Results 441-460 of 827 for speaker:Mark Wall

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland - Public Policy, Economic Opportunities and Challenges: Discussion (7 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: I thank the Chair and thank our witnesses for attending. I have a couple of questions. On education, a number of contributors on the last day spoke about the religious ethos in education in Northern Ireland. Has Dr. Bergin's research shown up issues as regards that ethos? A number of other contributors spoke of not meeting others from different religions and from a different ethos until...

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland - Public Policy, Economic Opportunities and Challenges: Discussion (7 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: I thank our contributors. I will concentrate on a question I have for Professor Doyle. He mentioned franchise, but we have had many contributions from young people. Are we isolating 16- to 18-year-olds by not considering them, or have they been considered in his research? It seems that they have a valid opinion and an argument to make for both sides. I ask him to comment on whether he...

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland - Public Policy, Economic Opportunities and Challenges: Discussion (7 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: I thank all the contributors for the very enlightening contributions. Earlier I spoke about young people and the vote. With regard to ageing societies, do Professor Heenan and Dr. Fitzpatrick believe there are challenges around healthcare and welfare systems in that context? Has this come across in their research? It is obviously a big debate in the South at the moment with regard to an...

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland - Public Policy, Economic Opportunities and Challenges: Discussion (7 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: I have a number of questions but I will confine myself to addressing a couple to Dr. Liston and Professor Maguire. I, too, believe in the power of sport. In the past two days, I travelled through counties Fermanagh and Tyrone, where I noticed lots of flags displayed. It is the time of the year for it, with the county finals, etc. The witnesses mentioned flags, anthems and all-Ireland...

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland - Public Policy, Economic Opportunities and Challenges: Discussion (7 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: I have a few quick comments. First, I thank everybody for their contributions. An all-Ireland third level application process is essential and I agree with everything Ms Murphy said. I could not agree more with everything Mr. McQuillan said. I look forward to working with the witnesses through this committee as well as other committees to put workers' rights at the centre of everything in...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: There has been a lot of talk about the commuting measures in the budget over the past week or so. I welcome the extension of the 20% discount to public transport fares and the extension of reduced fares for young adults to the end of 2023. It was great to receive confirmation that the youth travel card will be extended to those aged 16, 17 and 18 years of age, which we learned through a...

Seanad: Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: I welcome the Minister back to the House this evening. He was here previously for discussions on Defence Forces matters but this is our first opportunity to discuss this important report. I thank him for making himself available to us this evening. I also thank those involved in producing the report, including the chairman and all those who were on the committee. That is important to say....

Seanad: Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: I thank the Minister. He is going to come back to us with all the answers to these questions, as he has said.

Seanad: Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: The Minister is going to come back to us and let us know. I gave my information and I thank the Minister for correcting it if what he says is the case. The Minister will be aware that the plan we are discussing tonight spoke of an expanded Naval Service. He will also be aware of the importance of our Naval Service as an island nation and in the context of protecting our territorial waters....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: I thank our guests for coming before the committee. It has already been an informative meeting. I will go back to the issue of July provision that Deputy Carroll MacNeill spoke about earlier. Ms Fox mentioned the fact that there are 116,000 registered professionals, which is great to hear. Would they all be capable of completing or teaching in a July provision programme?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: Ms Fox mentioned 1,200 teachers in her response to Deputy Carroll MacNeill. Was that the amount of teachers, of that 116,000, who took part in this year's programme or was that the number of student placements? I want to confirm that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: That would be good.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: The issue over those summer months was the lack of routine. As Ms Fox will be aware from interacting with families, there was no July provision in major towns around this country. Has she any idea of the number of teachers who took part in July provision? Is that number available to her and will she share it with the committee?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: I appreciate that. I wish to raise one other issue. I wish to put on the record that I am not a teacher. This committee relates to autistic persons. Ms Fox mentioned the ongoing Droichead induction. How much of that is specific to autism? Is there a module specific to autism? Ms Fox also mentioned 24 or 30 weeks in special education. How much of that is specific to autism? Is that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: I have a lead-on question from there. The Chair has brought us around a number of special schools and one of the big issues was autistic person-specific training. Ms Fox has said it is dependent on the training teacher coming back and asking for that. Should there be autistic person-specific training, given the complexities many families and students have? Is that something the Teaching...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: It is all leading into that question. Ms Fox is saying there is a module that is autism-specific. I ask Ms Fox to tell us about that again and what it involves.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: They are very detailed and interesting answers. I thank all our guests for being with us this morning. It has been a very interesting discussion so far. I want to come back to school places. All the witnesses have mentioned forward planning. I am from the lovely county of Kildare and school places are a big issue for us there, including for special places. Every time I have met the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (4 Oct 2022)

Mark Wall: I thank the Chairman.

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Voices of All Communities on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland: Discussion (30 Sep 2022)

Mark Wall: I thank our five contributors to date. I am looking forward to everyone else's contribution. I wish to put my cards on the table. I am from the great county of Kildare which is in the middle of this great country which we have. I am very interested in this conversation. The most important thing is that we have said we are here as a committee to listen to what our guest speakers have to...

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Voices of All Communities on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland: Discussion (30 Sep 2022)

Mark Wall: I thank all 16 contributors. As I said at the start, this is very much a listening exercise for us. When I agreed to be part of this committee, we were told that there would be a report at the end of it but all reports are only as good as the people that participate in their making. Today has been a great start for us in that sense and the next couple of sessions promise to be very good....