Results 41-60 of 1,552 for in 'Dáil debates' speaker:Peter Burke

Children and Family Relationships (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (25 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: I thank all Members for their work on this Bill to date and their contributions in the House this evening. I reiterate the sincere thanks of the Minister for Health to the advocates who have been highlighting the issues raised in this Bill over the past number of years. On behalf of the Minister for Health and the Government, I recognise the importance of the issues raised in this Bill and...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Flood Risk Management (25 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: I again thank Deputy Buckley for raising this very important matter on behalf of his community. I outline that the steering group is due to meet again in the next week or so and local elected representatives will be part of that. I assure the Deputy that the funding is in place for the relief scheme. It will be taken from the €1.3 billion that is available for flood risk management...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Water Services (25 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: I commend the Deputy on raising this issue. I agree that Dáil Éireann is the forum to raise infrastructural issues and indeed issues that really impact on people in the Deputy's locality like the elderly gentleman that he referenced in his opening contribution and the effects on his life of having no power and water for a protracted period of time. It is important that Uisce...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Flood Risk Management (25 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. He is absolutely right about the fear that people feel when they see horrific events like very serious flooding coming towards their property. I know that as I come from a constituency which has suffered extreme levels of flooding in the past. The catchment flood risk assessment and management programme provided the Government with...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Heritage Sites (25 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: I again thank Deputy Durkan for his outline of this serious situation for an important State amenity. I was struck by the figures, the visitations, the traffic and the number of people who use the amenity and see great value in it. I know it is close to the Deputy's heart, and I have heard him raise it a number of times in this House and with Ministers in the current Government. We...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Water Services (25 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: I thank the Deputy for his important Topical Issue. I will first address the water supply issues in west Waterford. As the Deputy will understand, the supply of public water and the provision of water services in general are matters for Uisce Éireann in the first instance. However, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has made inquiries with Uisce Éireann on...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Heritage Sites (25 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: I thank the Deputy for his intervention and his summation of this very important issue in his constituency. In October 2023, the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donovan, initiated a working group to progress the reuniting of the historic demesne and access issues to Castletown House and estate. This group includes representatives of the community and all of the political representatives...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Flood Relief Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. It is also an issue in my constituency. The Government fully recognises there was exceptional flooding in the Shannon Callows during late summer last year which prevented some farmers from completing their normal traditional harvesting of silage and hay. This has left affected farmers in a serious situation and required that they...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Flood Relief Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: I thank the Deputy for taking the time to raise this important issue. As already stated, approximately €736,000 of the €800,000 has been paid out. That shows how seriously the Government has taken this issue. Farmers were paid promptly under the scheme. I will raise the issues about the SAC that the Deputy put forward to the Minister, Deputy McConalogue. The Deputy also...

United Kingdom Import Controls: Statements (25 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. First, I thank all of the Deputies who participated in the debate for their interest and contributions on this very important topic. It is vital that all of us in this House work together to get the message out to our exporters and businesses. There are many people in each of our constituencies who will be impacted by these new UK...

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements (24 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: Shall I continue, a Cheann Comhairle?

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements (24 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: I am not aware that it arose at the last meeting.

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements (24 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: Very good. I again acknowledge the Deputies and all the work they have done in their well-informed contributions. To again address the issue of the Middle East, the European response has unfortunately not been as unified as we hoped. As I pointed out, there is urgency in finding common ground on which to engage with our global partners. It is clear that the majority of member states are...

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements (24 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: First, it is the greatest myth to suggest that we have an opt out because we do not. I will explain this in specific terms. We are working under the 1954 UN Human Rights Charter in the context of our core obligation as a country to provide asylum. The Lisbon treaty is totally separate. Under that treaty, this country has an opt out on justice and home affairs issues or issues of taxation....

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements (24 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: I thank the Ceann Comhairle and all the Members for their time, for their questions and for the statements made earlier by those who contributed. On the general point about the Middle East, Israel and Gaza, I strongly challenge the contention that the Government is standing idly by and doing nothing on the issue. If one looks at the record of what we have done, one will see that we were...

Gaza and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: The interventions made this morning have been reflective of the depth of feeling throughout the House and throughout Ireland on this issue. It is impossible for most of us to imagine the scale of the suffering of the Palestinian people, given the catastrophe inflicted by the IDF on the Gaza Strip. It is important that we remember the suffering of people in the West Bank, where there has...

Conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory: Motion (23 Jan 2024)

Peter Burke: From day one the Government has been very clear and unequivocal in our demands at home and abroad when engaging with partners in Europe and across the globe. We are calling for four actions: an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, urgent and effective humanitarian access, the protection of civilians, and the release of all hostages. I utterly condemn the violence committed in Israel and Gaza...

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (6 Dec 2023)

Peter Burke: I thank the Deputies for their statements in the House this afternoon. I will focus my remarks on enlargement, security and defence, and migration. On the situation in the Middle East, Ireland has consistently been clear that the protection of civilians must be paramount. It is an obligation under international humanitarian law. There must be accountability for civilian deaths. We are...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Assisted Decision-Making (5 Dec 2023)

Peter Burke: It is very important that we articulate lived experiences, especially when going through a new system, so if the Deputy wants to give me the details of the person in question, I will absolutely bring them to the attention of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. It is important also that a steering group would see challenges. We know, as constituency TDs holding clinics, how circumstances can...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Public Sector Pensions (5 Dec 2023)

Peter Burke: I have a prepared response from the Minister, Deputy Ryan, anyway.