Results 1-20 of 328 for likes to work speaker:Fergus O'Dowd

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Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: All-Ireland Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (2 May 2024)

Fergus O'Dowd: From what the witnesses seem to be saying, the key point is the reform of education. Equalising access is the key to getting people with third level qualifications to come back to the North. It is a major and ongoing issue in any event. Regardless of whether there is a united Ireland, there will not be true prosperity in the North unless that is done. That is the first point. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Women and Constitutional Change: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Apr 2024)

Fergus O'Dowd: I will say a few words, if I may. This is a very important debate, with Dr. Mitchell challenging the issues today. Something that seems to be missing, not from what she is saying, is maybe an understanding generally in Ireland of who the United Irishmen were, which she referred to, and what they were about. One of the key things that is often not mentioned - this is not accusatory; I am...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Women and Constitutional Change: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Apr 2024)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...coming up but it is very important. The big negative is there is no engagement from political unionism with the committee and this is what we need. We will not have a future unless we go forward together. This is my view. We can hang out all the colours we like, and all of the policies we think might work, but it is a difficulty if we cannot get them to engage because things will not...

Road Safety: Statements (17 Apr 2024)

Fergus O'Dowd: This is a very important debate. I welcome the Minister of State and the comments I have heard so far. Much more needs to be done because far too many lives are being lost. The more people who die in tragic circumstances, the more appalling the vista for the families affected and the people who are injured as a result of road traffic accidents. Tens of thousands of people have significant...

Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Second Stage (16 Apr 2024)

Fergus O'Dowd: This is an important debate. When people start talking about pensions, the eyes, especially of young people, tend to glaze over. They do not think about the future until they get nearer to that age, as some of us have. Some of us have passed it. I am ten years past 65 at this stage but I am lucky because I have my health and a good job and I am happy with that, but many people do not have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Shared Island Unit: Department of the Taoiseach (7 Mar 2024)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...and for the detail she has given on the recent announcement. It is very helpful. It is really a sign of the progress for the future that we can make on this island. These are the days we get to see Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly playing hurling - or was it camogie - and we must not forget to mention the education Minister, Paul Givan, and his dancing - although it was hardly...

Recent Arson Attacks: Statements (27 Feb 2024)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...debate. Something the Minister said earlier holds true, namely that there is a need for absolute condemnation by all sides of anybody who commits arson. What she said in her speech is important to press home, which is that if a group of people breaks into a premises and sets it on fire, it does not matter who actually lit the match, all potentially face a charge of arson and could spend...

Recent Developments in Northern Ireland: Statements (14 Feb 2024)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...and deputy First Minister, and the new members of the administration in the North. It is indeed very welcome. It is very late in the day, considering the number of times the assembly has been abeyance or not meeting. It is really important that they have got off to a very good, co-operative, hard-working start. As a Member of the Oireachtas and Chairman of the Good Friday...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Civil Law (Liable Relatives and Child Maintenance) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (24 Jan 2024)

Fergus O'Dowd: I am representing Deputy Phelan and I have not spoken on these issues previously, so if my questions are not in order, I am happy to get an answer somewhere else. I am trying to understand the reason for this legislation. I compliment the Minister on all the work she has been doing and the way we are dealing with Ukrainians. I also commend the tremendous work being done by local...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: PEACEPLUS Programme: Special EU Programmes Body (18 Jan 2024)

Fergus O'Dowd: Yes, there is no problem. I will speak if you like. I will respond to the point made about Ukrainians. It is a different issue from the one we are discussing, but I have been doing some research while I have been listening. There are approximately 90,000 Ukrainians in the South and one third of them are working. A significant number, I think it is 10,000, are in the hotel and catering...

Planning and Development Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2023)

Fergus O'Dowd: Is díospóireacht an-tábhachtach í seo agus ba mhaith liom cúpla rud a rá i dtosach. I would first like to praise “RTÉ Investigates” for the fantastic work it has done, particularly even this week, in exposing corruption in public life on our television screens. I was absolutely disgusted to see that houses that were being proposed by a...

Planning and Development Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2023)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...the case in the past that usually, if not always, the new development plan coincided with the first two months of the new council. The old council knew nothing about it and was not in a position to challenge or interrogate the development plan. The Minister of State is the man who is in place, but I think the development plans should be dealt with in the cycle of the existing council...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: United Kingdom Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023: Discussion (7 Dec 2023)

Fergus O'Dowd: I thank all the contributors so far. I thank Mr. Ó Muirigh for his analysis. I am really impressed by the way he makes his arguments. I am also impressed by the logic and the certainty of them. I assure him and anybody who might be listening in that this committee is of the exact same mind as to what the Government should do as regards the European Convention on Human Rights and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: All-Ireland Economy: Discussion (23 Nov 2023)

Fergus O'Dowd: I am conscious that other people wish to come in. I am not trying to curtail debate. Perhaps we will park the Senator's questioning for the moment and pick it up in the second round, if that is okay. Deputy Feighan is, unfortunately, not online so I will take the Fine Gael slot. I have a couple of questions and will constructively challenge some of the things the witnesses have been...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Mapping Diversity, Negotiating Differences: Constitutional Discussions on a Shared Island: Discussion (9 Nov 2023)

Fergus O'Dowd: I have been very impressed by the work both Professor Todd and Dr. McAvoy have done. They have stimulated a lot of ideas and debate here. I visit the North occasionally and one of the issues I find is that I often end up in these cold halls on estates in the middle of nowhere with very poor infrastructure, and with young people who are completely involved in a struggle to live, to try to...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Housing Schemes (3 Oct 2023)

Fergus O'Dowd: The applicants fall into three different categories. The first is priority one, where the applicant is terminally ill, needs a full-time family carer or where adaptation of facilities will allow discharge from hospital. Most of the applications I deal with are priority two, where people are mobile but need assistance in accessing washing and toilet facilities and bedrooms, and where,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Finance and Economics: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Sep 2023)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...Gael and so on. I will call on them as we go along. One point strikes me. If the disparity between teachers' salaries North and South is such as it is, it must have huge implications both for those working in the North and wanting to work in the South. Are there issues around that in relation to Irish qualifications and things like that? Were we to look to a future of a united...

Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) Bill 2023: Second Stage (20 Sep 2023)

Fergus O'Dowd: I welcome the Bill and the Minister of State's contribution. It is an opportunity for fundamental and real change in local government not just in Limerick. If it is effective and works very well, it could transform communities around the country. The golden opportunity is for the mayoral programme. When a person stands for election, and I presume there will be lots of different...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Finance and Economics: Discussion (13 Jul 2023)

Fergus O'Dowd: It has been a remarkably interesting, informative and challenging debate. The witnesses have laid out to us, as a committee and an Oireachtas, the issues we need to think about. Mr. Hazzard's question about the future and looking ahead is important, as was Senator Currie's question. We will need to invite back Professor Doyle and other political scientists regarding how a future state...