Results 15,421-15,440 of 15,536 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Mobile Telephone Coverage and High Speed Broadband Availability: Discussion (8 Oct 2014)

Helen McEntee: I live in the countryside and I am not beside a national road. If I travel to Slane and on to Dublin, I might not get coverage for 20 minutes until I get to Slane. If I go the other way and through Navan, my call would also be dropped five or six times on that route. Will local and regional roads be included in the testing? There is no point in stating that overall coverage is being...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Mobile Telephone Coverage and High Speed Broadband Availability: Discussion (8 Oct 2014)

Helen McEntee: I thank the many witnesses for coming before the committee today. As some of them mentioned they have been before the committee previously. I am a relatively new member of the committee but I have looked over the proceedings of previous meetings, specifically a meeting which took place two or three years ago when ComReg came before the committee. A number of issues were raised,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Port of Waterford Company: Chairman Designate (17 Sep 2014)

Helen McEntee: I wish Mr. Whelan the best of luck. As Deputy Dooley stated, the committee will most likely invite him in again to the progress being made at the port. The biggest issue is to secure further services to the port, as Mr. Whelan pointed out, and to get as close to the 2008 figure of €12 million in turnover as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Wind Energy Guidelines (17 Sep 2014)

Helen McEntee: 39. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government when he expects the revised wind energy guidelines to be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34300/14]

Topical Issue Debate: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (16 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: I thank the Minister for her response. It is important that people know it is an independent process and I accept it is. This removes any illusion that people can interfere in the process and I welcome that. I find it illogical, however, that a school, which for the first time received its fourth teacher last year, is losing one this year. I find it hard to explain that to parents, and...

Topical Issue Debate: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (16 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: I thank the Minister for taking this issue. I congratulate her on her new position and wish her well in future. School staffing, pupil-teacher ratios and classroom size have always been particularly emotive issues, especially for smaller schools, as they relate to children's education and young children in the case of primary schools. The emotion is not just confined to parents, who want...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Concert Licensing: GAA and Aiken Promotions (16 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: Many of my questions have been answered. Regarding the conversation with Mr. Keegan, it has turned into a case of "he said, she said". I could not believe the amount of interest in the concert and the unprecedented amount of attention it has received. I cannot believe the number of e-mails I have received and people who have come to me, as a legislator, asking me to intervene. As Deputy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Concert Licensing: Dublin City Council (15 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: Mr. Keegan believes that it was the duty of Aiken Promotions and Croke Park to ensure during the five-week consultation process that people were satisfied and completely aware of the situation and the fact that there was an issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Concert Licensing: Dublin City Council (15 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: Will the council submit its opinions on the system so as to avoid a recurrence? What is Mr. Keegan's position in that regard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Concert Licensing: Dublin City Council (15 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: I thank the witnesses for coming before the committee. I agree with Deputy Coffey that we should not play the blame game or to be judge and jury. It is not why I am here. It is a very difficult situation and people are torn, given that we are talking about a concert while many other major issues are ongoing. The issue has dominated the media for the past two weeks and has received an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Concert Licensing: Dublin City Council (15 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: At any point in the conversation did the council suggest it was not a good idea or that Aiken should hold off?

Free Travel Pass: Motion [Private Members] (8 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion but I take issue with the wording, particularly the line that Dáil Éireann condemns "the Government’s threats to abolish this vital and effective State support". There was no threat and there still is no threat, nor will there be any threat to those availing of the scheme.

Free Travel Pass: Motion [Private Members] (8 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: The issue emerged not because of a change in Government policy but because the Opposition felt it could take advantage of a pre-budget submission released by Age Action Ireland two weeks ago. Age Action Ireland is there to protect the elderly and to lobby the Government on issues that may affect it. It is entitled to do so but the elderly people in our society should not be taken advantage...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Capital Programme Expenditure (8 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: 519. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government when he expects funding towards housing needs and repairs to be released to Meath County Council as there are a large number of properties across the county that are lying vacant and as funding is required to ensure they are fully habitable for new tenants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29441/14]

Valuation Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (4 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill, and I thank Deputy Cowen for bringing it forward. It has been needed for some time. While there are technical issues, which the Minister addressed, I agree with the objective of the Bill. Sports clubs with bar facilities should be liable for rates only on the part of the premises that has the licence to sell alcoholic beverages. For sports...

Mental Health Services: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (2 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill because this is an issue that affects everybody. Sometimes our debates on Private Members' business or legislation can be focused on particular sectors or groups of people but mental health does not discriminate on the grounds of age, gender or nationality. Mental health is a vital issue for the nation and I agree with the motion. As policy...

Topical Issue Debate: Cancer Screening Programmes (2 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: I thank the Minister for his response. After 15 years there have been over 950,000 mammograms, which is great news. As Deputy O'Donnell noted, these women are somebody's mother, sister, aunt or grandmother. It is more difficult for people to recover from an illness later in life and deaths from breast cancer are the second highest rate in the 60-69 age group. We are missing four years of...

Topical Issue Debate: Cancer Screening Programmes (2 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: I thank the Minister for Health for taking this issue and my colleague, Deputy O'Donnell, for raising it. BreastCheck, which is the national free screening programme for breast cancer, currently extends to women aged between 50 and 64 years of age. It is a fantastic programme. The only figures available to me are from 2012 but I assume that the figures for last year and this year are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (2 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: Will the Minister reply to my question about lines that are not strong enough for which ports need to be updated? What work is being done in this regard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: National Broadband Plan: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (2 Jul 2014)

Helen McEntee: While the Minister wants to move away from speeds, his note on the delivery of the national broadband plan stated that by 2015 he wanted more than half of the population to have between 70 and 100 Mbps. Are we on target for that? Deputy O'Mahony hit the nail on the head regarding the recent announcement. People in the 40 targeted locations are anxious that it be rolled out as fast as...