Results 121-140 of 969 for speaker:John McGahon

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Impact of Brexit on the Divergence of Rights and Best Practice on the Island of Ireland: Discussion (29 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: On the aspects of racism and the increase in racism after Brexit, we have certainly seen an increase in hate crime throughout the UK. We can see it on social media. It has become increasingly prevalent as political discourse, particularly in the UK, has become more polarised. Could Ms McGahey speak to me about that in a Northern Ireland context? For example, the people and ethnic...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Impact of Brexit on the Divergence of Rights and Best Practice on the Island of Ireland: Discussion (29 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: Everywhere.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Impact of Brexit on the Divergence of Rights and Best Practice on the Island of Ireland: Discussion (29 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: The common thread in all our witness comments is that none of this can progress while an assembly is not up and running. I know we discuss this regularly in this committee and in the Seanad, as Senator Ó Donnghaile is aware. It bewilders me to think that in 2023, in a modern functioning democracy, we have somewhere like Northern Ireland where over the past 20 years the Assembly has not...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: We are getting to the stage of the year when we start receiving pre-budget submissions ahead of the budget in October. I received a very detailed pre-budget submission from Mrs. Deirdre Matthews, general secretary of the Joint Managerial Body, JMB, for voluntary secondary schools. We receive many of these submissions and sometimes we look at them and sometimes we do not. I printed the JMB...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Textbooks (21 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. The reason I am raising this in the House is as a result of a conversation with a long-time friend of mine, Tom Muckian, from Dundalk who is an independent bookseller in the town for more than two decades. He brought up three issues with the free books scheme from a bookseller's point of view. I am raising those three issues in the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Textbooks (21 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: There are approximately 150 small independent bookshops right across this country. If we do not tinker with this scheme and fix it, it will push many of those bookshops, which are already operating on very fine financial margins, to the brink. If we can fix this scheme and tinker with it, with a couple of the suggestions I have made, it will make this a very profitable and very viable...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: I know the Cathaoirleach asked Senator Carrigy to finish up but as there is no one else here, perhaps we should have another few minutes each.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: I am joking. I am just saying that we should be allowed to speak for as long as we like as there is no one else here.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: That is wonderful. I might start my two minutes again, if that is possible. I do not usually do this because I tend to focus on one topic, but I want to focus on two topics today. First, as we come into the summer season, school transport is obviously going to be a big issue for all of us. I do not understand why Bus Éireann has introduced a rule that to be a bus driver with Bus...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: I will take the Cathaoirleach's advice.

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (21 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: I thank the Cathaoirleach. I met former Senator Jackman during the term of the previous Seanad when my then boss, the late former Senator Paul Coghlan, introduced me to her. She and her husband, whom I also met, were guests of the now Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, who was a Senator at the time. It is nice to see Nick and others of Mary's family back here again. The career of former...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Health Services (15 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to discuss the very important issue of palliative care services in the north east of Ireland, which is where I come from. I am raising this issue today because of a real discrepancy in the services that are being provided in the CHO region - not compared to the rest of Ireland but in the region itself. It concerns the difference between...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Health Services (15 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: That is very promising. As always when the Minister of State comes to this House, she has come with a fair and balanced view. I greatly appreciate the outcome she outlined. What is needed is a fundamental review of the services in Louth and Meath with a view to finding out why they are different from elsewhere. To be clear for the record, in Laois, Cavan and Monaghan, public health nurses...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: I thank the Chair. It was around 2017 or 2018 when I was on Louth County Council and we first got word of the first retrofitting of local authority homes. Would the Minister or Ministers of State know off the top of their heads, a ballpark figure as to how many homes been retrofitted since that time, when we first began retrofitting local authority homes?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: We started about 2018 or 2019, if I am not mistaken.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: Okay, excellent.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: This year it is 2,400.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: So it is really ramping up. That is excellent. Following on from that, I want to walk back. I ask the Minister of State to excuse my ignorance-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: Wow. That is the figure I was seeking; that is excellent. To walk back, how is that distributed across local authorities? When the Minister of State says that this year there will be 2,400 units done, how is that broken down throughout the local authorities? Does Dublin City Council tell the Department it has X number of units that it can do this year? Does Louth County Council come to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: Is it the case that the local authority in Louth goes to the Department and says it can do 164 units? Where does the figure of 164 come from? What is the difference between Louth doing 164 and Meath doing 180?