Results 141-160 of 1,000 for speaker:John McGahon

Seanad: Budget 2024 (Finance): Statements (10 Oct 2023)

John McGahon: I am the last Senator to speak on this debate, which has been going on for an hour and a half. I have to start by commending Senators Warfield, Keoghan and Craughwell. Out of 19 Opposition Senators, three turned up. If this budget was as bad as Senator Warfield would have us believe, I guarantee all 18 Opposition Senators would be in here shouting and screaming for their two-minute social...

Seanad: Budget 2024 (Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform): Statements (10 Oct 2023)

John McGahon: When is it proposed to sit again?

Seanad: Visit of Slovak Delegation (4 Oct 2023)

John McGahon: What I want to discuss today may be more appropriate for a Commencement debate, but I will have to submit that request after the budget is finished. It concerns a tax scheme for shared mobility, based on what is used in France. How it works, essentially, is that employees are able to choose from a list of approved shared mobility schemes, whether it is cargo bikes, bikes, taxis, buses or...

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Second Stage (4 Oct 2023)

John McGahon: Before I call Senator Gavan, I welcome Commandant Leo Quinlan to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery. As we all know, he is the son of Commandant Pat Quinlan, who was the commanding officer at the battle of Jadotville in 1961 when 155 Irish soldiers repelled a force of 3,000 enemy soldiers over five days, with all 155 Irish soldiers coming home alive, which was an outstanding achievement....

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Oct 2023)

John McGahon: As we will all be aware, we are having many meetings at the moment with different constituents and groups ahead of budget 2024. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting with Aoibheann Lynch, who is the principal of St. Peter's National School, Dromiskin, along with Andre O'Connell, who is a primary school teacher in St. Joseph's National School, Dundalk. Both Aoibheann and Andre outlined...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 Sep 2023)

John McGahon: I was just speaking to my colleague, Senator Gallagher, about this issue. It is one of which Border politicians will be very much aware. People coming from a Border area who are involved in business have always had to deal with price discrepancies on either side of the Border. Entrepreneurs in businesses on both sides of the Border have always had to have a certain level of ingenuity to...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (4 Jul 2023)

John McGahon: A number of weeks ago, I raised the issue of train delays, particularly on the Enterprise service between Dundalk and Belfast where there were 21 individual delays over a 13-day period. I did some research about what happens on the Continent and discovered that the Danish system is really effective in the context of train delays, travel guarantees and the money given back to customers. In...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Medical Aids and Appliances (29 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I have raised this issue previously in Commencement debates over the years and I am taking this opportunity to do so again. Diabetes patients can only access FreeStyle Libre if they are under 18 years of age, rather than on the basis of clinical need. This product is widely available for those with diabetes up to the age of 18. Once...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Medical Aids and Appliances (29 Jun 2023)

John McGahon: I thank the Minister of State for that. The crux of this issue is choice. As I said, it is really about having the right technology for the right person at the right time on that person's medical journey when it comes to diabetes. The concept of basing decisions on age criteria rather than clinical need is certainly an issue. I welcome the report that is going to come from the HSE in the...

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: Following up on that point, some of our Oireachtas committees, as where the Chair mentioned the Committee on Justice, for example, have sub-committees set up under them. Within the Committee on Health now, there are sub-committees on autism and mental health, for example. I like the concept of it. It would make sense where a committee would be able to look at human rights across all...

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: This is the real tragedy behind everything with the Assembly not being up and running, not even in the recent impasse, but even over the past ten or 15 years where basic legislation that makes everybody’s lives that bit easier, that is not controversial, that is the right thing to do and that no one of any political persuasion could either agree or disagree with is just being left high...

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...