Results 941-960 of 1,350 for speaker:Mary Fitzpatrick

Seanad: Housing For All - a New Housing Plan for Ireland: Statements (29 Sep 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank the Minister for coming in to discuss this very important new housing policy. In election 2020, voters went out to vote and the vast majority of them voted for change. They voted for change on a number of issues but on one issue in particular, namely, housing. The Minister and I heard it, as did members of my party and members in all parties in government, and they understood the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank all the witnesses for the work they have done in moving forward with this legislation. I was a critic back in 2013 and we have moved on quite a bit. I suppose we hope this legislation will deliver on the commitment that has been in place since 2018 to set up Irish Water as an independent and publicly owned nationally regulated water service utility. I am clearly very supportive of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Quality and Infrastructure and Small Town and Villages Growth Programme: Discussion (23 Sep 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank the witnesses for their presentations and for attending today. My colleague, Senator Malcolm Byrne, will talk about the specific localised contamination issues and Deputy Cathal Crowe is also here. I wish to talk about Irish Water in a broader context. While recognising the significant improvements and progress that have been made and also recognising the challenges, we need to...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Childcare Services (22 Sep 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank the Minister for coming in to respond to my Commencement matter which concerns the national childcare scheme. This scheme has a stated objective of improving children's outcomes, supporting lifelong learning, making work pay, reducing child poverty and tangibly reducing the cost of quality childcare for thousands of families throughout Ireland. They are very noble objectives and I...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Childcare Services (22 Sep 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank the Minister for his response. It is certainly encouraging, especially his personal commitment to the early years childcare sector. I welcome his broader review of the sector. The NCS resulted in a funding cut of more than 30% for them. I know this will be captured in the review and report, and I acknowledge the funding that has been put in place during Covid. It is critical. We...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Sep 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I too offer my condolences to Senator Hoey and her family at the very sad time of the passing of her dad. May he rest in peace. Transport has featured in the contributions of many speakers today but I must return to the subject. Investment in public transportation is of great importance to us as a society and as an economy, and in achieving our climate action targets. We all want to...

Seanad: Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person (Amendment) (Stalking) Bill 2021: Second Stage (22 Sep 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank the Minister of State for coming in for this debate. I am proud to second this reading of the Bill by Senator Lisa Chambers. I start by paying tribute to Una Ring and Eve McDowell. I had the pleasure of meeting them personally today. I have heard them give such brave testimony in the media. Their courage, strength and generosity are incredible. They have endured terrible ordeals...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Sep 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: It is great to be back. Comhghairdeas to Senators Moynihan and Ward. Romance is clearly in the air. I wish them a lifetime of happiness with their life partners. It is great to be back - largely because of the vaccination programme. More than 7 million doses have been administered. We have led the way in Europe, it is a huge success story and I thank everybody involved in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank Mr. Hogan and everybody in the Department for the work they have done on the new large-scale residential development Bill. It is very welcome. When I was a public representative at local level I complained loudly about the strategic housing development process. I hope this new Bill will address many of the issues that created great concern for communities. I was concerned with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank Mr. Hogan. The proposed vacant land tax is very welcome. Regarding the statutory meeting, my point, and I absolutely recognise the-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: No problem.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (LSRD) Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (7 Sep 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I have listened to the debate and I know the restoration of the democratic process and decision-making at local authority level has been warmly welcomed by everybody. I appreciate the witnesses have taken on board most of the feedback we have made. I want to return to where we were in my earlier contribution. I fully accept the facility that exists for elective representatives to make an...

Seanad: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (15 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: This issue is close to my heart as a former local authority member. I am proud to have been elected and re-elected to the largest local authority in the country, Dublin City Council. I also speak on behalf of the Fianna Fáil Seanad group. All Fianna Fáil Senators are close to the local authority members and many of them had the honour of being elected to their local authority and...

Seanad: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (15 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: This is an incredibly important issue. I look forward to the Minister's response. I believe he values our local authority members and is doing all he can to give them more powers. It is an incremental process. This is being limited to lands being zoned for housing between not being developed. It will not apply to any other lands. I see that as an improvement. The Fianna Fáil...

Seanad: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (15 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: That is not what he said. The Senator should withdraw that.

Seanad: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (15 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Hear, Hear.

Seanad: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (15 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Hear, hear.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I offer my condolences to the family and friends of Dr. Seán McCarthy. I also congratulate Deputy Ivana Bacik. I wish her well in her new role. She will be missed in the Seanad, but I am sure she will make an enormous contribution to the Dáil. I am delighted also to co-sponsor the Bill being proposed by Senator Chambers to make harassment a crime. The Bill is worthy of support...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (12 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: This sounds like a technical amendment, which sounds boring, irrelevant and maybe unimportant, but it is critically important to the work the Minister and the Government are doing around changing housing policy. Affordable cost rental is a brand new model of housing in Ireland that will provide both affordability and security of tenure for renters. That is critically important and nowhere...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (12 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I welcome the amendments. As I said when I was talking about affordable cost rental, the two benefits it will bring to renters are security of tenure and affordability. In order for that to be delivered to every renter in an affordable cost rental, it has to be uniform and standardised and there cannot be local vagaries and variations. This is all about trying to improve the security of...