Results 5,781-5,800 of 8,245 for speaker:Bríd Smith

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists Action Plans (4 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: 295. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to reduce the waiting times in St. James's Hospital, Dublin, for a colonoscopy appointment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29560/18]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Procedures (4 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: 296. To ask the Minister for Health if there have been changes in operating procedures in St. James's Hospital relating to conducting colonoscopies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29561/18]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Cancer Screening Programmes (4 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: 297. To ask the Minister for Health the laboratories and-or hospitals in which screening tests for colon cancer are carried out; the number carried out since 2010 in each of these locations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29562/18]

Heritage Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: Absolutely.

Heritage Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: Just before we adjourned, the Minister stated, regarding the decline of the bird population by 28% reported by BirdWatch Ireland, that the EU placed an emphasis on the protection of Ireland's birds. However, she went on to state that the latest report given to the EU was in 2013. BirdWatch Ireland's report is very recent. Obviously, the report from five years ago does not tally with the...

Heritage Bill 2016: Report Stage (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: They did burn not hedgerows. They listened to the farmers.

Heritage Bill 2016: Report Stage (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: I agree with the Deputy but-----

Heritage Bill 2016: Report Stage (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: One gets great pleasure from walking the hills and laneways or cycling pathways and using all the attractions that this country has to offer, despite the loss of habitats and species, the 40% reduction in the bee population, which is quite scary when we realise the role the bee plays in the food chain and the reproductive life of this island, and the red listing of six or seven native species...

Heritage Bill 2016: Report Stage (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: Then I indicate. I understood that the Ceann Comhairle took us in the order of the amendments.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of Petroleum and Other Mineral Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: I will do my best to be brief and deal with the main issues, as I see them, around passing this Bill and instituting a ban on fossil fuel exploration in Ireland. First, I will say a few words on why I believe this Bill is needed. We have witnessed here in Ireland and globally the effects of rising CO2 levels on our climate. The rise in the number of extreme weather events, deadly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of Petroleum and Other Mineral Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: I want to ask Professor Shannon some questions. What he has just said, namely, that the Bill will lead to emissions increasing rather than reducing, negates what is being attempted. I take his claim extraordinarily seriously. I presume that he has evidence of this, which I ask him to provide. By how much exactly will the Bill increase emissions? How much more CO2 will be forced into the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of Petroleum and Other Mineral Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: Will all due respect, that is very disingenuous. We do not bring energy from Siberia to Ireland. That just does not happen. Most of our energy comes from the connectors with Britain coming mostly from Norway and the North Sea. Putting that to one side, the premise of the Bill is that this is not just the responsibility of a little island on the edge of the Atlantic. This is a global...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of Petroleum and Other Mineral Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: Professor Shannon has just said that Europe imports gas from Russia. We import our gas from Britain. Britain may import a small amount of that from Europe, but we are looking at an ever-decreasing percentage of it potentially coming from Russia. We do not know that for a fact. What we do know is that more than 50% of our gas needs are met indigenously through Kinsale and Corrib and we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of Petroleum and Other Mineral Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: I want to address a question Deputy Gino Kenny asked. He was trying to get at something with the Department which was not directly answered. He asked about seismic testing having read the recent report of the Marine Institute on the worrying impact of seismic testing on the mortality rate among zoo plankton. That has also led to a recent set of statements by the fishing industry as to its...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of Petroleum and Other Mineral Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: My question was whether the Department has ever carried out an environmental impact study on the companies that have been licensed for seismic testing on our shore.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of Petroleum and Other Mineral Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: Therefore the Department has never undertaken any testing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of Petroleum and Other Mineral Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: What I am getting at is that there is plenty of evidence, apart from the Australian study such as that by the Marine Institute in Galway, that seismic testing has a serious impact on zooplankton and dolphin and whale life of the ocean. That, combined with what Mr. Collins has just told us, means that there is light-touch regulation of the companies that are carrying out this testing and that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of Petroleum and Other Mineral Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: Will Mr. Collins answer the other question, please? I am not trying to be provocative but I would like an answer to why, for example, the lease undertaking application of Island Expro, which discovered gas in 2007 during the Schull discovery, has been under consideration since 2011, which is seven years. Why is it taking so long? In the course of that seven years, will that company have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of Petroleum and Other Mineral Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: If it takes seven or 11 years for a company's application to be completed, either for an undertaking or a lease, how does it fit into the premise that we must gradually wean ourselves off CO2 emissions and a reliance on carbon fuels? As Professor John Sweeney demonstrated so well in his presentation, the period from when the licence is first issued through the various stages until the carbon...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of Petroleum and Other Mineral Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (3 Jul 2018)

Bríd Smith: We just heard from Professor Shannon that LNG is extremely damaging and that it creates more CO2 emissions than other forms of natural gas.