Results 1,121-1,140 of 3,639 for speaker:Michael Collins

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: 75. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the steps that are being taken to ensure first-time passports are issued within a reasonable timeframe (details supplied). [23343/22]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: We have a very serious situation in this country in regard to accessing passport services. I want to put forward a number of solutions and I hope the Minister will work with us to try to achieve them. The first must involve addressing the issue of staffing. I note that he said earlier that more staff have been taken on. In addition, passport offices must be fully reopened to the public....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: We need more foot flow into post offices.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: I thank the Minister for his reply. I do not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, as they say, and I must compliment his Department. The staff have been very helpful to me in dealing with very difficult times for families in the past number of years. What is being done to ensure first-time passports are issued within a reasonable timeframe? There are families who are given an...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: I appreciate that. As I said, it is very difficult to spend 45 minutes on the telephone. I would not like to be the member of staff doing it and pulling the hair out of his or her head. There is also an issue in that Members are only allowed five queries per day. That is a difficulty because we might have ten queries on a given day and we must pick which five to raise. There could be ten...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Passport Services (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: However, we cannot go there and pick up passports for people, as we did before to help them out. We were able to keep the whole thing flowing freely. I know people who have not had a holiday for two years. There is a huge influx of people looking for passports. I do not want to be overly critical because I know a large volume of work is going on, but there surely must be a way to make it...

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: I am back again this week, repeating the same thing over and over here in the Dáil. Last week, I spoke about a family in Clonakilty whose rent had gone up 25%, as did their neighbours’. I spoke about the man who was sleeping in his car in west Cork. I spoke about the number of constituents who are constantly calling into my clinics, trying to find houses and trying to make a...

Europe Day: Statements (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: A new chapter of recovery and prosperity was expected after Covid in Europe. The inflationary pressure caused by the European Central Bank’s money-printing over the past two years, the policy move towards eliminating fossil fuels without first having alternatives in place and Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine have put paid to that. Spain recently approved an emergency...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: It will give our country energy security and create a significant number of jobs in rural areas in west Cork. It is indeed time to exit this fool's paradise.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: The Taoiseach did not answer my question.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: I thank the Taoiseach for his reply but, in fairness, the Barryroe field has massive potential. I do not think he has researched it properly. Is he aware that the Minister, Deputy Ryan, has refused point blank to meet with those from the Corrib and Barryroe fields? Does the Taoiseach agree with that? If the Minister will not meet with the industry because of his own beliefs, will the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: In early 2021, I raised with the Tánaiste the effect of the proposed ban on the granting of new exploration licences and how it would leave us not only without any energy independence but also undermine investment in all existing exploration licences off the Irish coast, in particular the south-west coast of Ireland and Cork. Sadly, despite a new awareness in the system that we will...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: 389. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if the passport offices in Cork and Dublin will be fully opened up to address the backlog of passports that require processing (details supplied). [23344/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Abortion Services (10 May 2022)

Michael Collins: 815. To ask the Minister for Health the name of the civic society groups and non-Governmental organisations his Department consulted with as part of the recent review of the Revised Model of Care for Termination of Pregnancy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23320/22]

Regulations for the Sale and Distribution of Turf: Motion [Private Members] (5 May 2022)

Michael Collins: Many of the householders who use dry turf may be elderly, disabled or unable to save the turf themselves. Therefore, they rely on buying it from neighbours or others. A study commissioned for the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, has found that, all in all, 54% of all households use some form of solid fuel to heat their homes, with 16%, or one in every six, using it as a primary source...

Accommodation Needs of Those Fleeing Ukraine: Statements (5 May 2022)

Michael Collins: Ukrainian refugees are coming here on a false promise announced by a Government that has little or no plan as to where these vulnerable people are to be housed in the long-term. There is a feeling of powerlessness that can quickly take hold when watching awful images from conflict zones in the comfort and security of one's own home, whether that it is Kyiv, Damascus or Kabul. It is hard to...

Rising Rental Costs: Motion [Private Members] (4 May 2022)

Michael Collins: Rising rents are a frightening experience for tenants. Yesterday, I received an email from a man living in Clonakilty informing me of some steep rent increases that have been imposed on tenants in the last few days in an estate in Clonakilty. They were all informed their rents were rising by 25% and were given three months’ notice to get their heads around this increase. This man...

Eurojust: Motion (4 May 2022)

Michael Collins: Eurojust co-ordinates investigations and prosecutions of serious cross-border crime in Europe and beyond, including, among others, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, collectively referred to as core international crimes. These are crimes Eurojust is competent to deal with. There are reasonable grounds to believe war crimes and crimes against humanity have been and are being...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Abortion Services (4 May 2022)

Michael Collins: 518. To ask the Minister for Health if he has considered the dangerous impact of telemedicine abortion in cases of unidentified ectopic pregnancies due to the absence of a physical examination and ultrasound; the steps that his Department and the HSE have taken to address this concern; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22090/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Abortion Services (4 May 2022)

Michael Collins: 519. To ask the Minister for Health the way in which an accurate assessment of a pregnant women's gestational stage can be determined under current telemedicine restrictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22103/22]