Results 21-40 of 1,321 for at speaker:Mick Barry

Disability Justice: Motion [Private Members] (17 Apr 2024)

Mick Barry: I wish to make some summing up remarks on the debate we have just had. Many of the contributions from the various Deputies centred on the issue of the Green Paper. It is clear that a wide variety of Deputies in this House are pleased about the fact that the Green Paper has been scrapped, thanks to the pressure the Government was put under by the disability campaigners first and foremost....

Disability Justice: Motion [Private Members] (17 Apr 2024)

Mick Barry: I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that the Department of Social Protection's Green Paper on Disability Reform: — proposes to introduce three "tiers" of payments depending on a person's supposed ability to work; — was published with no consultation with disabled people, and is opposed by a wide range of disabled people and their organisations; - will do nothing to...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (16 Apr 2024)

Mick Barry: 25. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the recent Munich Security Conference. [12451/24]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the Employment (Restriction of Certain Mandatory Retirement Ages) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Apr 2024)

Mick Barry: This is a really interesting discussion and some really important points have been brought up. For me, the point about the 65-66 trap, where at the moment you have to go onto the dole, is something that needs to be spoken about a lot more and needs to be fixed by having access to the pension at 65. Very interesting points have also been brought up about the four-day week, and there needs to...

Ceapachán an Taoisigh agus Ainmniú Chomhaltaí an Rialtais - Appointment of Taoiseach and Nomination of Members of Government (9 Apr 2024)

Mick Barry: I want to correct the record of the Dáil. Earlier, I mistakenly said that the shortest-serving Taoiseach in the history of the State was John Bruton at 924 days. It was actually the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, at 904 days. Maybe it just seemed longer. A couple of weeks ago, Deputy Michael Ring made the comment that Fine Gael has been too left for too long. If he...

Taoiseach a Ainmniú - Nomination of Taoiseach (9 Apr 2024)

Mick Barry: Deputy Harris has chosen a song from the 1970s as his new theme song, Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet". It is a great song, but I can think of one or two other tunes from that decade that might be more appropriate. For example, I can think of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" from 1971. It might sum up the mood of the electorate a little better, and it does contain...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Youth Services (9 Apr 2024)

Mick Barry: 1679. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he accepts that students in Youthreach require midterm pedagogical breaks at least every six to seven weeks, as is the case in second level schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13626/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Meetings (21 Mar 2024)

Mick Barry: It was a busy day over at Tweedle Dee's yesterday. I would like to ask the reasons the Minister's Department facilitated a meeting between the Irish Defence and Security Association and the European Defence Agency's CEO in September 2023; if he will publish of the names of the people who participated in the meeting; the topics that were discussed; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Middle East (20 Mar 2024)

Mick Barry: I want to challenge the Taoiseach on a point he raised earlier when he said that my approach had not assisted the people of Gaza and had zero effect. By implication he is talking about the approach of socialists. By implication he is talking about the global protest movement of which we are part. His statement is not correct, in my view. Why did the man with whom he was spending time on...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Programme for Government (20 Mar 2024)

Mick Barry: This is an out-of-touch Government and Deputy Varadkar has been an out-of-touch Taoiseach. Rarely was that seen more than in his interview on "The Six O'Clock Show", where he raised issues relating to care and disability and showed his Thatcherite colours. I suspect that was the moment the care referendum was lost. The Government, however, is about to repeat the mistake. Its Green Paper...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Mar 2024)

Mick Barry: I think Sally Rooney nailed it. She said that the "Government [is basking] in the moral glow of condemning the bombers, while preserving a cosy relationship with those [who supply] the bombs". Even as celebrations were in full swing in the White House on Sunday, Netanyahu and his war cabinet were no doubt making preparations for a ground invasion of Rafah, which is a city of nearly 2...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Mar 2024)

Mick Barry: There needs to be a general election now. Several parties have called for that in the House today and I strongly suspect that a great many people out there in society would also say that it is time for that now. The people should have the decisive say in who the next Taoiseach will be rather than the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party. Deputy Varadkar has been a good Taoiseach for the wealthy...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Residency Permits (20 Mar 2024)

Mick Barry: 826. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to publish the waiting times for the renewal of IRP cards at the immigration office in Anglesea Street Garda station, Cork; if she will consider measures to speed up renewal applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12068/24]

International Women's Day: Statements (5 Mar 2024)

Mick Barry: Last week, the Taoiseach gave us an insight into his thinking about care and the role of the family. When speaking about the demand from people for a right to care and supports from the State, the Taoiseach explained his position that State support for care is a last resort. He said, "I do not actually think that is the State's responsibility, to be honest. I do think that is very much a...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Mar 2024)

Mick Barry: ...the town of Mallow when traffic is heavy, but I can tell him it is quite the experience. If he has been there, I do not know if he has ever wandered down to a place called the Plaza to have a look at a traffic system which just does not work. Mallow needs a relief road. Why will the Government and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, not fund a project in this regard? The recent...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (29 Feb 2024)

Mick Barry: 148. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to report on measures his Department will take to improve access to public transport for the residents at an IPAS centre (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9665/24]

Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (28 Feb 2024)

Mick Barry: .... they are being closed by the new owners, Alma24. According to The Guardian, Alma24 has an owner and majority shareholder who is an executive with close links to Aurelius, a vulture fund that is well known for its asset stripping. The stock will be cleared out of the Irish stores and the company is expected to go into liquidation next week. Today, a bombshell was dropped on those...

Protection of Employees (Trade Union Subscriptions) Bill 2024: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Feb 2024)

Mick Barry: Union busting is a term we associate with the United States of America, but it is an international practice and it is very much alive and well in the Republic of Ireland. In 2015, Tesco employed the union busting legal firm Eversheds Sutherland as it prepared its union busting strategy Project Black. Attacking union subscriptions and the check-off system was very much part of the project....

Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) [Private Members] (27 Feb 2024)

Mick Barry: Recently the Children's Rights Alliance gave the Government an E for its performance on youth mental health. I wonder what it would have given the Government for youth mental health services in the Cork and Kerry region? At the end of September, there were 728 young people on the waiting list in our region. This is 16% of the total on the waiting list nationally with just 11% of the...

Recent Arson Attacks: Statements (27 Feb 2024)

Mick Barry: We are discussing the series of arson attacks we have seen across the State over the past five years. Let us imagine that for the past five years there was, instead, a series of protests outside the holiday homes of the super rich and famous demanding that these homes be taken into the ownership of the State and used to accommodate homeless people. Let us imagine that two or three days...