Results 1,361-1,380 of 11,865 for speaker:Paul Murphy

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (12 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: I, too, wish to raise the issue of Lough Neagh. People will remember the horrific scenes they saw last year with the toxic algae on the lake, mirrored to a slightly lesser degree in many other lakes right across this island, North and South. We know it is not a North-only issue. We know it is not an issue that respects any border. We know also from this morning's EPA report that water...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (12 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: 5. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Northern Ireland will meet next. [23884/24]

Nature Restoration Law: Motion [Private Members] (12 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: There has been so much scaremongering about the nature restoration law over the past couple of years that you would have thought it is a powerful law that will drive farmers off their land. The truth is it is anything but. We have another EU proposal that has been gutted again and again by right wing parties in Europe, egged on by the big agribusiness and big farmer lobby. To top it off,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (12 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: 73. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will request that a reason is provided explaining why a child was not accepted as a pupil at a school (details supplied); and the reason the newly built section is not being used to allow for a bigger capacity for pupils, given that there are waiting lists for entry. [25628/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: Will the Minister comment on the situation of post-primary schools? The same arguments apply in respect of secondary students, including the points about pupil well-being in school, engagement with food, prevention of hunger, alertness in education and so on. We have the capacity to address the inequalities that exist and are reflected in our schools. We should do so at post-primary as...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: 11. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will expand the free school meals programme to all schools from September 2024; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25410/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: The free hot school meals programme is money extremely well spent in terms of education and tackling hunger in young people for families. Why do we not roll it out to all schools, primary and secondary, in September 2024?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: The question is in the context of the previous discussion we had about enforced deprivation among children. Other statistics are available. The Barnardos figures are striking. They are so striking that the former Taoiseach simply did not believe them at the time and he thought they were probably exaggerated. They stated that in November 2023 one in four parents did not have enough food to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Rates (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: 9. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will increase social welfare rates in budget 2025 in order that no one is living below the poverty line; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25409/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Rates (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: There is already hype in the media about the upcoming budget. It is being said that it will be one of the last acts of the Government, whether the general election will be this year or next year. The Government will have a surplus of €65 billion in the coming years. Can the Minister commit now to increasing social welfare rates so that nobody will be left living below the poverty line?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Rates (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: Unfortunately, the Minister and the Government have been found wanting. They have been found wanting for children in this country. The latest child poverty monitor report found that more than 250,000 children, or more than one in five children, in this State experienced enforced deprivation in 2023. The number of children experiencing enforced deprivation rose by almost 20% last year. The...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Rates (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: I do not know. Is the Minister saying it is okay?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Rates (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: Even according to the Minister's own figures, one in ten people in this country is at risk of poverty. I will give the Minister the child poverty monitor report figures again. More than one in five children experienced enforced deprivation in 2023, and that figure went up by over 30,000 children to 260,000 children last year. One in four households is in arrears on gas bills, while one in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Insurance (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: 4. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will support withdrawing the planned increases to employees' PRSI and increasing employers' PRSI towards European levels instead; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25407/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Insurance (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: Tomorrow night we will vote on Second Stage of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. As it stands, the Bill proposes to increase employees' PRSI every year for the next five years. Given that employers' PRSI is the lowest in Europe and given the cost-of-living crisis workers face, will the Minister withdraw the Government's proposal for an extra tax on ordinary workers and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Insurance (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: This is a stealth tax increase on ordinary workers. It has not been subject to anywhere near enough media scrutiny and public discussion. The Government is, with one hand, taking money from ordinary low-paid workers and, with the other, putting money into the pockets of businesses through the employers' PRSI tax break it has given businesses through the business support package. A...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Insurance (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: It is the Minister who is spending money, giving it to big businesses. Why is she introducing the business support package through changing the threshold for the lower employer PRSI rate, costing the Social Insurance Fund €60 million? She is giving the businesses €60 million and will take €60 million from workers next year. She is taking from workers to give to...

Special Education: Motion [Private Members] (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: I move amendment No. 1: To insert the following after "counter to the agenda of equality and inclusion": ", and ensure no school will receive any reduction in the allocation of resources in September 2024, than they had in September 2023; — ensure that the National Council for Special Education allocate additional resources to ensure adequate numbers of Special Educational Needs...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: Last week the UN Secretary General called for a ban on fossil fuel advertising similar to the ban on tobacco advertising. António Guterres asked every country in the world to bring in this ban. He called fossil fuel companies the godfathers of climate chaos who rake in record profits while the most vulnerable are being left stranded. These fossil fuel companies are destroying our...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: I also call for there to be no guillotine on the Planning and Development Bill. It is obviously extremely important as regards how our planning process will work in the years ahead. There were weeks of Committee Stage debate but that will now all be condensed into eight hours or so with a guillotine on Report Stage. It is clear that we need to give this Bill as long as it needs for debate.