Results 1,161-1,180 of 1,463 for speaker:Robbie Gallagher

Seanad: Job Losses at Kerry Foods, Carrickmacross, County Monaghan: Statements (14 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: I extend a very warm welcome to the Minister and thank her for taking time out of her busy schedule to come to the Chamber. I have no doubt that she is extremely disappointed to learn of the 31 proposed job losses at Kerry Foods in Carrickmacross, as am I. Our thoughts are with the workers and families affected. It must be a very difficult, worrying and stressful time for them as I am sure...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: I support Senator Wilson and others regarding councillors' terms and conditions. I get no pleasure from saying that the Government's treatment of hardworking local authority members throughout the country has been degrading and insulting and needs to be tackled once and for all. That is the least they deserve. I wish to propose an amendment to today's Order of Business such that the...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: On the basis of the commitment given by the Leader that the Minister will make herself available to come to the House tomorrow to discuss this very important issue, I am willing to withdraw my amendment.However, it is a key issue-----

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: Today, and on many days, we discuss the current state of our health services in both Houses. In particular, I refer to the difficulties we have in attracting and retaining professional health care staff to work in our hospitals, whether as doctors, nurses or whatever. We constantly read about the incentives put in place to attract and retain nurses or doctors in other countries. I was...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: I wish to raise the issue of the fodder transportation subsidy. Farm organisations have been highlighting for some time the serious fodder shortage, in particular along the Border counties of Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal and in the west and north west. Teagasc, among others, has highlighted the issue. Unfortunately, the Government was slow coming out of the blocks but eventually it introduced...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: Senator Buttimer should tell that to the people of Cavan.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: The Leader should tell that to the people of Letterkenny or Cavan.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: The Leader should stick to the subject matter.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: With respect, the first draft of the plan drew a line from Galway to Dublin with no mention of any areas north of that line. It is only because of the Opposition that the Government had to redraft the plan. It does not inspire us with confidence.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: I know the Leader tends to drift into the past. Will he stay in the present?

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: The Leader tends to drift into the past. Will he stay in the present? I know it is a bit of challenge.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: I am talking about the present day.

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: I, too, welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. We are all on the one page, if I can use that term, on this issue. Perhaps we are getting bogged down on the issue which has been raised. We all have the concerns of the students in mind. Senator Craughwell made the point at the outset that, in an attempt to move matters on, the Minister of State could perhaps take on board some of the...

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: It would be helpful if the Minister of State were to respond to Senator Norris's point.

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: I enjoyed Senator Norris's brief visit to the Fianna Fáil benches which he left much more enlightened than when he arrived.

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: I am heartened by the Minister of State's clarification and Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell's experience in this regard. I do not believe there is an agenda to silence students and I would not stand for such an agenda. I am satisfied with the current position.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: Today I would like to raise the issue of waiting lists for eye care. At the end of last year, 2017, some 40,000 people were on outpatient lists for eye care procedures. That figure was up from 38,823 in 2016. More than 20% of cases on the waiting list relate to cataract surgery appointments. In some cases people are waiting up to four years in different parts of the country to have this...

Seanad: Education (Welfare) (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (6 Feb 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: I welcome the Minister to the Chamber and compliment my Labour Party colleague on bringing forward this sensible and worthwhile Bill which we in Fianna Fáil, along with others, are very happy to support. I welcome the fact that Department of Children and Youth Affairs would have the power to intervene at a much earlier age, something which is vitally important. The saying "A stitch in...

Seanad: Order of Business (31 Jan 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: Between 2011 and September 2017, IDA Ireland made 3,000 site visits across the country. Of that 3,000, County Monaghan had only seven in that six-year period, and County Cavan only ten. This pattern is replicated in many other rural parts of Ireland. If the Government is really serious about rural Ireland and its future, it must make job creation there a priority. Unfortunately, last...

Seanad: Emergency Department Waiting Times: Statements (31 Jan 2018)

Robbie Gallagher: I will be brief. The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, was in the House last week to respond to a Commencement matter I tabled in respect of this issue. He talked about new thinking and new ideas to try to tackle this problem. He said that if we continue to do what we have always done, we will continue to get what we have always got. He put his finger on it. We need fresh thinking on...