Results 1,321-1,340 of 3,983 for speaker:Jennifer Whitmore

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: I thank the Minister for coming in today. It is really worthwhile having him in as there are a lot of questions we could ask and engage on. I would like to focus on the issue of controlled burning. The Climate Change Advisory Council was reported yesterday as saying that 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide are released annually in Ireland through wildfires and wildfire practices. Some of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: Does the Minister think it is time to review it? There are other mechanisms to deal with it. I wonder whether there has been enough oversight of the permits and the monitoring of them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: Are the emissions from those fires incorporated into and accounted for in the Department's targets?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: On the basic farm payment, I know that when illegal burning occurs, it can be withheld, but it is only withheld for one year. The reality is that if you burn your land, it takes many years for it to recover and get back to full environmental health. Has the Minister considered extending that fine, so that it is not just for a single year, and that the fine is withheld until the land has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: The basic farm payment is not an environmental measure. It is purely a question of whether you farm it, or not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: I thank the Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: I thank the Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: Turning to the area of the marine, it was welcome that the Minister mentioned it earlier and that it has been incorporated into the climate action plan. It is one area on which we have not focused enough when it comes to climate action and general environmental health. One of the main areas where the marine can assist with climate action relates to acting as a carbon store, but it is clear...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: I would love to see the Marine Institute being funded to carry out significant research into the carbon capture capabilities of seabeds. I know it has done work on seagrasses and salt marshes but we need to look more broadly than that. Is it correct that Ireland will determine what activities will happen in its MPAs rather than it being an EU responsibility? That would be to say whether...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: We tend to ignore fish from a carbon capture perspective but they are integral to the ecosystem. I know there is a bit of a campaign to look at fish as carbon engineers. To maintain healthy fish stocks, it needs to be ensured that fishermen are not taking out more than the fish are able to reproduce themselves. One of the calls from NGOs on that, and in recognition of the importance of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: I do want to congratulate the Minister on the RV Tom Crean. I love the name as well. I do have a soft spot for the RV Celtic Voyager though because that was the one I was on but it was great to see the new boat out.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: No, it is fine.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: I want to talk about fish with the Minister again. With regard to the different species we have, including our iconic native species and the pressures that are being put on them, whether it is from climate change or overfishing, the Atlantic salmon is one that has been highlighted frequently and it is one that a lot of people would have serious concerns on. Inland Fisheries Ireland has been...

Future of Regional Pre-Hospital Emergency Care: Motion [Private Members] (1 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: I thank the Regional Group for the opportunity to discuss this important issue. The Social Democrats are fully supportive of all the calls being made today. It is telling that there are two motions on the NAS this week. Related issues were also discussed at the Joint Committee on Health. Pre-hospital emergency care is a vital cog in our healthcare services. Paramedics and other workers...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Accommodation (1 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: Unfortunately, I did not hear any new information from the Minister of State there. It is true that the school has completely pared back its requirements for temporary accommodation to the point where it is just refurbishing four Portakabins and putting in two new ones. Despite that, there is still no indication that this will be in place for September 2023 when it is needed. The school...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Accommodation (1 Mar 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: This morning I would like to discuss Blessington Community College and its accommodation needs, not just for the upcoming school year but also in the future. Blessington Community College is the only secondary school in Blessington. It has 627 students currently enrolled. The number has doubled in the past nine years. It is an incredibly popular and successful school. Its projected...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Feb 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: The announcement from Electric Ireland that it was going to reduce energy prices for businesses is very welcome, particularly for those small businesses that have been really struggling with the incredible energy costs. However, we do not see the same respite for domestic users. People are getting bills through the door that they could never ever have imagined and that they are not able to...

Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (Protection of Financially Vulnerable Customers) Bill 2023: First Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 to include the definition of “vulnerable customers” in relation to the functions of the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities; and to allow the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications to make regulations to that effect. I am proud to introduce the...

Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (Protection of Financially Vulnerable Customers) Bill 2023: First Stage (21 Feb 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Feb 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: Women vomiting 100 or more times a day, vomiting so much they are bursting blood vessels in their eyes or rupturing their oesophagus, feeling so sick they choose to terminate a much-wanted pregnancy rather than suffering for the entire pregnancy with this illness, and suffering post-traumatic distress and considering suicide: that is what happens when you have hyperemesis. There is a drug...