Results 41-60 of 509 for at speaker:Gary Gannon

Tribunal of Inquiry into certain matters relating to the Complaints Processes in the Defence Forces: Motion (24 Jan 2024)

Gary Gannon: Members of our Defence Forces have experienced some of the most egregious treatment and conditions of any workforce in our country’s history. It has been harrowing listening to the stories of the all-too-many members who were victims of a broken system. It was a system of abuse. Imagine how difficult it must have been to live through that trauma. It is for this reason I can act...

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

Gary Gannon: I would love to be sitting here today for post-European Council statements and talking about the plethora of different issues I would like to discuss in respect of migration, the supports we should be providing to those seeking sanctuary, accession candidates, artificial intelligence policy and rule of law violations. How can we all step back from the realisation that in the past few days we...

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

Gary Gannon: I begin with the words of the German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht: The first time it was reported that our friends were being butchered there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred were butchered. But when a thousand were butchered and there was no end to the butchery, a blanket of silence spread. When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out "stop!" When crimes begin to...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Sports Facilities (24 Jan 2024)

Gary Gannon: I thank the Minister of State for his response. Dublin City Council has done a lot of great work around the north inner city and the city more generally - there is no disputing that - but there has been an omission in respect of soccer pitches for predominantly working-class kids in and around the city centre. There is no 11-a-side pitch in the north inner city at all. There is an...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Sports Facilities (24 Jan 2024)

Gary Gannon: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, for being present for this Topical Issue. This is an issue I raised previously and it has still not been addressed. Frankly, ostensibly it should be a Dublin City Council issue but in the absence of actions I have been forced to bring it to the Chamber once again. I believe I raised it with the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. ...

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

Gary Gannon: I do not welcome that a motion for a debate on an issue of this importance was given to the Opposition at 1.50 p.m. today. We had less than one hour to draw up amendments. This is not even close to being acceptable. To be quite frank, in its current format this motion offers absolutely nothing of substance to the debate. The motion the Government has presented, in its current form, skirts...

Social Welfare (Liable Relatives and Child Maintenance) Bill 2023: Second Stage (18 Jan 2024)

Gary Gannon: I welcome this Bill. It is absolutely necessary that the plight of children in poverty is treated with the seriousness it deserves. The report and review that provide the basis for this Bill are a multitude of steps in the right direction but I should point out that as UNICEF stated in a recent publication, Ireland has made progress in reducing child poverty but it still exists at a...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (17 Jan 2024)

Gary Gannon: 1348. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of residents at a location (details supplied), broken down by gender, relationship status and the number who are children, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56777/23]

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

Gary Gannon: This European Council meeting has the potential to be very significant but I fear it will just go as exactly as the one five weeks ago did. There will be words, expressions of concern, equivocation, and justification of the slaughter and genocide that is happening. The frustration I have, which the Social Democrats would like to express first and foremost, is that it has been three and a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Education Policy (30 Nov 2023)

Gary Gannon: I appreciate that. We can also appreciate that in more middle-class and suburban areas of the country, I often find parents campaigning to remove a fast food restaurant from outside of school gates. In the inner city and surrounding areas that I represent, too often over the years I have received calls from parents and members of the school community to remove open drug dealing from outside...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (30 Nov 2023)

Gary Gannon: 104. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills what actions her Department is taking to tackle teacher shortages at primary and secondary level. [52830/23]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East (30 Nov 2023)

Gary Gannon: 233. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if the Government will advocate for the suspension of trade with Israel at EU level, which is governed by the EU Israel Association Agreement, due to its abhorrent violations of international law. [50256/23]

Neutrality: Motion [Private Members] (28 Nov 2023)

Gary Gannon: I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. At its most basic, removal of the triple lock would make it easier for Irish troops to be deployed on military operations overseas. While some might think that is a good thing, I certainly do not. In practice, it means the State could send military personnel overseas on missions not mandated by the UN, since the clause that has...

Policing, Protests and Public Order: Statements (28 Nov 2023)

Gary Gannon: The Taoiseach began by saying that he is keen to hear feedback from the community. Let me tell the Minister about some of the feedback from the parents in Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire as regards what they have experienced over the past 24 hours. Can she imagine what the parents of those children have experienced over the weekend since last Thursday? What would her expectation be if that...

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023: Second Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Gary Gannon: ...Bill. Given the surplus of resources the Government was faced with entering this term, budget 2024 should have heralded real change. It should have looked to the future, tackling inequality that has become entrenched. It could have addressed the chronic underfunding of public services, bringing them up to, at the very least, European standards. We are told the money is available. ...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (23 Nov 2023)

Gary Gannon: Another position previously held by the Government and which it now seems to have stepped away from is state recognition for Palestine. Next Wednesday marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The Tánaiste was asked as early as September when the Government would take the decision to recognise Palestine. He said he would do so but would wait until it would...

Consultative Forum on International Security Policy Report: Statements (22 Nov 2023)

Gary Gannon: I am using the example of Frank Aiken to demonstrate a time when Ireland took a maverick position, stepped out from the group and acted unilaterally as a way of achieving something. Now we seem to have lost the courage to go beyond ourselves. It is with that spirit in mind that I am saying to the Tánaiste that now, when the dogs of war are once again assembling and when we are seeing a...

Consultative Forum on International Security Policy Report: Statements (22 Nov 2023)

Gary Gannon: I will try to spend the majority of my time discussing the consultative forum and the findings from it but inevitably we will not be able to step away from other events that are taking place in the world, particularly in the Middle East, and from our role within those events. There was an assertion in the consultative forum's conclusion: "that Ireland’s policy of neutrality is...

Palestine: Motion [Private Members] (22 Nov 2023)

Gary Gannon: I thank People Before Profit for bringing forward this motion. We are living through the most horrific times. In that regard, I am grateful, insofar as one can be, that this Chamber gets to debate what contribution Ireland can make, however small or large, in stopping the depravity that we are watching being inflicted on the human beings in Gaza right now. Last week, the Social Democrats...

Science Week: Statements (16 Nov 2023)

Gary Gannon: I thank Deputy Denis Naughten and the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, for giving us the opportunity to speak on this topic as we celebrate Science Week 2023. This occasion provides us with an invaluable opportunity to recognise the importance of STEM in our society and to reflect on the progress we have made in these fields. I have spoken at length over the years about the power of...