Results 3,621-3,640 of 8,976 for speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Seanad: Business of Seanad (5 Jul 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Hold on, it is not agreed just yet.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (5 Jul 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Yes.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (5 Jul 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: This is not great practice, frankly. While I appreciate that it is good that we will have a debate this is short notice and the Leader has not spoken to a Whip and extended invitations. Right now, and this is ridiculous, I am texting my Whip to see if we can have somebody from my party available in 15 minutes' time to take part and contribute to the debate. We have not been phoned in...

Seanad: Business of Seanad (5 Jul 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: For God's sake.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (5 Jul 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: It is a fix. It is a Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael carve-up every time.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (5 Jul 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I wish to make a final response.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (5 Jul 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: It is not agreed.

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2016: Second Stage (29 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I have a particular interest in this subject. I chaired the Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions, which produced a report on the issue. We travelled across the State, visited the direct provision centres and met asylum seekers and representatives of NGOs. I acknowledge the work of the NGOs which work on the front line, including the Irish Refugee Council, Doras Luimní,...

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2016: Second Stage (29 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I acknowledge that he has outlined his concerns. We would have supported the Bill passing this Stage, with the opportunity to amend on Committee Stage. I am concerned about this proposal to delay this Stage. The Minister of State has met asylum seekers and I can attest to his honour and decency.

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2016: Second Stage (29 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I know he is committed to these matters. The difficulty is that his is a very conservative Department-----

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2016: Second Stage (29 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: -----which is the Department of Justice and Equality. I want to speak about the experiences of the Department of Justice and Equality. Historically, it has been a conservative Department and slow to embrace change. It has the benefit of a report from an all-party committee, which was unanimously approved, as well as the McMahon report, which we had significant concerns about, although it...

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2016: Second Stage (29 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: The Bill should be allowed to proceed to Committee Stage in order that it might be worked on. We need to send a clear message that the delays have to stop. We have to see action and act with the knowledge of our history of emigration and our footprint across the world. We have to do something that honours that history and represents who our people truly are. My final point is on the...

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2016: Second Stage (29 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: We will support Senator Norris's Bill proceeding to Committee Stage, with the ability to deal with some of the concerns we have at that point. We cannot support any further delays.

Seanad: United Kingdom Referendum on European Union Membership: Statements (28 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Unfortunately, this result did not come out of nowhere. For many years, people expressed concerns about the direction the EU was moving in referenda, not only in Ireland but elsewhere. The people of Ireland rejected the Nice treaty and then the European constitution was rejected by the people of France and Holland before we, in Ireland, rejected the Lisbon treaty. Again and again, people...

Seanad: United Kingdom Referendum on European Union Membership: Statements (28 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: We need to have a debate about Irish unity. Senator Boyhan referred to a excellent report by the jobs committee during the previous Dáil, which examined the potential for an all-Ireland basis for business. The obvious gains economically for our public services from unity need to be debated. We need to have our say on that matter. I am not afraid of having a debate or losing that...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Irrespective of the outcome of this afternoon's debate on the Sinn Féin Private Members' motion, a significant issue arises with regard to brown bins. Under the law, households located in urban conglomerations with a population of more than 1,500 have been required to separate waste since July 2015. As such, all households in such locations have been required for the past year to have...

Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I second the motion. In the past few weeks there has been public discourse after it emerged that many of the waste collection companies would double or treble the cost of waste disposal services. That did not come from nowhere; it did not come from left field. Let us remember that the legislation was deferred for an entire year. I would have thought, therefore, that the then Minister,...

Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Fianna Fáil councillors across the State are wringing their hands and telling people this is terrible but there is nothing they can do about this awful and unfair mess. However, when a motion is tabled and the Seanad is in a position to exercise one of the few powers that would make it relevant, capture the imagination of citizens and act in their interests, it transpires that we will...

Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: This issue is a complete mess. Why do households in some parts of the State pay between €5 and €7 to have a bin of recycled waste collected, while in others collection of the green bin is free of charge? Why are recyclable products being incinerated when people believe they are being recycled? The Minister knows he should have withdrawn the statutory instrument. We have...

Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Fianna Fáil is so cynical. Cynicism drips off that party.