Results 921-940 of 4,399 for speaker:Martin Browne

Health Service Funding: Motion [Private Members] (24 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: At a time when trolley numbers at University Hospital Limerick, UHL, regularly achieve record figures it is beyond belief that funding for the HSE is becoming what some at the health committee meeting today described as "constrained". In this scenario "constrained" suggests that the scenes of absolute chaos we have seen at UHL or any other hospital with overcrowding pressures will not...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: I am glad to have an opportunity to speak on the Finance (No. 2) Bill. There were many measures that could have been taken in budget 2024 to relieve some of the burdens currently experienced by families. Unfortunately, opportunities were wasted. While there were some welcome measures included in the budget that had been highlighted as urgent by Sinn Féin, there were other measures...

Committee on Public Petitions: Business of Joint Committee (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: I welcome everyone to the meeting. Apologies have been received from Deputy Higgins. We have been notified that Deputy Cannon will substitute for her. The minutes of the private and public meetings of 28 September 2023 and 5 October 2023 have been agreed in private, but we must agree them in public for procedural reasons. Are they agreed? Agreed. I remind members of the constitutional...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: We are moving away from our more usual practice of having witnesses in. There is a backlog of petitions, and we have 13 to consider today. Our first petition is No. 21 of 2021 entitled "Taking in Charge" by Mr. Terence Coskeran. This petition relates to the request that the local authority take in charge a residential development of five houses at Rocksprings, Kilross, County Tipperary....

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: I know the situation has gone on for a long time. We have been trying to get it moving for donkey's years. I must say that Tipperary County Council seems to have taken a real hands-on approach, as I said at the private meeting the other day, in trying to get this matter resolved. It seems to have worked. I encourage other county councils around the country to do the same in cases like...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Next is petition No. 36 of 2021, titled “Reform of Insurance for Thatched Heritage Buildings” and submitted by Katie McNelis. This petition relates to the difficulties people have in getting insurance for residential and commercial thatched properties. The petition has been before the committee on multiple occasions since October 2021. Ms Katie McNelis and the Thatched...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: I appreciate what Senator Murphy is saying.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Offhand, I cannot think of the man who was in with Ms McNelis. He has done up his place. Everything has been cleared and there is no fire risk but he has failed to get insurance and so cannot draw down the second part of his mortgage to pay for his house. All the specifications have been met and everything is up to the best standard possible but he is in that situation. We need to come up...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: On behalf of the committee, I again apologise to the petitioner. It was an oversight.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: A reply was sought from the Minister. The Senator will recall we asked for one on a couple of occasions and we thought it was not coming, but what seems to have happened is there was an error in the petition's reference number stated in the email's subject line. It was just an oversight and the correspondence was missed.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: She did not get it until recently. A review was carried out by the secretariat-----

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Yes. To be fair to the secretariat, we were in correspondence with-----

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: -----the Minister's office and let it know the petitioner had responded. We have a slot on 18 November, for which no meeting has been scheduled, but I propose we invite in the petitioner on 9 November.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: The petitioner has the reply at this stage.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: That is debatable. The next available date after that is 23 November, which is getting up on top of Christmas. It is up to the committee. The petition has been before us for a while.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: We have had correspondence over and back with the petitioner, just not in respect of that one reply. There has been continuous correspondence with the petitioner over the past 12 months. To be fair, the petitioner has been patient. I do not mind. We can leave it.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: I do not think we came to any agreement on what we were going to do. We said we would discuss it today.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: That is up to the committee. I am just saying we have an available date if we want to bring in the petitioner on 9 November.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: Is the committee happy to bring in the petitioner on that date?

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (19 Oct 2023)

Martin Browne: If the petitioner has responded to us by next week, we will invite her in for 9 November. We will wait to get the reply and then we will see what we will do.