Results 141-160 of 369 for feel speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin "party:" . (isset($parties[ucfirst("$a[1]")]) ? $parties[ucfirst("$a[1]")] : "$a[1]")

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Covid-19 Pandemic (1 Dec 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...have seen adults wearing masks - and telling them that the reason for that is we are trying to make sure that people do not get sick, that they can help us in that regard, that they should not feel anxious or worried, that we will get through this together and that they are part of the solution. Instead, we got a classic, soulless communication, a follow-up to a communication from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Leaving Certificate Reform: Discussion (30 Nov 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...for their presentations. Apologies, I have to leave after my contributions. So the witnesses will be aware, we have had a number of presentations over the past weeks. The committee in general feels that this is our one opportunity to do something about the leaving certificate and that if we do not do something now, we will have lost a historic opportunity. I have a sense that the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Nov 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...which grates on them, a prioritisation of our school sector - the Labour Party will be unpopular for suggesting it because other front-line workers will suggest they are more deserving - if we feel education is that important, as we do, and a reassessment of the booster roll-out for those front-line workers in our education system is something the Government should reconsider.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Leaving Certificate Reform: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Nov 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I appreciate my colleagues facilitating me. It is hard to know where to start every week because all of us feel quite strongly about this matter. As has been said, if the odds are stacked against the poorer students, one would feel like setting fire to the whole thing immediately. Who wants it to stay as it is? We cannot find anybody willing to come in front of the committee to tell us...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Leaving Certificate Reform: Discussion (19 Oct 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I thank our guests for their contributions. I found them particularly exciting, if I can use that word, because I feel there is an historic opportunity for us to grasp reform of the leaving certificate and do something with it. I do not think anybody who has been through it or who has a family member going through it or who is in the system can pretend it should stay as it is. Even the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Leaving Certificate Reform: Discussion (19 Oct 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...want to defend it. However, we are not here for middle Ireland; we are here for every young person in the system. I do not think any young person going through it, regardless of their background, feels that it reflects them. Even if they have a successful process through it, most young people are still terrified by it. Why we have scared young people in our second level schools is...

Broadcasting (Amendment) (Protection of Journalism) Bill 2019: Second Stage [Private Members] (7 Oct 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I thank the Minister. The Labour Party supports the Bill because at its heart is addressing an issue that should have made everybody in Ireland feel extremely uncomfortable, that is, that a multimillionaire tax exile who owns several radio stations and did not like what certain journalists were writing about him decided to ban entire publications and representatives who work for those...

Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2021: Motion (5 Oct 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...with in his school community. This is replicated throughout the country, with women in particular trying to kill themselves in recent months because of the level of strain and stress they were feeling. Children have been coming across these situations as well. Problematic, difficult and stressful situations in homes were exacerbated by the impact of Covid-19 and the feeling it was not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Leaving Certificate Reform: Discussion (5 Oct 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...contributions. Schools believe they have to ask for them because if they do not, they cannot put the lights on. We need to move to a situation in which parents, teachers and principals do not feel compelled to have conversations around money all the time. Students certainly should not be asked for money. What are the views of the witnesses, particularly those representing the second...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla — Topical Issue Debate: Stardust Fire (22 Sep 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I thank the Minister of State for the reply. Nobody, certainly not me, wants an unseemly political row over what is an intensely traumatic and sensitive issue. The families, however, feel the funding has not been made available to their satisfaction. There is the potential for 47 families not to be involved in the inquest if things continue as they currently stand. While I understand the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Reopening of Schools, Cork Life Centre, School Bullying and the Impact on Mental Health: Discussion. (21 Sep 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...because this level of complacency is part of the problem. I would suggest that none of us in Opposition parties have ramped up anxiety or tried to play to a gallery in trying to make people feel as though schools are unsafe. We have been trying to do the right thing. I would also suggest however that if the Government is not hearing what we are hearing, then maybe it is not listening as...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (9 Sep 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: 709. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will consider the extension of the duration of community employment schemes where appropriate for workers who feel that they were unable to benefit fully from the training and opportunities to gain experience normally afforded by a scheme due to restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic; and if she will investigate...

Companies (Rescue Process for Small and Micro Companies) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (7 Jul 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I accept that the Minister of State's function is to try to pass a Bill he believes will do a lot of good for many companies. I accept that is the reason he is here and why he feels so strongly about the legislation. We have no problem with that. I do not think we in the Opposition have a difficulty with that. He said we need to get this done. That phrase is generally that we need to get...

Education (Student and Parent Charter) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Jul 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...that schools are forced to hold fundraisers. We all buy into it, turn up and spend money on the advertisements but it is appalling that schools should need fundraisers to keep them going. Parents then feel their role is to raise money for the school rather than to have proper engagement and a proper empowering discussion about the future of the school and how they can help their...

Companies (Rescue Process for Small and Micro Companies) Bill 2021: Second Stage (2 Jul 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...concern is that this Bill will leave workers less protected than they should be. In the short time available, I submitted three amendments designed to address some of the most obvious flaws, but I feel we have only scratched the surface, which again is the reason we should extend the time to debate or put in place time limits if the Government insists on pushing the Bill through. The...

Traveller Culture and History in Education Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members] (1 Jul 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...race card or the anti-immigrant card, outside of a referendum in 2004. We should cling to that and build on it. What every child, person and human is looking for is a sense of belonging, to feel significant, wanted and needed. In the history of this State, we often undertook an experiment of sameness, where we presented, through our education system, an experience of Irishness that...

Impact of Covid-19 on People with Disabilities within the Education and Health Sectors: Statements (17 Jun 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...the level of the catch-up fund announced in England. The person who was responsible for distributing that fund resigned on the basis that it was only £1.4 billion. It appears that this Government feels that, if we can make a little bit of an investment over the summer, we need no real radical overhaul of how the system presents itself to families and to children and no radical...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Job Losses (3 Jun 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...the past six months there have been two separate announcements of job losses, affecting more than 540 people. I wrote to him again to seek a meeting with our local representatives. Does the Tánaiste feel that our local representatives, Deputies from all parties, are part of the solution? We are, obviously, in daily contact with many of the people who are affected by this issue. We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: School Bullying and the Impact on Mental Health: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ..., a teacher is always aware of issues as basic as food, the comfort of the child in the classroom and whatever is going on at home. If the child is comfortable in his or her own skin and is feeling secure, he or she is less likely to lash out. Having said that, bullying does not come exclusively from a place of poverty. There are any number of middle-class children who also engage in...

Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Bill 2021: Second Stage (13 May 2021)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: ...not get tickets, often being priced out of the chance of getting a second-hand ticket by the huge mark-ups charged by professional touts. Anyone who goes regularly to gigs or matches will know the feeling of being left with a spare ticket or multiple spare tickets due to the last minute backing out of a friend or group of friends from an event. You used to have to go to the ground and...