Results 161-180 of 1,378 for speaker:Eileen Flynn

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I do not.

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: It is very important that I respond. Of course, I knew the Senator was not referring to me, but I believe, even with respect to her colleagues beside her, that it is a wee bit patronising to tell people how to do their job. That is my point. I am sure people know how to do their job. The Senator knows how to do hers.

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: That is okay. The Senator went off track earlier, too.

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: It is personal to me. This is the second time today the Chair has told me to stop being personal.

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I take this extremely personally. We have to live in these conditions and the Senator does not know what it is like to live in dire conditions. Nobody gives a damn about members of the Traveller community. I am here as a member of the Traveller community and I have to stand up. My colleagues and I will keep standing up and doing the right thing. It is personal.

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I will just keep saying it is personal, because it is. To me, it is very personal.

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I will note a few things. When I spoke to the Minister of State outside the Chamber, I rightly said to him that the Minister of State, Deputy Kieran O'Donnell, who previously had responsibility for Traveller accommodation, was absolutely brilliant. We did not have to do things, as Senator O'Reilly said, through committees and all that jazz. We did things in private. We got things done for...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I will comment on some of Senator Chambers's statements on scaremongering when it comes to climate change. That is not Senator Higgins's intention. We are afraid of what is happening in the Bill around climate change, especially for poor communities. Let me be blunt. Having spent all weekend reading the Bill, I must say this is a Bill for one group of people: white, settled rich...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I move amendment No. 58: In page 65, between lines 34 and 35 to insert the following: “ “United Nations Sustainable Development Goals” means the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 1 to 17 set out in the document entitled “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: Following on from the Senator's point, as women, in both Houses, we try to bring about gender equality and, especially, to make our streets safer for women. This comes down even to the lighting, pathways in parks, etc. The Minister of State said that IHREC has an obligation to ensure people with disabilities are being heard, but then he did not accept the amendment proposing to have IHREC...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I am not being disrespectful in any way, shape or form in saying that Travellers are only mentioned twice in the legislation. In 2017, Fine Gael recognised Travellers as an ethnic minority group. Today, the Government has an opportunity to put its money where its mouth is by naming Travellers in the Bill in the context of appropriate accommodation. Again, some of our amendments, as Senator...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: Amendment No. 58 seeks to ensure that we are working towards achieving the UN sustainable development goals. These goals should be included in the national planning framework and should inspire and drive us all. They include no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable energy, direct work and economic growth....

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: Following on from Senator Black's comments, this is the third largest Bill to have gone through the Houses and, in our opinion, it is one of the most important. As a group that stands for human rights and equality, our amendments are based on the public view as expressed to the committees we sit on. Some of our later amendments are based on human rights and equality. As Senator Black has...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation (Resumed): Department of House, Local Government and Heritage (11 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: Are we okay to move on? We have the Minister of State only for another half an hour.

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation (Resumed): Department of House, Local Government and Heritage (11 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I have a few questions. I could not sleep last night thinking of this committee meeting today. I was so nervous, as a Senator who happens to be a member of the Traveller community and as someone who was born and reared in a run-down halting site. We are expected to police these halting sites ourselves. The homes are not future-proofed or fit for purpose. There are families in many...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation (Resumed): Department of House, Local Government and Heritage (11 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: In the past four years there have been some positive changes. It sounds like an awful lot of money to people listening in, but it is about how that money being spent. I know that in one specific halting site, there could be hundreds of thousands of euro. It could be about fixing a door. Poor maintenance is probably the correct term. I have seen the changes in the past four years. This...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation (Resumed): Department of House, Local Government and Heritage (11 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: We have a short time left.

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation (Resumed): Department of House, Local Government and Heritage (11 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I thank the Minister of State. We only have a few months left of this Government and I do not know if I will be lucky enough to get an opportunity to come back again. I may never have that opportunity. However, we must strive to have a good relationship and be able to bring about positive change in accommodation for Travellers. The Minister of State and the Department can genuinely bring...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation (Resumed): Department of House, Local Government and Heritage (11 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I welcome Senator O'Hara to his first meeting of the Traveller committee. He is very welcome. I know his passion for equality and human rights. He is placed on a great committee for that and I look forward to working with him. Apologies have been received from Deputy Stanton. I ask that we agree the minutes from our meetings on 16 May and 13 June 2024 as these minutes have already been...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation (Resumed): Department of House, Local Government and Heritage (11 Jul 2024)

Eileen Flynn: I thank the Minister of State. We will open to the floor to allow committee members ask questions of the Minister of State. Our Leas-Chathaoirleach, Deputy Ó Cuív, is passionate about Traveller accommodation. He will start by asking a few questions.