Results 661-680 of 764 for speaker:Kathryn Reilly

Seanad: Euro Area Loan Facility (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (8 Mar 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: I welcome the Minister to the House. Every Member knows how I will vote on this legislation. The Minister has already debated this Bill with my colleague in the Dáil. In his speech the Minister referred to European solidarity, rescue funds and the Greek economy. However, not enough emphasis was put on the plight of the Greek people who have had crippling austerity measures imposed on...

Seanad: Competition (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Mar 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: Sinn Féin welcomes legislation which will promote national competitiveness, tackle corruption, hold business leaders to account and reduce costs to people and businesses. However, we believe there are parts of this legislation which are weak and lacking in a couple of key areas. In that respect, we will table amendments to strengthen the legislation in certain areas. We will probably...

Seanad: Action Plan for Jobs 2012: Statements, Questions and Answers (6 Mar 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: I welcome the Minister. We have one of the highest rates of unemployment in the EU, which can be as high as 29% in the case of those who are under 25. The figures are even starker when we consider the extremely high rates of emigration prevalent in Irish society. The image of thousands of young people queuing up outside the RDS to get into the Working Abroad Expo is testimony to the...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Mar 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: No longer will our children, like our cattle, be brought up for export. We are all aware of last weekend's juxtaposed images of the Ard-Fheis of the party founded by the man who made that remark and the Working Abroad Expo in the RDS that saw 20,000 people seeking employment outside the State. This morning, the Ombudsman, Ms Emily O'Reilly, stated that emigration was not always the worst...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Mar 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: It is petty of the Senator to resort to a remark like that when discussing such a serious issue.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Mar 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: The Minister, Deputy Bruton, will attend the House after the Order of Business to discuss the Action Plan for Jobs 2012, but now is the time for a real discussion on emigration and on why so many people emigrate, given the claims about lifestyle choices and emigration not always being the worst option. The Irish are among the top five nationalities of people seeking working visas in...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Feb 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: I ask the Leader to arrange a debate with the Taoiseach or the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Last month the European Commission announced in a very public way that it intended to send an action team to Ireland to discuss the issue of youth unemployment. Yesterday this team came and went without any public consultation or discourse with public stakeholders. As soon as...

Seanad: Food Wastage: Motion (15 Feb 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: As a Cavan woman I can say we definitely would not throw out perfectly good food; we would make sure to eat as much of it as we can. I welcome the Minister to the House. I thank Senators Quinn and Mary Ann O'Brien for tabling the motion. I have a keen interest in the area of food labelling having been a researcher on a report commissioned by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise,...

Seanad: Bretton Woods Agreements (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (14 Feb 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: I will be brief because as previous speakers mentioned, this is a technical Bill to which we are not opposed. Therefore, we will not vote against it. However, we do have concerns about the IMF and its domination by developed countries which account for 15% of its members but which hold 60% of the votes. This must change. Further reforms are needed, central to which is giving the...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Feb 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: I would like to be associated with the expressions of sympathy to the family of the young girl in Tallaght. The issue I wish to raise is addressed to the Minister for Justice and Equality, but concerns his other responsibility, defence. Will the Leader arrange to bring the Minister for Justice and Equality to the House to address the deplorable situation where the Department of Defence...

Seanad: General Practitioner Services (7 Feb 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: I thank Senator Wilson for sharing his time on this issue. The people of Mullagh do not have access to a GP service in their town. No matter what the HSE says about an existing contract, the service is actually not being delivered. The GP service in the town finished in February 2011 when the GP in place informed the HSE he was discontinuing his sessions there. Under the terms of his...

Seanad: EU Fiscal Compact Treaty: Statements, Questions and Answers (7 Feb 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. In the spirit of setting the record straight, particularly with the issue of the referendum, a high level European official was recently reported as saying the treaty had been specifically crafted to minimise the prospect of a referendum in Ireland. At a recent meeting of the European affairs committee, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign...

Seanad: Priorities in Foreign Affairs: Statements (2 Feb 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: Given that the US Secretary of Defence, Mr. Leon Panetta, has stated categorically that Iran is not building nuclear weapons or developing a nuclear programme, why did Ireland support the EU's move to ratchet up tensions by imposing sanctions on Iran via the oil boycott? In The Irish Times of 24 January the Tánaiste is attributed as having said: Here we're dealing with an undisputed fact...

Seanad: Renewable Energy: Motion (1 Feb 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, said that we need to make a decision on the North-South interconnector and to proceed with doing the business. We must do that with due regard to current best European practice and the emerging technologies. We need to take account of the expert commission report published only a few weeks ago by the Minister's Department. It found that the undergrounding of...

Seanad: Services for People with Disabilities: Motion (25 Jan 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: I second the amendment.

Seanad: North-South Interconnector (25 Jan 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: I welcome the Minister to the House and am delighted he could attend in person for the discussion on the report he commissioned. I thank him for convening that group and publishing its report. The commissioned report is a detailed piece of work, the result of intensive lobbying by concerned communities throughout the State, especially in the Cavan-Monaghan-Meath region, in respect of the...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (25 Jan 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: I welcome the Minister. I am glad to have the opportunity to discuss this Bill given that it is a very tough time for education in Ireland. I would like to make a few points on the legislation. In regard to more power being given to the Minister to decide on appointments and redeployments in the name of legal certainty and efficiency, my concern is around the nature of the new powers,...

Seanad: Suicide Prevention: Statements (12 Jan 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: I thank the Minister of State for attending. Senator White referred to money and resources. I am speaking from personal experience. A 24 year old approached me last weekend and said, "I wish I had money so that I can get my boyfriend treatment". She did not want money not to go out, travel or buy clothes. No 24 year old should have to say that. I will speak about a person close to me...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Jan 2012)

Kathryn Reilly: The Leader mentioned that the Minister for Health will attend the House. Yesterday, there was an announcement that there would be a 25% cutback in staffing in outpatient departments in Cavan and Monaghan hospitals. The proposed cutbacks in Cavan are completely unacceptable when one takes into account the further curtailments that occurred in Monaghan hospital last year. This demonstrates...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Dec 2011)

Kathryn Reilly: The events unfolding in Europe are, together with the budget, a source of fear for people throughout the State. Agreements are currently being made between powerful European states and this week's Council summit will have a potentially long-lasting effect on the State. Last week the Taoiseach clearly stated his opposition to further treaty change, before the Tánaiste indicated that the...