Results 561-580 of 12,563 for speaker:Louise O'Reilly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: Does the OPW have any QSs on staff?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: Now I am confused. The OPW has QSs on staff but it also contracts in QSs.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: What are the QSs who are staff doing while the contractors are in doing the work?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: Does the OPW need additional QS staff, perhaps?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: Mr. Conlon might call it flexibility. There might be other-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: Thank you, Chair. The order of magnitude costing that was done did not contain within it the €11,000 that was needed to ensure the bike shed could be safe during the winter. Why was a kind of bike shed for all seasons not built, or how did the OPW end up getting surprised or stung with a bill for €11,000 at the end? Surely the specification would have been to build a bike...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: So the contract was not to create a bike shed that was fit for purpose, albeit massively expensive. It was to create one that was not and then had to be adjusted at the end. I am just wondering. This seems like a very good deal for the contractor at the end. Mr. Conlon was at pains to point out how detailed the plan was and the order of magnitude costing and all that stuff that went along...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: As I said, a very good deal for the contractor, it looks like.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: It is certainly an awful of responsibility to give to one person. Mr. Conlon says the OPW has now lowered the limits to €200,000. The same person could still sign a check for €199,000 for another, similar project and that would not be a problem. Are there other oversight mechanisms that have been put in place as well? I am sure Mr. Conlon has met the Minister of State with...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: The Irish Rail timetable changes have been an unmitigated disaster. On the northern line, trains are delayed. When you eventually get on the train, as I did this morning, it can be delayed for seven or eight minutes. This morning, we waited outside Connolly Station and the train itself was dangerously overcrowded. There is a massive gap in the morning schedule, leading to overcrowded...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I thank the witnesses. It is nice to see an all-woman panel; we very rarely get that joy here in the committee rooms. They are all very welcome. I thank them for the work they are doing and the information they have provided. When we talk about the rising tide, it does not necessarily lift all boats, although it may have lifted most. Even where people are employed, there are issues...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: The question is how we find those small initiatives and then scale them. How do we make sure that those initiatives find the people who need to be found, who can very often be lost within the system?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I am talking about where it can be adapted and where we can find that learning.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: That is exactly what we are looking for. It is just more information. Specific groups have been identified in both of the witnesses' presentations, namely, Travellers, lone parents and young people experiencing disadvantage. It is about being able to reach those groups. Both of my constituency offices are located close to the Intreo office. As it happens, I am the only TD in my area with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: On that, it is already an offence under the equality legislation to discriminate against a person for membership of the Travelling community. How is adding another ground going to work if it does not currently work? The figures speak for themselves. The levels of unemployment and disadvantage experienced by members of the Travelling community bring shame on the powers that be, we will say....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I understand.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: Issues always arise in the workplace. I was a union official for over a decade. It makes no odds what postcode a person was born in or what box they check. Issues will arise and they can always be dealt with in the workplace. On that, will Ms Rogers comment on specific groups and exclusion?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I thank Ms Rogers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I will return to the issue of exclusion and those groups in particular. It is something that we keep coming back to, for good reason. I note Social Justice Ireland stated that there has to be "a major commitment to retraining and re-skilling". I do not want to put words in anyone's mouth, but some of that retraining and reskilling has to involve employers, human resource managers and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: It is no surprise that there is nobody in a wheelchair in employment there because they would not be able to work.