Results 3,281-3,300 of 3,648 for speaker:Michael Collins

Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (14 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: On a point of order, we need a quorum. This is a hugely important matter. Look how many people on the Government side are here to support the Bill.

Recognition of Irish Sign Language for the Deaf Community Bill 2016 [Seanad]: Second and Subsequent Stages (14 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this Bill this evening. I commend Senator Mark Daly and his colleagues in the Seanad on bringing this Bill forward. I welcome the Irish Deaf Society, whose members have come in large numbers. It is a great day for them and they deserve this moment. I am happy to support this Bill, which gives legal recognition for its use in legal...

Questions on Promised Legislation (13 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: In the programme for Government and thereafter, promises have been made by the Government that all Bills to come before the Dáil would be rural-proofed. After listening to the contributions of several speakers from the Government side and across the floor, it is clear that no rural-proofing has been done in respect of the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill brought forward by the Minister,...

Questions on Promised Legislation (13 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: Those deaths are due to the condition of roads in rural Ireland.

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: That is a disgraceful comment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: Jurassic Park.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: We are talking about the national planning framework, but we are also addressing the development of communities in rural Ireland. We have been given a brief synopsis of what we should be discussing. If there is to be any hope of turning things around in rural Ireland, the creation of employment is a huge issue. As Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív said, there has been little or no funding...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development: National Planning Framework: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: Tens of thousands of people have come out about this issue and Bantry Bay is being treated as something of a guinea pig. An environmental disaster has been set in train.

Home Care Packages: Motion [Private Members] (12 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: I am disappointed my colleague from south-west Cork, the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, left just before I was to speak on health issues, because he could relate to a lot of the difficult issues for many people in the constituency. I am delighted to be able to bring forward this motion this evening, along with my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group, and I thank Mairead in Deputy...

Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2017: All Stages (12 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: I am glad to be able to speak because I nearly lost most of my constituency in the last ten minutes. I am delighted to speak on this important legislation. Constituencies in Ireland have undergone significant changes over the past five years with mergers, divisions and reductions in the number of Deputies. My constituency of Cork South-West has been amended in a number of ways. Before I...

Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2017: All Stages (12 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: One must question what they did up to a point. I lost part of Dunmanway from Cork South-West.

Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2017: All Stages (12 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: Okay. Local public representatives do not know where to go. In addition, recently I and my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group raised in the Dáil the issue of the Mackinnon report and the local government changes proposed for Cork City Council and Cork County Council. Again, these are senseless changes that are nothing less than power grabs by the city council. There is no...

Leaders' Questions (12 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: Seven weeks ago during Leaders' Questions, I raised the shocking treatment of the elderly in this country. Little did I know then the can of worms I would open. John Patrick Harrington, a 90-year-old man, left Bantry for a 1,000 km round trip to Kingsbridge Hospital in Belfast for a cataract operation, which was arranged in three weeks, whereas had he waited in Ireland, he would have had to...

Leaders' Questions (12 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: I thank the Taoiseach and I appreciate his honesty in saying it is not right. It certainly is not right for people to be travelling in bus loads out of the Republic, and out of places such as west Cork and up to Belfast. It is truly scandalous treatment of our elderly. I ask the Taoiseach to address this serious issue and grave situation regarding 8,000 Irish citizens accessing a cataract...

Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (8 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: I would gladly take an hour if the Ceann Comhairle gave it to me, but I will probably have to stop after 11.5 minutes. I sympathise with those who have lost a loved one in any road traffic accident during the years. It is a very difficult time for many families and I sympathise sincerely with each one of them. I also accept that I have a conflict of interest, as I have two brothers...

Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (8 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: I hope it will be. They are truly great people who look after their customers in great style in Castletownbere. I hope to get to the clinic before going to the Boston bar in Bantry. I asked a question when I had the floor on this matter before. A number of years ago a Minister for Finance, when dishing out his budget, gave an extra allowance to the first two children but none to the third...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: The witnesses from the ICSFA, Hedge Laying Association of Ireland, Inland Waterways Association of Ireland and BirdWatch Ireland are all very welcome. As a Deputy, I represent a rural constituency in south-west Cork. A witness from the Hedge Laying Association of Ireland said that it cares passionately about the wildlife. I am a farmer and I also care passionately about the wildlife. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: Yes, and this is about the Bill. It is about burning gorse on the land. It has forced farmers in some cases to try controlled burning, but they cannot do controlled burning if the season is not there to do it. Calendar farming does not work. Anyone who tells farmers they can do this or that at certain times is no farmer and simply does not understand. Calendar farming does not work. We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2017)

Michael Collins: My question was not answered. Farmers are being fined in rural Ireland for having gorse on their land. When it was time for BirdWatch Ireland and the hedge growing group to stand by the farmers, where were they?

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2017 [Seanad]: Second Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Michael Collins: I am happy to have the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I thank the Minister for signing off on the legislation for medicinal cannabis and I am delighted to hear that Vera Twomey and her daughter Ava will be returning home from Holland to Macroom for Christmas. I hope other sufferers will benefit from the medicinal cannabis in future and that unnecessary delays can be avoided. I have...