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: A lot of rubbish.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: Just like different Ministers.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: The Minister of State, Senator Hackett, was the biggest one.

Rent Reduction Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: I thank the Deputies for putting forward the Bill. It is a very important issue but how many more times will we debate it? This huge problem is becoming more acute by the week literally. It is an awful situation. We then come into the Chamber and start demonising landlords and painting them as bad. The vast majority of landlords are decent people and there are some rogues. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (13 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: 306. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the restrictions on bus drivers preventing those aged over 70 years will be lifted in view of the current shortage of drivers to allow those aged 70 years or over to continue to drive; if those over 70 years will be allowed to drive a Bus Éireann contracted bus if they undergo a medical assessment and are deemed medically fit to do so;...

Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: I am glad to be able to speak on this sensitive and important topic. The issue of reception centres has been dogging us for a long number of years. There is a centre in Carrick-on-Suir which has changed and adapted and become very good and the people in it have integrated well. However, in times to come, I do not think history will be kind to us as a nation for the way we have treated...

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: Paul Reid is gone.

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, aided and abetted by the Green Party, are not only degrading the national Parliament on issues of serious public concern but they are also turning their backs on the ordinary public at a time of the greatest need with the cost of living so high. Instead of introducing an emergency budget, something for which we called last February, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael...

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: Get a clapometer.

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: They are giddy before the holidays.

Confidence in Government: Motion (12 Jul 2022)

Mattie McGrath: It is a three-legged stool and it is bockety.