Results 621-640 of 2,015 for speaker:Pat Casey

Seanad: Leaving Certificate 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2020)

Pat Casey: I am sorry but that is what Senator Buttimer said.

Seanad: Leaving Certificate 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2020)

Pat Casey: I am running out of time so there is not room for each speaker to have six minutes.

Seanad: Leaving Certificate 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2020)

Pat Casey: I thank the Minister for the leadership, calmness and empathy she has shown to students, teachers and everybody in the education system at a time when everybody was running around like headless chickens looking for media attention. I also thank her for the respect she has shown the House by always making herself available.

Seanad: Teachtaireacht ón Dáil - Message from Dáil (8 Oct 2020)

Pat Casey: Dáil Éireann agreed on 7 October 2020 to the amendments made by Seanad Éireann to the Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019.

Seanad: Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (30 Sep 2020)

Pat Casey: Why?

Seanad: National Screening Advisory Committee Bill 2020: Second Stage (30 Sep 2020)

Pat Casey: I welcome the Minister to the Chamber and thank Senators Norris, Boyhan and Craughwell for highlighting this campaign again, as that is required to keep it to the fore and in our minds. It is an incredible piece of legislation that is required and I welcome it. Coming from Wicklow, I met Les and his family on a number of occasions. The Senator has set out their position. As Les says, this...

Seanad: Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2020)

Pat Casey: I also disagree with the amendments. While I can accept the genuine thrust behind them, we must all accept we have a planning process with which most people are familiar and the same timeframes are applied in respect of a planning process.This point in the engagement is not the first time the appellant has engaged with the process. He or she is well aware of the process and will have made...

Seanad: Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2020)

Pat Casey: Perhaps I misspoke at the time. The Government brought in legislation that allowed the planning system to extend it by three months. I did not mean to say that this legislation gave the Minister of State this power. There was emergency legislation, however, and part of that legislation took the planning Act into account. It also took into account that individuals were not in a position to...

Seanad: Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Sep 2020)

Pat Casey: I congratulate the Leas-Chathaoirleach on his appointment last Friday. I was sitting in the office waiting for the vote to be called but, the next minute, I heard people congratulating him. No vote was needed.

Seanad: Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Sep 2020)

Pat Casey: Six months after my election to the Seanad, this is my first time speaking in the Chamber. It has taken a while. I welcome this Bill, which will amend the Investment Limited Partnerships Act 1994 in several ways with the main aim of making Ireland a more attractive domicile for private equity funds. Enactment of this investment partnership legislation is also a commitment included in the...

Seanad: Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020: Second Stage (23 Sep 2020)

Pat Casey: I welcome the Minister of State. I come from County Wicklow, which has been at the heart of forestry.It has been a huge and integral part of our economy, but more than that, generations of families have earned their living from forestry for decades. This legislation cannot come quickly enough. The forestry industry is in crisis. The Minister of State was in Shillelagh last week, in the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Sep 2020)

Pat Casey: The issue I wish to raise relates to a number of Departments. I refer to the local property tax. We are in a year when all family and household incomes have suffered a negative impact due to Covid-19, yet we are asking local authority members to increase the property tax, thereby increasing the burden on those same households.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Sep 2020)

Pat Casey: That could have been avoided if previous Governments had addressed the two fundamental issues of the revaluation process and the fact that the property tax was not paid on new homes that were built, thus increasing the burden on the owners of existing properties.I accept that dealing with this issue is now in the programme for Government, but regretfully, legislation is required to deal with...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (31 Jul 2020)

Pat Casey: I ask the Leader to request that the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government come before us in September. That request has been made by a number of other Senators in order to discuss social and affordable housing and the homeless crisis. The issue I wish to raise comprises two interconnected aspects.One of these relates to the county development plan process, which every county...

Seanad: Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020: Second Stage (30 Jul 2020)

Pat Casey: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I was wondering how I would address this Bill so I will speak from my personal experience as somebody who is in business and currently going through this process. The tourism sector has faced many challenges over a number of decades. The big one we all remember was in 1969 when the Troubles in the North started. They had a seismic impact on...

Seanad: Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (30 Jul 2020)

Pat Casey: As an employer in one of the sectors that has been referred to, I can understand the sentiment being expressed. However, we are in a crisis and we need to respond to that crisis very quickly. Trying to enter into collective bargaining before one would qualify for the wage subsidy scheme could put businesses at risk. It is not by our choice that people in my industry offer part-time and...

Seanad: Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (30 Jul 2020)

Pat Casey: Workers' rights are protected in primary legislation and every employer must comply with that legislation. It is not true, therefore, that workers have no rights in the workplace. In all my time as an employer, I have tried to do the best by my employees. I used the joint labour committee, JLC, arrangements for numerous years, until the collapse of those arrangements. I actually found it...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (29 Jul 2020)

Pat Casey: I thank the Cathaoirleach. My issue is directed towards the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment and relates to the Protecting Uplands and Rural Environments, PURE, project in County Wicklow. It is nice to see the Acting Leader here today because he would be aware of this project in Wicklow. The PURE project, which seeks to protect the uplands and the rural...

Seanad: Tourism: Statements (28 Jul 2020)

Pat Casey: I too congratulate the Minister on her appointment. The sector has never faced a crisis of such magnitude, and we have been through a number of them. In the Minister's words, the devastation being experienced in the sector is unprecedented. I welcome the July stimulus package, which addresses some of the short-term measures required to keep our doors open in the coming off-season, but the...

Seanad: Tourism: Statements (28 Jul 2020)

Pat Casey: Wicklow is open for business. If anyone would like to come to Wicklow, given that everyone else mentioned their counties, they are all welcome to the garden county.