Results 61-80 of 132 for speaker:Nessa Cosgrove

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: The problem was the waiting times were so long when people applied for their tests.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: If the waiting time is coming down, then that will make more sense. It was taking too long for people to get to do their tests.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: It would make sense that people would not have to wait the six months.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: I know. It is very frustrating.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: It is especially so in a rural area like mine. I turn next to the waiting times we get from the NCT press office. It was claimed - this was referenced in the opening statement as well - the waiting time to do an NCT was going to be 14 days. I tried it myself on the NCT website on Sunday. I looked for a test in Sligo and Ballina. The next available date in Ballina was 19 August, which...

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: The figures are skewed then.

Seanad: Breast Cancer Services: Statements (10 Jun 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: The Minister is very welcome. I thank everyone for raising the issue of breast density. I particularly thank Senator Costello. She is such a strong advocate for those with breast cancer. We really thank her for that. I have learned a great deal just from listening to her. I am delighted Deputy Carroll MacNeill is the Minister for Health. She is very proactive. I am delighted that we...

Seanad: Insurance Reform: Motion (10 Jun 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: I, too, welcome the Minister of State and this debate. The Labour Party, in our submission on the new action plan on insurance reform, highlighted a number of areas of reform, including transparency, high premiums which do not match up with the reduced number of claimants, competitiveness, tackling fraud and investment in innovation and skills. The areas I will focus on today are...

Seanad: Situation in Gaza: Statements (29 May 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: The Minister of State is welcome. It is very hard for me to come after that. All of us here know what needs to be done. I also disagree with the idea that the Opposition really does believe we are doing enough. We do not believe we are doing enough. The world has changed and is never going to go back to the way it was. We have been really brave over recent years. We know what it is...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: National Minimum Wage (28 May 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: The minimum wage was established just over a quarter of a century ago, in April 2000, two years before the first euro notes and coins were circulated in Ireland. Just like the euro, the minimum wage has become an accepted and crucial element of our economy. At the time of its introduction, no political party represented in the Oireachtas opposed it. It was recognised as an essential tool...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: National Minimum Wage (28 May 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: I thank the Minister of State for her response. It is great to hear her referring to the EU directive on the minimum wage. I will be continuing to try to bring forward the Bills I mentioned. Particularly in the construction sector at the moment, we need apprentices but it is very difficult for people to work on less than the minimum wage rate. It is true that the sub-minimum rates do...

Seanad: Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2025: Second Stage (28 May 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: I follow my colleagues in saying that the Government’s continued lack of urgency in dealing with the housing disaster - our most serious and seemingly intractable challenge - has been exposed again by the introduction by Fine Gael of this amendment. This Bill, which addresses dereliction and vacancy, should not be allowed to be delayed any longer. Dereliction and vacancy are twin...

Committee on Transport: National Transport Authority: Engagement (28 May 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: Gabhaim buíochas leis na finnéithe as teacht isteach inniu. I have raised this with the witnesses at different stages. The NTA is responsible for a number of railway functions in association with Irish Rail. The issues I will deal with are the Sligo-Dublin railway line and the opening of the western railway corridor. The first thing I would like to talk about is the possible...

Committee on Transport: National Transport Authority: Engagement (28 May 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: There is, and I am coming back in.

Committee on Transport: National Transport Authority: Engagement (28 May 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: May I come back in for just a minute on that? I just want to press the urgency of this. Even if it were not a catering cart, perhaps a vending machine could be put there. The first train leaves Sligo at 5.40 a.m., and people travel from Donegal and from all around. Because we do not have cancer care services anywhere in the north west, many people go to hospital appointments in Dublin....

Committee on Transport: National Transport Authority: Engagement (28 May 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: The western rail corridor is the other one. Even this morning, Deputy Daly raised the fact that we will incur billions in fines if we do not reach our climate targets. The opening up of the western rail corridor is a no-brainer. We talk a lot about balanced regional development. I would, as part of this transport committee, include the Claremorris-to-Collooney route. It is only 75 km. I...

Seanad: Local Democracy Task Force: Statements (27 May 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: I welcome the Minister of State. I would also welcome the establishment of a task force. As other Senators have said, recent research into the role of a 21st-century councillor carried out by the AILG revealed, as any of us who have had the privileged position of being an elected county councillor, as I was for a short time on Sligo County Council, will know, that the role is multifaceted....

Committee on Children and Equality: Business of Joint Committee (22 May 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: I wish the Chair well. It is great to see a female in the position of Cathaoirleach. There are more females on this committee than males, which is probably indicative of the workforce in the early years sector. The caring sectors are predominantly female. Part of our work will be to examine the gender pay gap. It is important that the committee discusses that. Ten years after the...

Seanad: Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Second Stage (21 May 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: The Minister is very welcome. I am delighted to support the Bill introduced by my Sinn Féin colleagues. The idea that socioeconomic disadvantage is inherited is not a new or radical idea. A 2022 report from the ESRI indicates, "Past research strongly indicates that individuals who experience poverty in childhood face an increased risk of experiencing poverty as adults." To state the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 May 2025)

Nessa Cosgrove: I, too, commend my colleague Senator Stephenson on bringing this forward. I wish to speak about healthcare workers and read out the names of just five nurses who have been killed: Omar Khorsheed, Mohammed Lubbad, Mohammed Al Azzaiza, Ahmed Moshtaha and Somaya Temeraz. We have all said that the people of Gaza are at very risk of extermination. The UN said two hours ago that 14,000 babies,...