Results 901-920 of 1,301 for speaker:Pauline O'Reilly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Reduction of Carbon Emissions of 51% by 2030: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Nov 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: My apologies if I have to leave before the witnesses have completed their responses. I thank them. It has been very interesting. First, I would say most of us share their frustration. However, I would say leadership needs to be shown everywhere. It is not only Government. The Opposition needs to show leadership, quite frankly, and it is not doing that either. We are being caught...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Leaving Certificate Reform: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Nov 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I thank everybody for their contributions so far. The Minister spoke about the climate emergency. It is important to note that it is not the planet that is in danger, but it is us, as a species, who are in danger. We have to put the measures in place to ensure that we survive as a species. It is that serious. There is a moment for us in education across primary, secondary and tertiary....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Leaving Certificate Reform: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Nov 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I thank the Minister and all of our guests, many of whom have been here several times previously. It is good to see that things have progressed in terms of embedding environmentalism and sustainable skills across subjects. That is an important point. It is not just that certain students will learn about retrofitting. Every single apprenticeship and qualification needs to have that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Circular Economy Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I thank Dr. Brennan. She mentioned insurance, which is something we discussed last week. I am coming from the perspective of volunteers who organise things that require insurance. It is a real difficulty in respect of the circular economy, as I see it. Dr. Brennan might explain, from her point of view, what she believes are the financial barriers for companies and how we can overcome...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Circular Economy Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: Having examples of where this has been done successfully and when it becomes financially unviable for companies despite their best intentions would be helpful, if Dr. Brennan has some.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Circular Economy Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: My comments will be similar to those made by the Chairman. We are not just talking about the taxpayer picking up the tab for things; we are probably talking about financial disincentives rather than incentives for which the taxpayer will have to foot the bill. That is a better financial model. On a related matter, the reason that is important is that companies are legally obliged to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Circular Economy Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: No, that is fine. I was interested in the fact that one individual cannot put pressure on an industry to supply white goods, for instance, that have a long life. I wondered if companies can do that more effectively because the legislation around obsolescence is, as we have seen, complex and difficult to implement. Is there something in industry that makes this happen a little more easily...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Circular Economy Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I thank Dr. Brennan. That was very interesting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Circular Economy Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: That is very helpful. The importance of regulation to ensure a level playing field is key to whether this will be a success or failure. Companies have acted early in terms of energy. Even though there are no regulations, some companies do it well and become embedded in communities, showing this approach has value. Unless there is regulation, though, they will pay a higher cost. Regulation...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Circular Economy Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: If Dr. Brennan does not, that is fine. She has made her point well in any case.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I welcome the Minister of State. I support the legislation and thank Senator Moynihan, in particular, and the entire Labour Party group. Students are another cohort of the population who are victims of the housing crisis. Costs are so high that students and their families are hard-pressed to fund accommodation, when they can find it. Other students commute vast distances to college. I...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I also extend my condolences to the family of David Amess. I felt emotional reading all the comments on Twitter. Even after this man's death, there continued to be negative comments. It is shocking to see that someone has no peace even in death. I do not want to turn this into being about us as politicians, but Senator Moynihan spoke about a chill effect in her contribution and this event...

Seanad: Flood Risk Management: Motion (19 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I welcome the Minister of State. I commend Senator Garvey on the work that she has put into this motion, and we are all fully behind her on the details of it. I echo many of my colleagues' comments. I want to talk a little bit about adaptation because there is a reality here. We could talk about mitigation, which is very important and where we need to put a lot of funding, but we also...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and COP26: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: As the Chairman has pointed out, we are talking about COP26 and the IPCC today so I will limit my comments. For the first time, the IPCC report looked at the projections on a regional basis. What is quite clear is that when we are looking at Ireland and northern Europe, we are looking at flooding and increased rainfall. A lot of the conversation has been around mitigation. What do we need...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Leaving Certificate Reform: Discussion (19 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I thank our guests. It was interesting to listen to the answers to questions posed by my colleagues. I hope I will not be repeating too much, but we do develop themes as we go through meetings. I firmly believe that we must have a form of secondary school education that looks more like a transition year every year. Education, and secondary school in particular, is fundamentally about the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Leaving Certificate Reform: Discussion (19 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: Yes, that is fine. I will add just one point if you do not mind, Chair, given that we have a bit more time. I have a child who was homeschooled and went into secondary school. I noticed he was reading through a book very slowly. I asked, "Why do you not just finish the book?" He said, "It is not as much fun when you are being told to do it." That is where I am coming from on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Circular Economy Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I thank our witnesses. The information they have given so far is incredibly valuable and very practical. I also thank Deputy Bruton for making suggestions in regard to witnesses. Several years ago when I was starting to get into zero waste in a big way, there was one shop in Ireland I could think of which was zero waste. That has changed and now there are many places throughout Ireland...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Circular Economy Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Oct 2021)

Pauline O'Reilly: I will come back to it anyway. I thank Ms O'Brien. I think Mr. Schweitzer is to come in on some of those questions.