Results 161-180 of 4,372 for in 'Dáil debates' speaker:Fergus O'Dowd

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Emergency Departments (6 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: I welcome the Minister of State’s comments on the updated ambulance bypass protocols. I do not doubt the credibility or the integrity of that decision, nor do I doubt that it will include patients who are critically or seriously unwell or whose condition is likely to deteriorate. This is not a matter of closing the accident and emergency department in Navan. It is a case of moving...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Emergency Departments (6 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: Huge resources have been given to the hospital. Since 2015 the number of beds has gone from 357 to 478. A total of €60 million has been spent. It is wrong is to say the hospital is under-resourced. It is not. Nobody is applying for the jobs that are being advertised. This is the difficulty. We need to examine the management in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Our Lady's Hospital...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: 100. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views with respect to the campaign for better working conditions and pay led by personal assistants working in institutes for further education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59672/22]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: This question relates to the campaign for better pay and working conditions led by personal assistants who work in institutes for further education. They are difficult to recruit and their payments vary depending on the education and training board, ETB, from which they get money. SOLAS provides the overall funding. We need a proper career structure to ensure students with disabilities can...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: I congratulate the Minister on his commitment, vitality and the way he is changing things. This is a huge area where, as he said, there needs to be a levelling of the playing pitch for people with disabilities. One of the issues we need to determine is how many people, on average, need assistance. We need to make sure there are whole-time equivalent jobs for that. Colleges vary in size...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: I welcome those statistics. The Minister knows the issue. I know he is fighting for students with disabilities and that he will do his very best. I am very happy with his response. We also need to address the issue of the percentage of people with disabilities who are employed nationally in State and semi-State bodies. It is a big issue. There was a quota that was very low. We...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: Speaking of my PA-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: It is okay. I will speak to Deputy Ó Murchú afterwards.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Policies (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: I want to make a point about refugees and asylum seekers. In building the modular homes, we have to be right in what we are doing and make them available to all people. We must stand up to xenophobia and racism in our country.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Policies (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: I was sickened to see, near North Wall, the term "Irish lives matter". Of course they do. Everybody's life matters, but people have been raped, murdered and slaughtered in Ukraine. People are saying there should be a cap on the number of them coming here. We had a cap on the number of Jewish refugees coming to Ireland during the Second World War. We stopped them from coming into the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: Something that must be addressed, and is being addressed, is the question of a skills shortages. We are short approximately 20,000 workers with the appropriate skills to build the more than 33,000 houses we want. In this respect the new centre in Drogheda for training apprentices with a €4.5 million investment will see 400 apprentices going through it over the next 12 months. This...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: I accept that. The Acting Chair has been very nice to me.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Schemes (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: For clarity, will there be a report from the vacant homes officers nationally so that we can read and see what they are doing? They have to be seen to be accountable. The outcome of their work must be visible and clear. I repeat that that was clearly not the case in the past. The Minister of State welcomes CPO and I respect him for saying so. Is there a plan to manage it? Will the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Schemes (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: Year after year.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Schemes (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: 6. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the Croí Cónaithe vacant property refurbishment grant; if the current grant amounts will be reviewed to entice more persons into the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59669/22]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Schemes (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: One thing that is clear is that urban dereliction and decay is rampant in our country and this Croí Cónaithe vacant property refurbishment grant is a game changer in terms of incentivising occupation of these dwellings and commercial spaces, because some can be commercial, provided they have been vacant for two years and were built before 1993. Will the Minister of State review...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Schemes (1 Dec 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: I agree these are comprehensive, continually changing and improving ways of getting people into homes they so badly need. The Minister of State mentioned vacant homes officers. I think we initially paid about €30,000 or €40,000 for local authorities to keep these people in employment. In fact, it turned out that most of them were doing nothing in respect of vacant homes. The...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Educational Disadvantage (30 Nov 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: That is the same reply the Minister gave me last week, or the week before. There has obviously been no change in the Department. I urge the Minister to inquire again into the issue of gender inequality that is arising here. I appreciate her reply but ask her to listen to the point that no girl going to a primary school in Ardee is getting DEIS support, not one, while every boy is. That is...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Educational Disadvantage (30 Nov 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: What about the girls?

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Educational Disadvantage (30 Nov 2022)

Fergus O'Dowd: The Minister is not addressing this. It is discrimination.