Results 601-620 of 873 for speaker:Averil Power

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Delivering Third Level Education Online: Discussion with Hibernia College and Schoolbag (13 Mar 2013)

Averil Power: I thank Mr. McMahon for his opening presentation. I apologise in advance, as I will need to leave this meeting shortly to attend another appointment. I met Mr. McMahon last year and discussed this in detail. It is a really interesting initiative for students to be able to have all that content there and also for parents. In this day and age we need to move away from homework journals and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Delivering Third Level Education Online: Discussion with Hibernia College and Schoolbag (13 Mar 2013)

Averil Power: The college does some undergraduate programmes and I was wondering if the profile of students on the undergraduate courses is similar or different.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Delivering Third Level Education Online: Discussion with Hibernia College and Schoolbag (13 Mar 2013)

Averil Power: I thank the delegates for their presentation. I had the benefit of a briefing from Hibernia College last year and as a result I asked the committee to invite the delegates to attend today. It has been a very interesting discussion. In my view, e-learning has massive potential as an education system in general. We have been overly conservative in our attitude to e-learning. The delegates...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Second Stage (13 Mar 2013)

Averil Power: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and welcome that Members today are taking another important step towards the achievement of real equality in Ireland. I join Senators Bacik and Moran in welcoming to the Visitors Gallery people from groups that have worked for a long time to achieve the end to the discrimination under discussion today. It is hard to believe that in 2013, a person...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Youth Services (7 Mar 2013)

Averil Power: The Minister of State said that the Department is considering the proposals that have been made by the City of Dublin Youth Services Board. I sought a debate on this matter to ask for the whole approach to be reconsidered in that context. One of the problems is that greater cuts will be imposed on some projects than on others, as the Minister of State mentioned. The VECs and the City of...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Youth Services (7 Mar 2013)

Averil Power: I welcome the Minister of State. I raise this matter because the Department of Children and Youth Affairs is currently considering proposals from the City of Dublin Youth Services Board on the funding for youth work services announced in the last budget. I want to draw the Minister of State's attention to the devastating impact the proposed cuts will have on youth services. I would like...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Second Stage (7 Mar 2013)

Averil Power: I welcome the Minister to the House. I will begin where he finished, by acknowledging the great deal of work that has gone into the legislation through consultation. This has been very positive and is reflected in the wording before us today. Fianna Fáil supports the Bill, and we started the process of rationalising and streamlining the sector when we were in government. We very much...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Education Budget: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (6 Mar 2013)

Averil Power: I apologise for my absence earlier - I was detained at the same vote in the Seanad. I know the Minister has referred to other issues in respect of DEIS schools. Is the Department of Education and Skills doing anything to establish a better link with the Department of Health on the services provided in those areas? Some of the disadvantaged schools in Darndale have highlighted that they...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Equality Legislation (28 Feb 2013)

Averil Power: I acknowledge that the Minister of State is responding to the issue on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, who is not here today. I am disappointed to learn that developing proposals in the area is still contingent on the merger of the equality bodies, as that is proceeding at such a slow pace. The word "shortly" has been used many times in the past year...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Equality Legislation (28 Feb 2013)

Averil Power: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This time last year Fianna Fáil published the Employment Equality (Amendment) Bill 2012, which was designed to end the situation whereby under Irish law religious-run institutions may be able to discriminate against employees, or potential employees, solely on the grounds of their being lesbian, gay, bisexual, an unmarried mother, separated,...

Seanad: Magdalen Laundries Report: Statements (27 Feb 2013)

Averil Power: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and commend her personal commitment to this issue over many years. She is the right person, given that commitment, to discuss this issue with us in the House. The Taoiseach spoke for all of us last week when he apologised unreservedly to the women incarcerated in the Magdalen laundries for the hurt done to them and the stigma they suffered. I was...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Parking Regulations (14 Feb 2013)

Averil Power: It did not proceed at that time for very good reasons.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Parking Regulations (14 Feb 2013)

Averil Power: I have a brief observation.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Parking Regulations (14 Feb 2013)

Averil Power: The reality of the impact is understood by local businesses, who must live with the reality of other extra charges placed on them. There is a genuine fear about the issue and I am not raising it for any reason other than they are worried that business will be lost.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Parking Regulations (14 Feb 2013)

Averil Power: I thank the Minister of State for his attendance and reply. As I appreciate that he is providing the answer on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, I understand that he is not in a position to answer some of my more detailed questions. However, the reply presents no evidence of this measure having been thought through properly. It is laden with language about the principle that users...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Parking Regulations (14 Feb 2013)

Averil Power: I wish to raise the proposed introduction of paid parking in Howth. I am not opposed to paid parking in all circumstances as it makes sense in certain cases. In Malahide it was the businesses which sought the introduction of paid parking because they were having a problem with people parking for the entire day which made it impossible for shoppers and visitors to park for short periods...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters (Resumed): Priory Hall Development (7 Feb 2013)

Averil Power: I thank the Minister of State for being present in the House to give this reply. I must take issue with the point made in the reply that the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government is not a party to the proceedings. Yes, the Department is not directly a party to the proceedings but Dublin City Council is, and the Department is responsible to this House for the actions...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters (Resumed): Priory Hall Development (7 Feb 2013)

Averil Power: I raise an issue I have raised on several occasions in the House over the past 16 months, namely, the plight of the Priory Hall residents in Donaghmede. These are families who, as the Minister of State will know, were forced to move out of their homes overnight in October or November of 2011. They have now just come through their second Christmas in temporary accommodation, still living...

Seanad: Private Rented Sector: Statements (6 Feb 2013)

Averil Power: I welcome the Minister of State. I thank her for and acknowledge the good work she has done in this area and I respect her for it. I watched the monitor when she made her opening remarks. I noted that she acknowledged the work that was done by her predecessor, Michael Finneran, which is good. The Government has made massive progress with the sector over the past 18 months and previously....

Seanad: Order of Business: Motion (5 Feb 2013)

Averil Power: All Senators who have indicated have spoken.