Results 1,781-1,800 of 1,888 for speaker:Sharon Keogan

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Schools Building Projects (17 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I thank Senator Doherty for raising this question. I know of the great work Karen Byrne, the principal of that school, does. It is an important subject for all those in special education. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, for coming in and wish her and her family a very happy Christmas.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Defence Forces (17 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: The Senator may have 30 seconds.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Defence Forces (17 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I thank the Minister of State and the Senators. I wish the Minister of State, Ann and the children a very happy Christmas.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I want to raise the value and importance of human connection. Kindness and love are the real currency of life. The importance of one human being in another person's life is more important when that person is a child. These human connections are formed in the earliest years of our lives. This human connection becomes more important when the child feels safe and confides in someone that...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: National Planning Framework (16 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I sincerely thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting my Commencement matter and welcome the Minister of State who has come here to respond to my question. I previously served as a county councillor in Meath and, therefore, realise how vitally important clarity is for everyone in the formation and execution of housing policy and development plans. I seek clarity for the public who need housing,...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: National Planning Framework (16 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I thank the Minister for his response and I will try to respond in one minute. The original projections of the ESRI for the population were developed using best practice. The input assumptions of the adjustments made by the Department for policy-based intervention are questionable. It should be noted that the migration assumptions used were and continue to be far below the historical data...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I raise the issue of local authority rental sector arrears, which are becoming chronic. The 31 local authorities are the main providers of housing for people who cannot afford housing from their own means. As of December 2019, local authority rental sector arrears stood at almost €86 million, more than €20 million higher than the figure at the end of 2014. This is a further...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (9 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I also wish to raise the current development plans throughout the country. We need the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, to come to the House to make a statement on the existing restrictions on the maximum number of new housing units that may be built in each county. We also need to get clarity on the rural housing strategy and how many...

Seanad: Deportation Moratorium (Covid-19) Bill 2020: Second Stage (9 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I will be supporting this legislation. I congratulate the Minister and Paul on their great news. My issue concerns the roughly 200 unaccompanied minors who come into the country every year. What happens to them? I am not sure what we can do about this situation, but I sometimes have the privilege of looking after these children when they arrive at Dublin Airport. They come into my home....

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I wish to raise a very sensitive subject. I expect many parents and teenagers are concerned about it and they probably do not know where to go after the ruling in the UK against the Tavistock Clinic on gender identity. A landmark judgment was made in a court in the UK against a children's identity clinic, the Tavistock Clinic, for prescribing puberty blockers to a child under the age of 16....

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I ask the Leader to contact the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, on the issue of puberty blockers that are given to children under the age of 16.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Discussion (8 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I was not going to talk at all because I am so angry. I am angry with the HSE and because Ms Comerford and Ms Murphy have had to go through this. There are parents who are still going through this and who will go through this for years to come. It does not make any difference whether we throw money at it and how much money we throw at it, we seem to not have the clinicians to deal with it....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Discussion (8 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I apologise, I meant Mr. Noble has a better understanding of what is needed within the HSE to deal with the inadequacies in the existing services. I am grateful to those carers and mothers and fathers who have been going through the toughest of times trying to have their voices heard and being a voice for other parents who are not strong enough to shout for their child. I thank Ms Comerford...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I also wish to talk about environmental protection. We can all agree that environmental policy and legislation are vital to protect the environment not just for the sake of the 7 billion to 8 billion people inhabiting this miraculous blue planet of ours, but also for our children and for generations to come. Rigorous implementation of environmental policy and legislation is certainly good...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (2 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I would like to raise an issue that is very important. This year has been tough for many people. Next weekend, and two weeks after that, many men and women around the country will get to play in Croke Park for the first time. Will the Deputy Leader ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if it is possible that their parents and family members be allowed to...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Report and Final Stages (2 Dec 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I welcome the Minister of State to the house. I hope he will take into consideration the amendment tabled by the Independent Senators. None of us are here purely because we walked in the door. We had to get elected to get in here. We all started off as community activists in one form or another. Part of this involved getting engaged in our communities, going to public meetings and seeing...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I welcome the Minister of State. I support Senator Boyhan. Indeed, I signed the amendment as well. I am astonished that the former county councillors in the Chamber - I presume there are three - would support getting rid of the mandatory public meeting from the democratic process. The people of Ireland do not have much say anymore. The Covid health legislation and regulations that the...

Seanad: Reopening Ireland (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (26 Nov 2020)

Sharon Keogan: While I am only an Independent, I would like to think I would provide some opposition to the Government parties today.

Seanad: Reopening Ireland (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (26 Nov 2020)

Sharon Keogan: The Minister of State is very welcome to the Chamber to give us an update on how we are going to move forward. Covid is not the problem; the living with Covid plan of the Government is the issue. It is killing business and society. The silent lie of this Government to those flip-flopping in and out of business is crippling entrepreneurs. There is plenty of money and there are plenty of...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Second Stage (25 Nov 2020)

Sharon Keogan: I thank the Acting Chairman. It is great to see a Meath man in the Chair today.