Results 41-60 of 969 for speaker:John McGahon

Seanad: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2024)

John McGahon: I will not delay the Minister. I was keen to contribute to this debate. I congratulate the Minister and the Department for getting this important legislation through. It is something that should have been done a considerable time ago. It is important that the work the Minister is doing in his Department is getting this through. I wish to take this opportunity to state on the record of...

Seanad: Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2024)

John McGahon: It is timely that we have the Minister for Health in the House today because Adam Marmion from County Louth is a very courageous young man. I had the pleasure of meeting him about a year ago with his parents. It is because of Adam that the school has a tour in Leinster House today. All of the students have a day off school to come for a tour of Leinster House and it is all down to Adam,...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Feb 2024)

John McGahon: Today, I want to ask for a debate with the Minister for Education with regard to solar energy, in particular for schools. That is being rolled out through a really good programme that the Government has initiated, which is the solar programme for schools. It is really exciting. The first trial started in November. It is opened up to 11 counties. That is going to benefit 1,600 schools....

Seanad: Gas (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (13 Feb 2024)

John McGahon: As my colleague, Senator Dooley, has said, this is a very technical Bill so I will be very brief. Naturally, it is a good Bill and is something we really need to welcome. Some of the proposed legislative amendments are quite important, particularly the establishment of a transfer date for the integration of Ervia into GNI. This, along with the dissolution of Ervia is pretty important, as...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Feb 2024)

John McGahon: I wish to address the issue of apprenticeships. I call for a debate about them to acknowledge the really important work the Minister, Deputy Harris, is doing on them and to have a discussion about how we can make them better. I am raising this because over the weekend, I was out knocking on doors in my home town of Dundalk. I met an individual who is a tiler and that person outlined to me...

Seanad: Death of Former Taoiseach: Expressions of Sympathy (7 Feb 2024)

John McGahon: It has been a very sad few days for Fine Gael, which like most political parties in this country is a family or tribe, as such, and John was our leader for a very long time so there is a huge tinge of sadness there. When I look at John Bruton, I look at a man who gave definition to politics, to Fine Gael and to his role as a leader and Taoiseach. He was absolutely unequivocal in his...

Seanad: Family Carers: Motion [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: It is timely that Senator Cummins finished as a member of the labour panel because we have a former member of the labour panel here with us tonight, namely, of former Senator Don Lydon, who served as a Member of this House between 1987 and 2007. It is a timely debate as well because he served as the Fianna Fáil justice spokesperson. It is great to have him back. If any of us have the...

Seanad: Family Carers: Motion [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: The Minister of State, without interruption.

Seanad: Family Carers: Motion [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: Senator Clonan, are you pressing amendment No. 1?

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: I would like to be associated with the comments made by my colleagues on the death of John Connor. John served for a long time as a Member of Dáil Éireann and of Seanad Éireann. Indeed, when Longford was in the same constituency as Roscommon, there were some very close battles between him and the late Louis Belton. On each occasion, though, where either Louis or John lost...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: That was excellent timing. I thank the Cathaoirleach for letting me in at the very last minute. I do not want to anticipate what I hope to say later in the Second Stage debate on the Limerick mayor. It is very specific to Limerick, however. Therefore, I just want to talk about local government in general and the concept of mayors. First, they are a very good idea. Second, every county...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: The debate later today is specifically about Limerick. While I will chat about that, that is Limerick based. What I would actually like a debate about is the concept of directly elected mayors for every local authority. The idea of having to have referendums for them does not necessarily work because as we see with referendums, and as we may see with the referendums coming in March, people...

Seanad: Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2023: Second Stage (24 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: As I am following Senator Byrne and the Minister of State, both of whom are from the city where this will be implemented, I make my comments with that in mind. The concept of directly elected mayors is an excellent one. It is the way forward for local government. My vision for local government would be to see a directly elected mayor for every local authority, for example, Louth, Donegal...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: I would like to follow up on the call by Senator Warfield for a debate on emigration. The Senator and I are a similar age. When we were maybe 18 or 19, people were emigrating from this country in their droves. They were doing that because there was no employment in this country. There were physically no jobs in this country. Today in Ireland, we are at full employment. People emigrate...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Large Energy Users Rebalancing Subvention: Discussion (23 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: I have four questions, two of which are for Mr. Byrne as financial controller and two for Mr. Tarrant. First, to Mr. Byrne, according to the opening statement, "the cause of this error was the changing of the calculation formulas in the financial model in the second year of implementation ... to one where a percentage change of total revenue was used in a calculation instead of a fixed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Large Energy Users Rebalancing Subvention: Discussion (23 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: Okay. What was the reasoning behind the financial controller's decision to make that switch after the first year? What was the logic behind that decision back then?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Large Energy Users Rebalancing Subvention: Discussion (23 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: Forgive me, as I accept this is a complex financial calculation. Based on that response, the whole point of this in the second year was to make it simpler to calculate in the first place, which ended up causing this overcharge for the last decade. It was really done to try to make it simpler.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Large Energy Users Rebalancing Subvention: Discussion (23 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: In hindsight, yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Large Energy Users Rebalancing Subvention: Discussion (23 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: Was that human error or an error within a financial model?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Large Energy Users Rebalancing Subvention: Discussion (23 Jan 2024)

John McGahon: So it was a human error making a mistake inputting data into the model. Is that correct?