Results 121-140 of 2,834 for at speaker:Willie O'Dea

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh (Atógáil) - Questions on Promised Legislation (Resumed) (7 Nov 2019)

Willie O'Dea: I ask the Tánaiste to request his colleague, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, to approach the RTÉ authority and ask it to delay its decision to close Lyric FM in Limerick. It almost inconceivable that the mid-west of this country, with a population of between 500,000 and 600,000, would be without a permanent presence from RTÉ....

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Services for People with Disabilities (24 Oct 2019)

Willie O'Dea: 249. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if funding is provided through his Department to ensure that staff dealing with the public at airports, ports, public transport stations and so on have received disability awareness training; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44107/19]

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Bereavement Leave (24 Oct 2019)

Willie O'Dea: 325. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of introducing two weeks paid bereavement leave at a rate of €203 per week per parent who has been bereaved of a child under 18 years of age; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44087/19]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (23 Oct 2019)

Willie O'Dea: I agree with the Minister about the need for a conversation because the number of carers will increase significantly over the next ten, 15 or 20 years. However, her reply is a little disingenuous. She has agreed to increase the number of hours from 15 to 18.5 per week, but she says that increasing the disregard would cost €117 for a single person and double that for a couple, at a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (23 Oct 2019)

Willie O'Dea: The Minister is right, of course, when she states this was one of the requests made by the Carers' Association. It was to increase the number of hours carers could work without their carer's allowance being affected. Nevertheless, that proposal was not brought forward in isolation. There were a number of other proposals which we must consider in their totality. It is fair to say that when...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fuel Allowance Data (23 Oct 2019)

Willie O'Dea: The Minister is asking questions which are way above my pay grade. The point I want to put to the Minister is that not everybody gets a fuel allowance. For example, what about somebody on jobseeker's allowance? What about a pensioner who is not living alone and, therefore, will not qualify for the living alone allowance? What about those on invalidity pension, disability allowance, single...

Child Maintenance: Motion (22 Oct 2019)

Willie O'Dea: I am sharing time with Deputies Butler and Rabbitte. The Minister of State recognised in his speech that poverty among this cohort is endemic. All the statistics point to that. Research done by St. Vincent de Paul and the figures in the survey on income and living conditions in Ireland, SILC, illustrate that a lone-parent family is five times more likely to be living in consistent poverty...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (16 Oct 2019)

Willie O'Dea: 104. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are insufficient ASD units in mainstream schools to accommodate demand; his plans to deal with same; his views on whether establishing an ASD unit in mainstream schools should be entirely at the discretion of the school, particularly in cases in which there is a high level of demand in the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Regeneration Projects (8 Oct 2019)

Willie O'Dea: 508. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason there is building of expensive private homes on public lands at a location (details supplied) in view of the fact the existing cost rental mode of building being piloted at another location could provide affordable and secure public homes to low and middle income earners in Dublin city; and if he will make a...

Public Services Card: Statements (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: The Minister has produced neither the legal advice nor the analysis. If she looks at her reply to me-----

Public Services Card: Statements (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: It may be usual for bodies to differ in respect of legal opinion but it is most unusual for a Government to challenge its own statutorily appointed regulator and immediately to seek legal advice after a two-year period of intensive research leading to a detailed report. From the Minister's response, as well as from her contributions earlier, I detect that the only way she will comply with...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Employment Schemes Review (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: It is encouraging to see the group's work progressing. The Minister has acknowledged what a fantastic success CE schemes have been and the benefits they have yielded both to individuals and to communities. She has said that she expects the final report shortly, which is precisely what she told me last July. Is the Minister giving the House a commitment that the final report will be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Services Card (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: Whatever about the Attorney General, the Taoiseach did not seem to require much time to read it. He stated that even a cursory glance - perhaps while he was in the car travelling between functions - of the different sections, subsections, miscellaneous provisions, etc, would readily lead one to conclude that the Data Protection Commission was completely wrong in its two year’s...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: The Taoiseach stated earlier that he respects the Data Protection Commissioner. However, he remarked in recent days, in the public domain, that anyone who took a quick glance at the law would conclude that the Government was justified in challenging the decision of the commissioner. The commissioner's office was established by statute to advise the Government on data law and data matters...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Nursing Staff Recruitment (17 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: 356. To ask the Minister for Health the reason the commitment given in May 2018 at a conference (details supplied) that all graduating nurses and midwifes would be offered jobs in the public health services is not being honoured; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37115/19]

State Ex Gratia Scheme: Statements (10 Jul 2019)

Willie O'Dea: I warmly welcome the recent declaration by former judge Mr. Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill, because it sweeps away the bogus barrier which this State sought to put in the way of a small group of blameless victims who are trying to pursue justice and recognition. Anybody who studied the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of the O'Keeffe case will know that the State's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (Specified Bodies) Regulations 2019: Motion (9 Jul 2019)

Willie O'Dea: I welcome the Minister of State. We live in an era when our privacy is under constant threat but sometimes we have to make concessions in that regard for the greater good. The Minister of State made a couple of points that are fairly central to why we should not oppose this. On the second page of his submission, he states: "Article 30 paragraph 4 of 4AMLD means there is an EU legal...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-budget Submissions: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Willie O'Dea: The reason the Chairman was asking that question, if I may be so bold as to look into the recesses of his mental process, is we are starting the process of negotiating a budget. We have all been given the figures and they are fairly tight, unfortunately, and that position will not be improved in the event of Brexit going wrong. Various justifications have been advanced over the years for...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Building Programme (2 Jul 2019)

Willie O'Dea: 343. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the length of time the construction of a new female prison in Limerick and a new wing at Limerick male prison will take to complete; if both construction projects have commenced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28094/19]

Carers: Motion [Private Members] (26 Jun 2019)

Willie O'Dea: I congratulate Deputy Penrose on the introduction of the motion. As we have heard, there are approximately 350,000 carers in the country, which equates to almost one in ten of the population. By 2030 one in five people will be a carer. Just over one fifth of carers receive carer's allowance. As Deputy Penrose said, the carer's allowance payment received by someone caring on a 24/7 basis...