Results 1,581-1,600 of 5,732 for speaker:Fidelma Healy Eames

Seanad: An Appreciation of the Life and Work of Seamus Heaney: Statements (3 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: All those bogland neighbours in Galway. Absolutely. I consider myself very fortunate to have been a student of Seamus Heaney. I attended Carysfort College in the early 1980s. As a 19 year old he supervised, probably, my second teaching practice. Somehow I knew there was a bit of greatness about him because a good friend attended his English lectures. She used to speak to me about his...

Seanad: An Appreciation of the Life and Work of Seamus Heaney: Statements (3 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: The reason I had chosen it is that so many children studied it and so many of us looked forward to the mid-term break. The images he imbedded in that poetry are many. I remember when my grandfather died it was during a mid term break. I heard neighbours saying, "Sorry for your troubles", and whispering to strangers all around, "That is the eldest, away at school". That is exactly what I...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Much has been said about the referendum tomorrow and I find that the public is still confused. As I am sure are all the other Members, I still am being asked by people how they should vote. I believe it comes down to a single fairly simple message, which is vote "No" for the citizen and vote "Yes" if one wishes to put power into the hands of fewer people. This is what it is about for me....

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Treatment Abroad Scheme (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I am disappointed by the Minister of State's response. The patient and his family are listening to the debate and I know that they, too, will be extremely disappointed. They are aware of the decision for treatment in France, but that decision is not acceptable. Why, in the interests of patient health and life, would we not want to give the father of a young family the best chance at life?...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Treatment Abroad Scheme (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: That is the problem.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Treatment Abroad Scheme (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could look at amending the rules as he suggested. We are not talking about more money. If the Minister of State could make a representation on that basis, I can given him the case-----

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Treatment Abroad Scheme (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I appreciate that.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Treatment Abroad Scheme (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Fáilte tAire, mo chara dílis. I ask the Minister for Health to redirect the €40,000 funding approved under the treatment abroad scheme for a Galway father with colon and liver cancer towards better life-saving treatment in the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, which has the best record for cure and life-saving outcomes in this area. I will give the Minister...

Seanad: Upward Only Rent (Clauses and Reviews) Bill 2013: Second Stage (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I congratulate Senator Quinn on bringing forward the Bill. It is absurd that upward-only rents cannot be contested in a recession and in the interest of the public good, as many Senators have said. It is worth testing in the interest of the public good. We have 1.8 million people at work and half of them, or 900,000, work in the SME sector. If we want to boost the economy, this is the one...

Seanad: Upward Only Rent (Clauses and Reviews) Bill 2013: Second Stage (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Let us hear from her. We test many things through constitutional referenda and this one matters, because this is about jobs. If every one of our SMEs could hire one more person, we would solve our employment problem. For me it is a no-brainer and I ask the Minister to revisit the matter urgently.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Job Creation and Mortgage Support Schemes: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Ms Faughnan is giving me wonderful information. She must be rather disappointed, therefore, that it is not filtering down. That is the feedback I got from a recent employer. There are many anecdotal accounts but I have a specific account in mind. It indicates that none of this knowledge is filtering down.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Job Creation and Mortgage Support Schemes: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Yes, this is an employer. Equally, employees are also giving feedback to the employer suggesting that if they take a given job at €12 odd per hour they will lose their benefits and they know about the transition re-arrangements. There is work to be done around communication. I like the proposal about a better-off-at-work calculator, but can Ms Faughnan bring it to the Minister? It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Job Creation and Mortgage Support Schemes: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Is that on the Gateway scheme?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Job Creation and Mortgage Support Schemes: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: The work is valid, there is no doubt about that, but is the Department satisfied with those take-up rates?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Job Creation and Mortgage Support Schemes: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Can Ms Faughnan repeat that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Job Creation and Mortgage Support Schemes: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I welcome the panel. I concur with Deputy Jim Daly's point on the lack of ambition in the Gateway programme. Let me illustrate the point. Around ten days ago, an employer in the engineering manufacturing business, an exporting company - which we know is our big hope as it can improve our GDP - told me he cannot get people to work for him on 1.5 times the minimum wage, which is over...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Job Creation and Mortgage Support Schemes: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: They are leaving. It is a brain drain. Job activation must become far more aggressive. It is not working enough. I am of the view that all we are doing is tinkering at the edges. What must be done is that the witnesses must promote the schemes to employers outlining what social protection benefits applicants can still avail of - for example, rent allowance, medical cards and so on -...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I ask the Leader to allow us to move No. 44, motion 8 on the Order Paper. It is a motion Senator Bradford and I have tabled which calls for a cross-party, all-grouping agreement on a reform package to be put before this House on which I know we will agree.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: The motion calls for the report of such proposals to be put before the House no later than 20 February 2014. We have exciting plans for reform.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Oct 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I had planned to raise the important issue of welfare and work this morning, but I will postpone that until tomorrow morning because I need to comment on what I saw outside the gates of Leinster House as I was coming in. I saw the former Minister, Alan Dukes, and the former Minister of State, Liz McManus, carrying a poster that said "End this failure" in reference to the Seanad. I am...