Results 3,881-3,900 of 24,308 for speaker:Jerry Buttimer

Committee on Public Petitions: Annual Reports from 2017 to 2020 and Related Matters: Ombudsman for the Defence Forces (20 Jan 2022)

Jerry Buttimer: If they are personal, should they be allowed given the personnel are members or former members of the Defence Forces? It is a bit like a priest in Melchizedeke of old - once a priest always a priest.

Committee on Public Petitions: Annual Reports from 2017 to 2020 and Related Matters: Ombudsman for the Defence Forces (20 Jan 2022)

Jerry Buttimer: What is the position in the case of a private citizen who is a retired member of the Defence Forces? Is a retired member of the Defence Forces always a member of the Defence Forces?

Committee on Public Petitions: Annual Reports from 2017 to 2020 and Related Matters: Ombudsman for the Defence Forces (20 Jan 2022)

Jerry Buttimer: A personal viewpoint is not necessarily a viewpoint as a member of the Defence Forces, similar to as applies to us as politicians or applied to Mr. Justice Mahon when a member of the Judiciary.

Committee on Public Petitions: Annual Reports from 2017 to 2020 and Related Matters: Ombudsman for the Defence Forces (20 Jan 2022)

Jerry Buttimer: I thank Mr. Justice Mahon for engaging with us today. I know it is not his job or task, but the new section of the Office of Ombudsman for the Defence Forces website has not been updated since October 2019. I accept we have had a pandemic. I appreciate the work of the Ombudsman on our behalf. It is important that we have full confidence in that office and that it is properly resourced. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021, and Disability and Transport: Discussion (19 Jan 2022)

Jerry Buttimer: I compliment the witnesses for their very thorough, thought-provoking, well-researched and tremendously delivered presentations. I propose that in the context of the presentations made today, there are significant areas of concern regarding the management of-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021, and Disability and Transport: Discussion (19 Jan 2022)

Jerry Buttimer: Having been here since 1.30 p.m., I am happy to share my time with whoever wants to share time. Given the magnitude of the presentations today and the myriad of issues that have been presented to us around the management, ownership and behaviour of those who use e-scooters, I think that as part of our private meeting this week or next week, we should have a discussion on how we can take...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (17 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I welcome the Minister back to the House in the context of employment contributions. I wish to raise two issues on this section that are not strictly related to the Social Welfare Bill but have an implication on what we are talking about this morning. The first issue is regarding the gratuity payable to members of local authorities where there is an issue in terms of their pension and...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: Today, 38 years ago, two brave Irish men died in the line of duty serving and protecting us. We remember trainee Garda Gary Sheehan and Private Patrick Kelly and we thank them and their families for their service. It behoves all of us who aspire to and want to have a united Ireland that we stand up and represent all of our people. On this most sacred day for those families, it is incumbent...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2021: Second Stage (16 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I welcome the Minister. This is important legislation, in that it gives effect to an expenditure increase of €558 million, which is an extraordinary amount. I thank the Minister's officials and her departmental staff for their courtesy to us. Two thirds of the budget spend is on protecting core rates of social welfare. In light of what we are trying to achieve as a society and a...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2021: Second Stage (16 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I thank the Senator. I hope that the Government will explore with the Irish Hotels Federation a way of looking after these businesses. It is an important industry that provides thousands of jobs. I support the work being done by my colleague, Deputy Colm Burke, in the Lower House on the issue of carers, including home carers. As the Minister knows, the Health Information and Quality...

Seanad: Appropriation Bill 2021: Second Stage (16 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This is an important Bill. I welcome this debate, as many Members of the House have done. We should not have shoehorned it into the last day of term, although I know why it was done that way. I will raise three points, the first of which is a matter that Senator Kyne prompted me to raise. The Minister of State has been a member of local...

Seanad: Appropriation Bill 2021: Second Stage (16 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: The Senator should wait until he hears what I will say next. Then he will definitely come back to me. I like Senator Gavan as a person and I have great time for him.

Seanad: Appropriation Bill 2021: Second Stage (16 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I heard him speaking about a lack of accountability and holding Government to account. I ask Senator Gavan, wearing both his trade union hat and his public representative hat, to hold his former president, Gerry Adams, to account. The Senator should ask Mr. Adams to apologise to the people he sullied with his video this week. I say that as a republican and as somebody who wants to have...

Seanad: Appropriation Bill 2021: Second Stage (16 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I will.

Seanad: Appropriation Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I wish to speak about supports for the hospitality sector. The Acting Chairperson might guide me on where in this section I might do so.

Seanad: Appropriation Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I will be. I raised this matter under the Social Welfare Bill and will do so under that Bill again tomorrow. Given that the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, is in the Department of Finance, it is important in the appropriation of moneys that we consider the proposal from the Irish Hotels Federation regarding how the hospitality sector is not able to avail of the employment wage support...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I support Senator Warfield as well. I have three requests today, the first of which relates to the vaccination programme. I ask the HSE to reopen the vaccination centres in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the Munster Technological University and Clonakilty in County Cork and to redeploy staff to those centres. It makes no sense that those centres are closed in light of the fact that we are...

Seanad: Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: I welcome the Minister of State. She is here as a Minister in her own right and I have had the benefit of working with her in a committee. We had differing views but she is a competent and capable person with whom I have worked closely and grown to respect and admire in her brief in the disability sector, where she has done powerful work. It ill behoves any of us to make references to...

Seanad: Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: Well okay, but they get a half day on Wednesday so it is two and half days. I am not going to have a row with the Senator. My point is that if we are seriously looking at how we can prevent the spread of the disease, that is one part of our arsenal. The people who work in our vaccination centres deserve great credit. There have been issues arising from a breakdown in communication which...

Seanad: Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2021)

Jerry Buttimer: Senator Keogan is correct. At one level, it is no business of a journalist to be inquiring as to the vaccination status of any Member of the Oireachtas. It is an intrusion of privacy and I fully concur with her. I answered the question for one reason. I am a proponent of vaccination, whether it is the HPV vaccine or the Covid-19 vaccine. I am a big believer in vaccination. We are role...