Results 1-20 of 742 for in 'Dáil debates' speaker:Michael Lowry

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 May 2024)

Michael Lowry: The fall in the number of taxis is having a detrimental impact on towns and villages across rural Ireland. In County Tipperary, according to the most recent figures, there has been a drop to just 220 taxis, despite a population growth of more than 4,000. This has an obvious negative impact on hospitality and retail services. Pubs and restaurants are struggling as people are forced to stay...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 May 2024)

Michael Lowry: The most important element of this is that the €3 million was very welcome and it sustains those organisations throughout this year. Their difficulty is that they cannot plan ahead and they need an annual budget. I ask the Government to ensure that an additional €3 million or whatever the figure is included in the budget at the end of this year for next year, that is, the year...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 May 2024)

Michael Lowry: However, this has declined somewhat due to what has been a reduced investment and funding priority in the 2017 to 2026 strategy the Taoiseach just referred to, so I ask the Taoiseach to address that and ensure adequate and proper funding is put in place to keep the organisations doing the tremendous work they do.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 May 2024)

Michael Lowry: I raise the issue of community cancer support centres. A diagnosis of cancer can bring with it a myriad of changes. Life can suddenly become a roller-coaster of medical appointments and hospital stays, being unable to work, financial worries, a loss of independence, unintended isolation and a tsunami of fear and uncertainty. These all-consuming changes come at a time when a person is...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2024)

Michael Lowry: During the Covid pandemic, the health service came together and we used the private sector to very good effect. In this case, the big problem is with the assessments. We do not have enough child psychologists in the public sector. They are in the private sector and we should make a once-off effort to get them to combine and do whatever is necessary to reduce the backlog. There are young...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 May 2024)

Michael Lowry: I also wish to raise with the Minister the issue of special needs. Raising a child with special needs is challenging and rewarding. It is demanding, yet fulfilling. For parents, it becomes a labour of love in almost every sense. They want what is best for their son or daughter. They want their child to have the best possible start in life. They plan for the years ahead when their...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 May 2024)

Michael Lowry: The HSE currently has a plan to use the new community nursing home in Nenagh as a step-down facility to tackle overcrowding from University Hospital Limerick, UHL. This initiative is contentious and controversial as it denies the long-awaited opportunity for the transfer of patients from St. Conlon's community nursing unit, which is deemed by HIQA as unfit for purpose. After consultation...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (1 May 2024)

Michael Lowry: This measure makes no sense at all. It is unnecessary and foolish in the extreme. It is politically mad and counterproductive. The feedback I have got from organisations in my county is that they are absolutely amazed and cannot understand it. They are asking me if this is for real. They are asking if it is possible that this will get through the Houses of the Oireachtas. It is a highly...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (1 May 2024)

Michael Lowry: People are saying it did not come from the justice committee and that this measure was never intended to be a part of the Bill. In my county of Tipperary, there is a hospice movement. I was recently at a fundraising venture that raised something like €200,000. That would not have happened if this restriction was in place. It would be outside the law and could not happen. The...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Michael Lowry: People's confidence in the Government's handling of migration was low before they learned that newly-arrived asylum seekers to Ireland were escaping deportation from the UK to Rwanda. It was a shocking and worrying revelation that raises serious questions. People immediately wanted to know how suddenly this detailed information had become available. How do we determine the number of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (30 Apr 2024)

Michael Lowry: I welcome that the Taoiseach acknowledges that we cannot have disruption and that it should be avoided. A myriad of issues threaten people if Imagine and the other broadband suppliers decide to leave the market in advance of the arrival of the national broadband roll-out. We must do everything possible to avoid that scenario but at the moment, we are drifting towards it. I will be here...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (30 Apr 2024)

Michael Lowry: The subsidised provision of fibre broadband across all regions of the country is critical to Ireland's economic and social progress. Despite being plagued by delays, National Broadband Ireland has stated it is confident that all 227 deployment areas will be completed by early 2028. While the broadband project may be almost four years away from its projected completion, existing commercial...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Michael Lowry: I am very concerned. We have to protect charities, voluntary organisations and sporting organisations. Numerous charities and such bodies have contacted me expressing their reluctance and concern about this aspect of the Bill. In general, I believe that everybody supports the principle behind the Bill. If we have reduced services because the sponsors of those services are unable to...

Weather-Related Supports for Farmers: Statements (Resumed) (24 Apr 2024)

Michael Lowry: This year will go down in living memory as the year that brought farmers across the country to their knees. Incessant rain has caused devastation across every county, leaving farmers and their families reeling in its wake. We have an estimated 6.9 million ha of land overall in Ireland and 64% of this land is suitable for agriculture. However, the Irish agricultural sector overall has...

Support for Carers: Motion [Private Members] (24 Apr 2024)

Michael Lowry: Becoming a family carer can happen at any stage in life. It comes about as a result of need. It is undertaken as a result of love. While need and love are the driving forces behind one family member undertaking to attend to the needs of another, the long-term reality of what is involved can prove to be daunting. Neither the need nor the love diminish as time moves on. Until people stand...

Road Safety: Statements (17 Apr 2024)

Michael Lowry: A total of 16 people lost their lives on roads in Tipperary last year. This was more than double the number who died on the county's roads the previous year, making Tipperary the county with the highest number of road fatalities in 2023. Nationally, fatalities occurred across all categories of road users, including drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, pedal cyclists and pedestrians. Sadly,...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Apr 2024)

Michael Lowry: Family carers play a crucial and irreplaceable role in homes across our country. Without them there would be a catastrophic crisis in care for people of all ages. Family carers are ordinary men and women who are motivated by love. This love drives them to put a family member's needs before their own. They sacrifice their own plans and desires because a family member needs their care....

Taoiseach a Ainmniú - Nomination of Taoiseach (9 Apr 2024)

Michael Lowry: I will be supporting the nomination of Simon Harris as Taoiseach. I could join in the sound bite populist chorus of negativity. I could contend that everything in the country is a disaster and demand a general election. That might make better headlines but that is not my style of politics. There is no denying we have serious problems in housing, in health, particularly at University...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2024)

Michael Lowry: Farming across every sector is struggling. Bureaucracy is smothering farmers. Farmers have become so bogged down in adhering to a myriad of directives and tackling mountains of paperwork that the actual pleasure and satisfaction of farming is slipping from their grasp. Farmers throughout Ireland are facing changes and challenges unlike anything ever witnessed. Reduced sale prices,...