Results 4,381-4,400 of 5,732 for speaker:Fidelma Healy Eames

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I support Senator Frances Fitzgerald's call for an urgent debate on the economy, particularly in light of the admission yesterday by the trade unions that social partnership is failing in its current form. Repossessions of family homes are, meanwhile, increasing and last week in this House I called for an urgent debate with the relevant Minister on this issue. I would like such a discussion...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Will the Leader facilitate that? Yesterday I spent the day in Mountjoy Prison interviewing-----

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I was not an inmate but I was there.

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I thank the Senator for his time. The House may know that I am conducting an Oireachtas study on early school leaving and one of the target groups that we are looking at is the prison population. We interviewed two men and two women in their 20s, so it is not that long since they were in primary and secondary school. There were no surprises as illiteracy and sexual abuse were the causes,...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: We are not making progress.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Do it.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Go for it.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: The Senator should raise it with the Minister.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Agreed.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Yes.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Since last September we have been fixated on using taxpayers' money to help the banks. Anglo Irish Bank is enjoying €7.5 billion of taxpayers' money and one must ask, for what end? It is time we turned our attention to helping home owners who now face real challenges in meeting their mortgage payments. The banks have signed up to a moratorium not to foreclose for six to 12 months after...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: May I conclude?

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: With respect, I wish to finish my point. The article says the bilateral should have been automatically renewed unless revoked in writing.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I wish to propose an amendment to the Order of Business to ask the Minister of State with responsibility for children, Deputy Barry Andrews, to come to the House to be asked whether Ireland has cancelled the bilateral agreement in writing, thereby preventing foreign adoptions from Vietnam.

Seanad: Domestic Violence (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: At midnight perhaps.

Seanad: Early Childhood Education (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I compliment Senator Norris on raising the issue of domestic abuse and making a valid case for protecting women who are at risk of domestic violence. I am worried about how prevalent the circumstances he describes may be across all counties. I welcome the Minister of State. It seems every issue I raise falls into his lap. When one considers that he is responsible for the issues of child...

Seanad: Early Childhood Education (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: For example, there are providers in Galway alone who explained to me that, based on the Department paying them for 38 weeks and the fact that they need to operate for 52 weeks or, at worst, 42 weeks, giving the parents ten weeks off, they will lose between €13,980 and €34,180 a year. That is a great deal of money. This scheme will result in a large loss in child care places. A five-day...

Seanad: Early Childhood Education (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I also point out that the scheme will result in job losses in the system, will do lasting damage to the quality of child care and, critically, will take choice from parents. The scheme was implemented without consultation with the providers. I ask the Minister of State to seriously consider reviewing the scheme at this point so that it works to provide for the outcomes for which it has the...

Seanad: Early Childhood Education (17 Jun 2009)

Fidelma Healy Eames: The marginalised benefit from community child care provision. I am speaking about the fall-out from the private providers. The aim of this, I understand, is to reduce the cost of child care. However, the focus should be on reducing the cost in a controlled manner that avoids massive reductions in the availability of child care places or an unacceptable reduction in the living standards of...