Results 3,761-3,780 of 4,168 for speaker:Susan O'Keeffe

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Social Entrepreneurship: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Wiser is fine.

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Social Entrepreneurship: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I would like some clarity in respect of the ideal of measuring the social return. One Foundation would have set targets and would have informed BeLonG To that it needed to operate on a nationwide basis and so on. That feels like a project with an end and I cannot quite work out what - with the exception of the change in the language - what is the entrepreneurial element. I refer, of...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I support my colleagues who have raised the issue of obesity among children. In 1995 I made a documentary about obesity among children in the UK. At that time consultants in the UK stated that it was an epidemic. It must be more than an epidemic if one in four of our children are struggling with their weight, but intervention at that level remains limited. A working group has been...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Use of Commonage Lands: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Are Kerry sheep smarter?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Use of Commonage Lands: Discussion (Resumed) (19 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I am interested in what is going to happen. The presentation referred to the partnership approach and the need for co-operation among various stakeholders. How will that happen? There is clearly a need for urgency, which has been expressed, yet we know that when stakeholders are referred to, things are going to take a long time. With the best will in the world and even if every...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I do not wish to sound as though I am repeating the comments of Senator Leyden, but I am very upset about the comments made by the chief executive of Iceland and some others regarding the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. The authority has worked hard and has made a great breakthrough in what has become a worldwide crisis relating to the food we eat, especially processed food. The Food...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (13 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I agree with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources that wind will be an important commodity in the future, but with that importance comes enormous problems. We see here a very personal problem for one person and the many others who live near her in that a wind farm is being located right next to where they live. There are difficulties for this committee in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (13 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Perhaps we would review it in relation to calling others who may be able to help us to debate it.

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by Ms Phil Prendergast, MEP. (13 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I welcome Ms Prendergast back to her old stomping ground. Ms Prendergast has talked about cyberbullying and we have discussed it in the Seanad on many occasions. We were delighted to receive the report of the working group on cyberbullying. Has there been any response from Facebook about the privacy issues that were raised? Are we any clearer about the European Union's campaign being...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I am sure Senator MacSharry is unhappy nothing is happening on the ground. It is like his unhappiness that nothing was happening on the ground with the promissory notes. I am disappointed that the draft HSE report on the death of Savita Halappanavar has been leaked. We talked a great deal in this House about her death, its consequences and the difficulties it caused for her husband Praveen....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Use of Commonage Lands: Discussion with Teagasc, NARGC and Golden Eagle Trust (12 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I apologise for appearing to be here and not to be here. I thank the witnesses for their presentations. As Senator Michael Comiskey and others have said, they were really interesting. I am looking at the membership of the national uplands working group. Is the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine part of the group? If not, why not? There is no mention in either of the...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Nobody in this Chamber or anywhere else is in doubt about the seriousness of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Last night we were glad to sit because we had to. Sometimes emergency legislation is required and last night was one of those occasions. For Senator Mary White to compare last night to the fateful night in 2008 is irresponsible, inaccurate and wholly laughable. As she...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Dr. McLoughlin interrupted himself. Is he saying he rejects the statement of carelessness?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Given the gravity of the matters raised by the Ombudsman, it is our responsibility as members of the committee, having invited the Secretary General, to give him the opportunity to give us the benefit of his thoughts.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Can I ask for clarification?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Is Dr. McLoughlin's statement in the public domain or is it being made here today?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: We are here because we were appointed on behalf of the Ombudsman and it is our duty to raise these matters with the Secretary General and to hear his response. I am grateful for his response. Given the gravity of the response, I ask the Chairman for a copy of the statement. We may have to return to the matter. This matter concerns the Who Cares? report. There is also the matter of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I hope the committee can return to the subject at a later stage. It is slightly to the side of the other two matters but is included in the statement of the Ombudsman in respect of both matters.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Does the Minister have a comment on the cost of those cases in court? In respect of those two schemes, that is exactly what we do not want. None of us wants anyone to end up in court. The money we have should be spent on the service.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: With regard to what Deputy Healy-Rae said, I consider this a good day for this Government. This is the first time this committee has met to deal with something like this. It means the Ombudsman has a committee that can take her genuine concerns and act upon them. People talk about the things that have not been done by this Government but this is one reform that was promised and we are here...