Results 121-140 of 732 for cork speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: Motion [Private Members] (31 Jan 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The situation in Cork and Kerry is as bad and perhaps worse than in most places. There are 857 children waiting, the largest number in any CHO. Some 296 children have been waiting longer than a year. In recent days, we heard worrying news from SIPTU about serious staffing issues at the Aislinn inpatient unit at Bessborough where only 58% of nursing posts are filled. This has a knock-on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Briefing on Current and Future Plans for the School Building Unit: Department of Education (31 Jan 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I agree very much with the points made by the Deputies from the east Cork area and the pressures that exist there. I do not require a response on my next point, which is on patronage. It is something we will really have to consider. It is very clear that the process for identifying new patrons creates difficulties for Irish medium schools. If we rely on new schools to do so we will not...

Inshore Fishing: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jan 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...niche issue with the Minister, but opportunities to address it are rare. The issue relates to fishermen and fisherwomen who are involved in inland fisheries. I am thinking in particular of Cork Harbour. The issue falls under the responsibility of a number of Departments, primarily the Department of Social Protection, which is something of an anomaly. Unfortunately, the issue of inland...

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (30 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...State, in effect, took over many of the private hospitals. In fact, I would say it was, to a large extent, a formal takeover. Those hospitals performed public procedures. I had an X-ray in one of the private Cork hospitals as a public patient during that time. A person who contacted me had a procedure for glaucoma in a private hospital during the same period. He anticipated, as did...

COP27: Statements (29 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...cause for huge concern. We need significant resourcing of our planning agencies to speed up offshore delivery and a number of items, including the whole area of public transport. I have to acknowledge that there has been progress in relation to that and I welcome the announcement about Cork metropolitan rail today. More that can be done but it is significant and hopefully it will take a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Recent Trends in the Private Rental Sector: Residential Tenancies Board (29 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...in 2019, a portion was left outside a rent pressure zone. In my area, that relates to half of the town of Carrigaline, which the witnesses may be aware is a very substantial commuter town near Cork city and just a 15 or 20-minute drive from the city depending on traffic; Crosshaven, which again has commuters; the village of Ballygarvan, which has grown very substantially; and a number of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Recent Trends in the Private Rental Sector: Residential Tenancies Board (29 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...touching 20,000 in the last census. It is a massive commuter town and everyone in that area is effectively in the city property market. It is an overwhelmingly urban area, despite being under Cork County Council, and it is the same for every electoral area bounding it. There is also the massive industrial area around Ringaskiddy and every pharmaceutical company we can think of is based...

Abuse at Certain Educational Institutions: Statements (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...the State needs to address it. It is long established that the State has a moral responsibility, but it has now been established through the Louise O'Keefe case relating to a national school in west Cork that the State had a legal responsibility to ensure that abuse, including sexual abuse, did not happen in institutions. As such, there needs to be a response from the State. An inquiry...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I am aware of the number of schools in Cork with places. As is the case everywhere else, there is a significant discrepancy between what is available in primary and post-primary schools. One of the biggest challenges we need to address is the number of places in post-primary education. One of the most frustrating issues to deal with is people who are looking for places in post-primary...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Staff (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...is the job of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage's, which it is but some of this problem to the fact that teachers cannot afford to rent or get a mortgage in or around Dublin, Cork or Galway, and a whole-of-government approach is required. Regarding what the Department of Education and the Minister can do, much of what she referred to was at primary level whereas some...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education (15 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...those situations. My question is for Mr. Chambers but perhaps Mr. Smyth or somebody else would like to respond as well. The situation in CAMHS is challenging. All present are aware of the waiting lists for the service. If we were to take a single area, Cork is probably one with which both Mr. Chambers and I are familiar. What is the current threshold for a child to be admitted to CAMHS?

Water Policy: Statements (9 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...do shláinte agus do bheatha arís. On Irish Water, I might surprise the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, by starting out with a positive of sorts. In fairness to Irish Water, there has been a long-standing problem in Cork Harbour with the discharge of foul waste, pollution and the impact on bathing waters, It has to be acknowledged that there has been very significant...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (27 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: On Tuesday, more than 100 people, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable, were on trolleys in Cork hospitals, between Mercy University Hospital and Cork University Hospital, CUH. That occurred on 25 October, with the worst of the winter yet to come. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, is looking for a number of measures to ensure the situation in CUH does not deteriorate in...

Public Transport: Motion [Private Members] (25 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...reliable, safe, clean, comfortable; that it gets them where they need to go, and that it serves their community in the way that is necessary. That is not just what people say; that is the reality, and it is what we have seen on the ground. In Cork in recent years, we have seen an expansion of the public transport system in a number of localities. Where we put in the routes and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I want to discuss the Cork Life Centre. Did the Department was approached by the centre in the context of correcting some statistics contained in the review that were believed to be erroneous? Is it true that the Department accepted the centre's view and has corrected those statistics in the report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...as a vocation and be very committed to the institution - is entitled to consider what that to which I refer is going to mean for them and their pension in the long term. Institutions like the Cork Life Centre are going to struggle to hold on to staff. That is a fact. We have to crack that issue and we have not done so. I welcome the progress that has been made, but we still have not...

Public Transport: Motion [Private Members] (5 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...a thabhairt don rún seo. Tá sé ciallmhar ó thaobh na todhchaí, na timpeallachta, tráchta agus costas teaghlaigh agus oibre. This is a significant time for public transport. My home city of Cork is one of the areas in which there will be a big focus on trying to shift people from relying on their cars to using public transport more. We are currently in the...

Housing for All Update: Statements (4 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...just do not have a chance and it is getting worse. We need to radically ramp-up affordable housing targets. The Government targets for affordable purchase homes over the next five years make grim reading. In Cork, the Government only intend to build 378 affordable homes over the next half decade in the city. That is about 76 affordable homes per year in the city. How anyone could...

Financial Resolutions 2022 - Financial Resolution No. 6: General: Financial Resolution (Resumed) (28 Sep 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...houses have not been built on time. The increased allocation for affordable housing is totally inadequate and the targets for cost rental are actually down. Only 378 affordable houses are planned for Cork city between now and 2026. That is approximately 98 houses a year for all the people who do not qualify for social housing and cannot get a mortgage. Incredibly, the Government has...