Results 4,061-4,080 of 9,160 for speaker:Thomas Pringle

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Forestry and Climate Change: Discussion (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: Does Coillte not have that at the moment?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Forestry and Climate Change: Discussion (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: Coillte must have some expertise.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: I thank everybody for their evidence and we have had an interesting discussion. The Pringle Report mentioned was published 42 years ago in 1977. If a review of the report was conducted over the next year or so would we point towards its recommendations that have been implemented? Has the report stood the test of time? If we implemented its recommendations now would it meet our current...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: We are here almost 50 years later.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: That is telling in itself.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: Unfortunately, probably 35 years from now those issues will arise too.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: Ms Wall has a lot more faith in it than I do. It depends on the result of the next general election, more so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: I hope it will be as relevant after the next general election too. Deputy O'Callaghan mentioned barriers. The biggest barrier is money, as has been outlined. That aspect is one that was not mentioned in that discussion. I do not have a legal background but I know that everybody thinks straightaway about costs when considering legal stuff. Our whole legal structure is based on paying...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: When the Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, came before this committee its representatives talked about free services. However, when one delved into the matter one discovered that it costs €130 for an initial consultation, which means assistance is not free and, therefore, poses a real barrier. Are the CLM services entirely free?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: Sorry, the Legal Aid Board or whatever.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: It definitely is. I thank Ms Wall. It was mentioned that legal aid was not allowable at the WRC. For my own information, is it allowable where the WRC makes a judgment that is then challenged in the courts? I know of instances where someone who got a favourable judgment at the WRC that was then challenged in the courts by the employer lost there because he or she had no legal representation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: That is something of which people are not aware. In a number of instances that I know of, people won their cases for genuine reasons but, when they went to court, they were ruled against because they had no legal representation. That is-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: The WRC probably does not make people aware of it either.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: I thank Ms O'Sullivan. I have two further questions. It was mentioned in passing that the legal advice was funded by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government rather than the Department of Justice and Equality. This may be an unfair question for the witnesses, but I believe that is the crux of the problem, in that the Department of Justice and Equality is not about justice...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: It is telling that the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government did that rather than the Department of Justice and Equality.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: That is everything from me.

OECD Report on SME and Entrepreneurship Policy in Ireland: Statements (10 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the OECD report. It is interesting that in Ireland, the idea of an SME among members of the public is not an enterprise with up to 250 people employed. In the Donegal context, that would be looked on as a very large employer. When we talk about this, we should talk about small enterprises because that is the reality in rural Ireland....

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Domestic Violence Services Funding (10 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: 72. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will meet an organisation (details supplied) in County Donegal; her views on whether Ireland is compliant with the Istanbul convention, which was ratified in March 2019; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51149/19]

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Family Support Services (10 Dec 2019)

Thomas Pringle: 86. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the steps she will take to fill the gap in provision of family services left by the recently announced closure of a service (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51150/19]