Results 3,621-3,640 of 5,625 for speaker:Cathal Crowe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: All-Island Strategic Rail Review: Iarnród Éireann (17 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Mr. Meade mentioned that Irish Rail wants to get to 200 kph trains, which would be incredible. That would mean the line I will travel on today, the Limerick to Dublin line, possibly taking about an hour and the extension onwards to Ennis being even shorter again. Does he envisage that on all lines or is it just on the main intercity routes?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: All-Island Strategic Rail Review: Iarnród Éireann (17 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I believe the Chairman and I have cracked the Irish Rail algorithm, in that we know how to get the tickets booked on time and cheaply. I am on a €14 fare home today and it will get me home lightning quick. However, if I try to book for my wife and three children to go to Dublin for a day in the zoo, a rite of passage for every Irish family, it is €150 return. For the same...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: All-Island Strategic Rail Review: Iarnród Éireann (17 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I have a question about Ennis railway station. It is really drab and has a rundown feel to it. Many people feel their cars might not always be safe parked there. Is an upgrade planned for it? What is Irish Rail intending to do there?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: All-Island Strategic Rail Review: Iarnród Éireann (17 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Finally, there is the capacity to deliver the LSMATS, this beautiful network of stops planned at Cratloe and Shannon, the rail spur into Limerick and the rail spur out to Shannon Airport. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, says that a lot of that line exists, apart from the airport spur, and that it can be delivered quickly. There is a station in Cratloe and a network there already. If Irish...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: All-Island Strategic Rail Review: Iarnród Éireann (17 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I thank Mr. Meade. We squeezed a lot in there.

Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Fianna Fáil welcomes the Bill. I am confident it will enhance and strengthen the protections for whistleblowers in this country. Ireland has had a legislative framework on whistleblowers dating back to 2014 and we have learned a lot more since that Act came into force. Ireland is one of a small number of EU countries that continues to have such a regime in place before the EU...

Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I will finish my point. I did not interrupt other Deputies. We have relied on each and every occasion on the Royal Air Force to come and scramble its jets and that is not something that should happen. On the issue of Russia, I am usually complimentary of the actions the Minister takes as the helmsman of the Department of Foreign Affairs but I think we were a little soft-footed with the...

Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: They did but I think we could have been more robust.

Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: There is somebody else who is involved in protecting our nation and that is the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris. His term of appointment was lengthened yesterday. We need to have a bit more scrutiny as a State and there are two major outstanding issues we need to look at. One is the suspension of the trial of the hooded men. That has been brushed aside and we have not focused on it. The...

Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Absolutely. We cannot just have contract extensions. We need scrutiny of those two major factors as well.

Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I too welcome the publishing of the report on the Commission on the Defence Forces. It is timely that we have this report before us. However, it will not be worth anything unless it is properly acted on, resourced and funded. Fianna Fáil called for this commission to be established back in 2019. It was a key element of our manifesto coming into the February 2020 general election,...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Last June, Cabinet signed off on a proposal to transfer Shannon Heritage sites to local authorities. Clare County Council is currently undertaking due diligence on the transfer of Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, Knappogue Castle, Craggaunowen and a retail outlet at the Cliffs of Moher. The due diligence is extensive but it has thrown up the matter of the incredible costs involved in taking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I will follow the thread of what the previous speaker has been saying about University Hospital Limerick. Some 96 people are on trolleys there today. On 26 January, the number peaked at 111. Records for trolley numbers are repeatedly broken at UHL. It is an incessant problem that goes on and on. I will begin with a question to Mr. Reid and Mr. Watt. Who sits on the elective hospitals...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Will Mr. Watt name the members? I specifically asked who was on it because I need to know that detail today.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I will keep going with my questioning. I would appreciate being given the names in a moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: By any metric or logic, I cannot understand why the most pressurised group of hospitals in the country was omitted. This is now progressing. A business case has already been filed for Cork and plans are pending for Galway and Dublin while there is no suggestion of an elective hospital in the most pressurised corner of the country, the mid-west, Clare, Limerick and Tipperary. I will make a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I am still talking, Chair. I want the names of those people and I want our committee to undertake a body of work in this regard because a corner of Ireland is being left totally out of this report. To move on with my questions to Mr. Watt and Mr. Reid, we have all digested this morning's Irish Independent. One of the front-page stories relates to pay in the higher grades of management in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I find that hard to believe. If my name was on the front of a national newspaper, I would probably pick up the newspaper and read it first thing in the morning.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Oversight of Sláintecare: Discussion (16 Feb 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I find it hard to believe. If a person's name is on the front of a national paper with regard to pay and conditions, I would assume that person would have read it. If Mr. Watt has not read it, then I suggest it is worth reading, because it was certainly a factor when preparing for this meeting. I have had many emails and phone calls from people at various management levels in the HSE and I...