Results 621-640 of 7,404 for speaker:Mick Wallace

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund: Motion (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: I do not know if the Minister is aware of it but Deputy Daly and I have been in Syria twice in the past two years. When one goes there, the story is very different from what one reads in the media or hears on RTÉ. In the past two years, since the government defeated the jihadists in many areas of the country, more than 1.5 million Syrians have returned. I do not want to go into the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund: Motion (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: I accept that the Government was right to take in Syrians but given that more than 1.5 million have returned, and more than 1 million more will return in the next 18 months, would it not reconsider taking in people such as the Afghans and more Kurds?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund: Motion (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: Is the Department not allowed make that call? Is it being told by the Europeans to just take Syrians and Eritreans for the moment?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund: Motion (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: On another issue, the Minister told us last week that 600 people in direct provision had received their status but cannot get out of direct provision. Is the Government doing anything to make it possible for them to get out by actively finding places for them to live? We know there is a desperate housing shortage for so many people in Ireland. However, it requires action on the Government's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund: Motion (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: The Minister of State spoke of people coming in to Ireland and going immediately into the community. That sounds great and it is good if it happens. However, is it not the case that we will have a need for some sort of entity like direct provision for a long time yet? The direct provision that we have was never meant to be as permanent as it has become. Has there been consideration at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund: Motion (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: The Minister of State said there was no signing in or out and that people can come and go from the centres. I know a refugee who was in Waterford who was studying in Dublin. He was thrown out of the place in Waterford because he was not at the centre for enough nights during the week. That is the truth.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund: Motion (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: I will.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund: Motion (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: I will write to the Minister of State. I think that we are generally well aware that there has been a clampdown in Europe and that, rather than facilitating refugees, more fences at borders are being erected to prevent them from getting in. I do not know if the Minister of State is aware of the questions two weeks ago to the Department of Defence when the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund: Motion (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: We have met many refugees who were facilitated by traffickers to came to Ireland. I know it was not possible to reach a deal with the Italians. They had a problem with gardaí on Italian soil vetting migrants. Was there an element of the Italians not wanting states coming along and cherry-picking those in the camps in the south of Italy who had just been rescued from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund: Motion (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: I can well understand that if the Department puts out a call looking for places, it will not get them in the centre of cities and towns just like that. The cheapest single room on Gardiner Street on Thursday night and Friday night this week is €250. Does that not put it up in lights? The State owns land in the middle of every city and town in this country. It will not appear...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Bail (Amendment) Bill 2017: Discussion (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: I thank our guests for attending and for making such interesting points. I hope they have put Deputy O'Callaghan's Bill into oblivion. In fairness to the Deputy, he stated at last week's meeting that "sentencing is an extremely complicated area and politicians sometimes try to simplify it by introducing legislation". The Deputy's words should be remembered. He is not all bad. I do not...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Home Help Service Provision (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: 125. To ask the Minister for Health his views on the discrepancies between the number of persons waiting for home care packages in different counties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50868/18]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Home Help Service Provision (5 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: 130. To ask the Minister for Health the steps he plans to take to address the estimated deficit of 1.5 million hours in the provision of home care packages in 2018 and 2019 detailed in a report (details supplied). [50869/18]

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement Reports (4 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: The Minister would do him a favour by publishing his report. Not publishing it is not doing him any favours. The Minister's report does not outline any of the investigative failures or shortcomings that Judge Aylmer identified. I can tell the Minister that 15 pages of his report after he threw out the case are far more informative - 20 times more informative - than her account. The...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement Reports (4 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: Mary Ellen Ring threw out the case in 2015.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement Reports (4 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue for debate. Two weeks ago during Leaders' Questions I raised with the Taoiseach the ODCE report on the mishandling of the investigation into the chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, Mr. Seán FitzPatrick, and his annual warehousing of personal loans from the bank. I said I had seen the ODCE report and that it was a whitewash. I wish to...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement Reports (4 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: The way the Government has dealt with the issue raises many questions. One of the key areas on which the Taoiseach focused during his leadership battle with the Tánaiste, Deputy Coveney, was white collar crime. He said he would make it a priority, but he has done nothing about it since.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement Reports (4 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: If it is a priority, why will the Government not publish the ODCE report? It makes no sense. There are many unanswered questions about the FitzPatrick trial, the ODCE's handling of it, the Garda's involvement and the decision to pursue a second trial. I may be cynical, but it seems that this suits the Government because it wants the issue to go away and is happy to hide behind the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement Reports (4 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: The Minister's report does not give us the answers for which we are looking.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement Reports (4 Dec 2018)

Mick Wallace: The Minister is defending the director, but I am not attacking him. I had a meeting with him last Friday. I do not know how often the Minister has met him. I had a meeting with him last Friday and I found him to be an impressive individual.