Results 821-840 of 1,262 for speaker:Garret Ahearn

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Nov 2022)

Garret Ahearn: I welcome the announcement by the Minister, Deputy Charlie McConalogue, of the €15.5 million that is being given in advance payments for the sheep welfare scheme. In Tipperary, 374 farmers will receive a total of just under €500,000. It is a substantial amount and I know they are grateful for it. Would it be possible to have a debate with the Minister on lamb prices? They...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Nov 2022)

Garret Ahearn: The Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, is in Waterford this morning to announce rural regeneration development funding in Waterford and other places across the country. I almost feel like I need to apologise to my colleagues because, possibly unknown to the Minister, she has pretty much given all the money to Tipperary. We have received funding this morning of...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Further and Higher Education (9 Nov 2022)

Garret Ahearn: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber. This is technically a Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science issue, but this project incorporates the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage as well. Kickham Barracks was closed in 2014 and since then a plan has been put forward by Tipperary County Council to revitalise the town of...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Further and Higher Education (9 Nov 2022)

Garret Ahearn: I thank the Minister of State for his response. He is right that the Minister, Deputy Harris, has been to the fore and supportive of the proposal put forward by Tipperary County Council. It is about making sure the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science steps up and gives the funding it needs to give. That is what the Minister of State's Department...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (9 Nov 2022)

Garret Ahearn: There were an awful lot of good announcements in the tax measures brought forward in the budget a number of months ago, including the €500 tax relief credit that renters can apply for this year, next year and so on. The first time they apply for it, they can get two tranches, which will equate to €1,000 in credit. The good thing about that is that if someone is renting a house...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (9 Nov 2022)

Garret Ahearn: The landlord gets €14,000 for renting a room.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna (Atógáil) - Commencement Matters (Resumed): Disability Services (26 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House for this very important Commencement matter. I thank him for being here, because it is in his Department. I would like to acknowledge the good work he is doing as Minister of State in the Department of Health. I tabled this Commencement matter on foot of the retirement of Dr. Victor O’Loughlin from his post as a consultant child...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna (Atógáil) - Commencement Matters (Resumed): Disability Services (26 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: I thank the Minister of State. I know he has been working on this because we have spoken privately about it. I am grateful that a candidate has been offered a position. The start date cannot be soon enough. A professional from the UK currently comes over once a month. In this regard, the HSE is not fit for purpose. Certainly from the perspective of parents of children with disabilities,...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: I will be talking about the same issue. I did not know Senator Lombard was going to talk about it. I also request a debate with the Minister of State with responsibility for special education on special schools and special needs assistants, SNAs, and teachers in particular. It is important to recognise the amount of funding announced in the budget last month. Some €2.6 billion has...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: -----and they really need to be given a decent wage for the important work they do. The Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, visited Tipperary last week and she came to a number of schools. She visited two schools in particular, the fantastic special educational schools that we have in Cashel, namely, Scoil Chormaic and Scoil Aonghusa. She met the two principals, Lorraine Lowry and Siobhan...

Seanad: School Transport: Statements (26 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: To pick up on that point, it is infuriating given there are obvious, simple solutions that do not seem to be listened to when we put them forward. This was well intended, but a lot of the problems we are talking about have been caused by us, the Government, and that is just a fact. Everyone who has been in that situation and who has been left without a seat on the bus is well aware that...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: Will the Leader arrange a debate with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth regarding the reports over the past number of days about Ukrainian citizens who do not have accommodation? It is important to recognise that although it is a difficult situation for people who come into this country, 52,000 have come from Ukraine and they have been housed and...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: I ask for a debate on Irish Water to be arranged and for the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to be invited to attend. I do not think we have had a debate on Irish Water for quite some time. In Clonmel, which is in my own county of Tipperary, we have waited years for a new water treatment plant and expected that it would arrive at some point....

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: There has been a big increase in antisocial behaviour in Clonmel and the surrounding areas in recent weeks. This has been brewing for a number of years. Gardaí are doing their best but their resources are limited. We have now got to the stage where a young farmer was beaten so badly this week that he almost died. There is a fear within the community, across Clerihan, Lisronagh and...

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: I feel like it is almost obligatory now to say we need a passport office in Tipperary.

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: We are all one county - at the moment anyway. There are 167,000 people in Tipperary. There is a vacant office two doors down from my office in Clonmel, so it would be very easy to have a passport office right beside where I am located. Queries about passports are among the queries we get that are actually solvable for people. On a serious note, however, I thank Sinn Féin for tabling...

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: It was only 600,000-odd last year, so the turnaround has been incredible. The number of passports that have been delivered this year has been incredible. Senator Wilson said we need to get the awareness out that people should renew their passports at off-peak times, and I agree with him. He mentioned we will be in the same predicament next summer. We will not really because last summer...

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: "Do not send them" is definitely the advice to give. However, on first-time applications there is an estimated date, and people come to us worried about whether they will get the passport in time. There could be an estimated date, say, in the middle of October or the middle of November, and someone could be applying a week after the estimated date. We politicians cannot do anything about...

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Garret Ahearn: Tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.