Results 441-460 of 7,637 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Regulation of the English Language Sector: Discussion (14 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I had not intended to come in, but I wish to ask one quick question. I welcome all our guests. This is a significant issue and one we need to pay close attention to. I am very grateful and apologise that I could not be here from the start. Following on from Deputy Pringle's questions and what Mr. Ó Luain was saying, is it primarily an issue of bad administration or is there some kind...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Regulation of the English Language Sector: Discussion (14 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I thank the witnesses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Regulation of the English Language Sector: Discussion (14 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I do not have many questions to ask. I welcome the witnesses. To ask a general question, what are seen as the biggest challenges facing the sector? I direct this first to Mr. O'Connor Lloyd, Mr. O'Shea or Mr. Biondi.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Regulation of the English Language Sector: Discussion (14 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: The accommodation crisis in the country generally is coming in at different levels and impacting different people in different ways in terms of housing, etc. Presumably, there is a knock-on impact as well in terms of the availability of accommodation for students coming into the country and the cost of it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Regulation of the English Language Sector: Discussion (14 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I am sorry to interrupt, but I am conscious of the time and I want to direct a question to Ms Harmon as well. How is this accommodation requirement managed in the context of children who are under 18? I would have thought the only safe way to host them would be in families. If there has been a decrease in the number of host families, is this creating a problem?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Regulation of the English Language Sector: Discussion (14 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I thank Mr. Biondi. Turning to Ms Harmon, she mentioned several recommendations have not been followed up on. This business where students get caught when a company folds or whatever, is this a problem that may continue happening? If so, are there mechanisms the ICOS can think of or that it would like to see introduced in this regard? For example, perhaps we could introduce some kind of an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Regulation of the English Language Sector: Discussion (14 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: It is the language providers who have to maintain those escrow accounts.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Regulation of the English Language Sector: Discussion (14 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Is Mr. Hearne suggesting it is easier to provide something in kind than it is to refund the money? Is that what he means about getting people onto another course?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Regulation of the English Language Sector: Discussion (14 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Forgive me, I was more thinking of the question of the right to work and the issue Mr. Ó Luain was speaking about a few minutes ago. What is the cause of the blockage there?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Regulation of the English Language Sector: Discussion (14 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Right.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (9 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I concur with what Senator O'Loughlin had to say about the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. It does very important work and I look forward to supporting it this morning and at other times. Its work is to be greatly commended. On 7 May, the Minister for agriculture announced his decision to ban the use on dogs and cats of so-called electronic shock collars operated by handheld remote...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (9 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: We are talking about an increase from 65,000 offences to more than 70,000 offences.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (9 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: A disproportionate emphasis is being placed on hate crimes. Let us, by all means, have a law that is sensible but let us not pay disproportionate attention to what is actually a very small number of incidents. Let us instead focus on where the bulk of problems are in relation to criminality.

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I move amendment No. 2: In page 4, line 19, after “practitioner” to insert the following: "(other than a general practitioner who has notified the Minister that the practitioner does not wish the premises at which he or she provides healthcare services to be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be a relevant healthcare premises)".

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: With this amendment, we propose to insert the following text into the Bill: (other than a general practitioner who has notified the Minister that the practitioner does not wish the premises at which he or she provides healthcare services to be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be a relevant healthcare premises) Including this line on page 4, line 19 is to provide for the definition...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: Not for the first time, I am disappointed with the Minister's response. The problem is that the Minister does not address the core of the purpose of the proposed amendment. His latter point about those who might be distressed by any reasonable witness is the premise of the Bill. This Bill seeks to limit freedom of expression on the grounds that certain other people may profess to be...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I thank the Minister for his intervention but of course he is the one who is misleading not just this House but the public, as he has done all along. As I have pointed out, the Minister's approach to all of this when truth and facts are presented to him is reminiscent of the Borg in Star Trek. I get the glazed eye, the refusal to point to specific information, the computer says no, "I am on...

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I have said on the record that there is something corrupt about the Government's treatment of this issue. I have to say that, in all honesty.

Seanad: Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2024)

Rónán Mullen: I have always said and I will say it again that I have nothing personal against the Minister at all. I have nothing but contempt, I am sorry to say, for the way he does his job, specifically on this issue. He is not in the service of truth or good healthcare. He has acted in a way that completely disregards. Privately he says he will meet anybody, but his only approach ever on this issue...