Results 121-140 of 5,795 for speaker:Catherine Murphy in 'Dáil debates'

Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Second Stage (1 Feb 2023)

Catherine Murphy: As a Kildare Deputy I too would say that the ratio of gardaí to population has to match up. I have been complaining about that for many years. A policing service cannot be run without gardaí and counties Kildare and Meath are complete outliers in the ratio of gardaí to population. It is not enough to tell us it is an operational issue; there has to be a fairness on this. ...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Jan 2023)

Catherine Murphy: The Taoiseach and his predecessor, Deputy Micheál Martin, repeatedly told this House that housing was the biggest single social issue facing the Government. In his first interview after he assumed the office of Taoiseach, he said we needed to turn the corner on housing with a Covid-style response. He then clarified that what he meant by that was to adopt a can-do attitude. His can-do...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Jan 2023)

Catherine Murphy: We have repeatedly said there is an over-reliance on the private sector and there has to be a scaling-up of the public sector. A briefing note prepared for the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, in December stated that the reliance on the private sector delivery is a vulnerability for 2023. When it comes to social homes, 2,706 new-build social homes were delivered at the end of September. More than...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Car Test (19 Jan 2023)

Catherine Murphy: One of the penalties on companies is that they are required to provide the test free if they are not in compliance. Why is that not happening? Has the Minister of State talked to the RSA about that? Will the Minister of State tell us how many are on the priority list? If everybody was on that list, it would not solve the problem of the lack of personnel to do the job. The priority list...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Car Test (19 Jan 2023)

Catherine Murphy: 4. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the steps that he will take to address the difficulties that persons are having in obtaining an appropriate date on which to put their vehicle through the NCT. [2608/23]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Car Test (19 Jan 2023)

Catherine Murphy: Driving a vehicle without a national car test, NCT, certificate is an offence under section 18 of the Road Traffic Act 1961. That offence carries a penalty of five penalty points, a €2,500 fine or three months imprisonment. This is pretty serious stuff. We are being told that insurance providers will be pragmatic. Part of the reason there is a backlog is that people are trying to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Car Test (19 Jan 2023)

Catherine Murphy: The contract with this particular company was rolled over for another ten years in 2020. A contract is a two-way thing and they are reaching their contractual obligations. If I were to apply for a test for my own car, for example, the first available date at my nearest centre is 24 August. I had a look nationally at the 49 centres and none of them come in within the 28 days in terms of the...

Taoiseach a Ainmniú - Nomination of Taoiseach (17 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I start my contribution by going back in time to 27 June 2020, the day Deputy Micheál Martin became Taoiseach. Back then the Dáil business was conducted in the convention centre, as we well remember, and the country was in strict lockdown. It was so strict his family were not able to be with him on that important day for them and for him. I acknowledge he led by example on that...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: When will Fianna Fáil learn the lessons of the crash that its policies led to more than a decade ago? I am really struggling to understand what the Government is at. The big innovation from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when it comes to restoring public confidence in An Bord Pleanála is to revert to a discredited system of political appointments that was...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: The strategic housing development legislation actually slowed things down in that it resulted in people taking judicial reviews. Things can be done that are counterproductive, and I will point that one out. Just this week, the Committee of Public Accounts received a reply from the Minister's Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that told us the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain...

Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy. (13 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I too would like to welcome the Aylward family and to extend my sympathies and the sympathies of the Social Democrats to Helena, his wife; his daughter Triona; his sons, Bob and Mark; and their extended family. I was aware that Bobby had grandchildren and that tells you something. Like Deputy McDonald, I served on the Committee of Public Accounts with Bobby. When you were in the Dáil...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: What about An Bord Pleanála?

Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: It is not lost on us that the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill is being debated at 9.40 p.m. on a Wednesday night. It certainly says everything about not having a good work life balance. I pick up on the point that Deputy Funchion made. There is good reason to have five stages to legislation. It means it has been thought out and teased out, that the principle of it has...

Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Instruction to Committee (7 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: This is typical of what we see in December and it is hugely disappointing. There are many issues to be had with the Government's Report Stage amendments to the Bill and to have the debate this evening guillotined to 60 minutes is a joke. We requested extra time for the debate at the Business Committee, as did other parties, and that was refused. A few of the amendments were completely...

Teacher Shortages: Motion [Private Members] (7 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: As Deputy Gannon has said, the people most impacted by the teacher shortages are children with special educational needs. These children have already been waiting for four years for assessments of need, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy and now the last plank they have to lean on - their support teachers - is being taken away or reduced. When permanent posts cannot be...

Toll Charge Increases: Motion [Private Members] (29 Nov 2022)

Catherine Murphy: It is difficult to see any justification for the increase in tolls, whether they come into effect in six months or in January as originally planned. With private motorists and haulage companies struggling with increasing fuel costs, any rise in toll prices will come as a further blow amid the cost-of-living crisis. The level of the increase is difficult to justify in the current climate and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)

Catherine Murphy: The Taoiseach said nothing about the 11,397 people who are in homeless and emergency accommodation, including almost 3,500 children who will spend this Christmas in homeless accommodation. It has almost become permanent. It has become normalised. We get these figures on a Friday towards the end of each month and each time they are going up. We have seen a reduction in commencements in the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)

Catherine Murphy: The Taoiseach knows that is not-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Nov 2022)

Catherine Murphy: It is a disaster.