Results 5,241-5,260 of 5,629 for speaker:Mairéad Farrell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Financial Services Union: Discussion. (8 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: Mr. O'Connell is right. The key thing here is responsibility. The bank has a responsibility to the 3,000 people who work for it. It has a responsibility based on the fact that it has been around for 200 years. It is outrageous that it has refused to come before us time and again despite numerous requests. It is good that the message coming out of this committee meeting loud and clear is...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: I will be speaking in support of amendments Nos. 72, 76 and 77. It is very clear that we are in a climate emergency and we need to act now. We need strong decisive action and leadership by the Government to deal with this climate emergency but we need progressive policies if we want to deal with this it. I am deeply disappointed at the regressive nature of the carbon tax. I spoke at...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: I echo the sentiments of Deputy Doherty. I am concerned. We had a lengthy debate on Committee Stage in this regard. I was quite surprised at this amendment because I am concerned it could lead to this section not being implemented for a long time. When we had the discussion on Committee Stage, it was our understanding that it would come into effect on 1 January 2021. I have been...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (3 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: 70. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on whether applications for the pandemic unemployment payment should be extended to April 2021 in line with employment wage subsidy scheme and the reduced bands restored to their earlier rates in view of the new localised lockdowns and in view of the fact the State is just entering the final quarter of the year....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Staff (3 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: 299. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of staff members of UCD, TCD and DCU who availed of fee waivers remissions for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in their respective institutions in each of the years 2016 to 2019, in tabular form. [40975/20]

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: Of course I want to see houses being built. I want to see public houses and affordable houses being built. I want to see an affordable housing plan. As I stated earlier to the Minister, there was a ten-year period during which not one social house was built in Galway city. That is the reality with which we are dealing. The fact of the matter is that a significant number of people are...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: I move amendment No. 9: In page 11, after line 34, to the following: “Report on income tax relief 11.The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on an income tax relief equivalent in value to 8.3 per cent of annual rent to all private rental tenants not already in receipt of any State subsidy, examining...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: I think this would be an extremely effective way of putting money back into renters' pockets. We have a huge issue, in particular in our cities, of sky-high rents, and I do not see the measures the Government has introduced having a significant effect on those people who come to my weekly clinics telling me they cannot afford their rents and asking me what they can avail of and what can be...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: We are stating very clearly that we do not believe the help-to-buy scheme is doing what it is supposed to do or what it says on the tin, so to speak. It is not helping those who need it most or who are looking to buy a house for the very first time. It was mentioned earlier that we believe there is a need for proper social or public housing as well as a proper affordable housing plan,...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: I echo the words of my colleague, Deputy Doherty, about all the assistance that was given in the smooth running of the discussion on the Bill on Committee Stage. It was my first Finance Bill. I thought it ran very smoothly because of the great work put in by a lot of people. I also thank them for that. It has been said that we had a very lengthy debate on the scheme, and I expressed my...

Pay for Student Nurses and Midwives: Motion [Private Members] (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: I commend Solidarity-People Before Profit on bringing forward this motion. It is scandalous that student nurses are not paid at the best of times. It is even more outrageous in the middle of a global pandemic. These student nurses have been central to our front-line response to this pandemic but have been left in financial hardship by the Government. Many students nurses from Galway have...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Committee Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: I have two questions. Should I ask them or at the end? There are no amendments.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Committee Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: I am sorry because I am sure I am being a pain at this committee.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Committee Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: I welcome the Aire Stáit. My colleague Deputy Doherty mentioned issues concerning beneficial ownership to former Minister of State Michael D'Arcy. I welcome the fact that there have been amendments since then. I have a question on the submission of the annual return. Could the Minister of State clarify whether that information will be publicly available? On beneficial ownership,...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Committee Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: I thank the Minister of State for that clarification. Will the annual return be publicly available?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Committee Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: One will be able to find this out from the annual return.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Committee Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: That is great.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Committee Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: That covers my question. I thank the Minister of State.

State Pension Age: Motion [Private Members] (1 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: I commend my colleagues, Deputies Louise O'Reilly and Claire Keranne, on bringing forward this important motion. Throughout people's working lives, they knew the pension age always to be 65 years. More than that, people were mentally geared up to retire at 65. The social contract which the State had with its citizens was broken by the Fine Gael and Labour Party Government when it brought...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Network (1 Dec 2020)

Mairéad Farrell: 165. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if a second feasibility study into the western rail corridor has been commissioned; if so, the purpose of commissioning a second study; when he plans to publish the findings of the initial report and the independent review; when he expects to make a decision on the future of the western rail corridor; and if he will make a statement on...