Results 1-20 of 19,697 for speaker:Alan Kelly

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2007)

Alan Kelly: I would like to use my maiden contribution to wish the Cathaoirleach the best. I did not know until a few minutes ago that one could have a maiden contribution and a maiden speech.

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2007)

Alan Kelly: I hope all Members look forward to my maiden speech. I support Senator Fitzgerald's call for a discussion of the crisis in Shannon. This matter is something very close to my heart as I am from north Tipperary. I have spent hours upon hours with workers and the Atlantic Connectivity Alliance in recent months campaigning and lobbying on this issue. They have done tremendous work. Many of...

Seanad: Air Services. (27 Sep 2007)

Alan Kelly: I propose to share time with Senator Hannigan.

Seanad: Air Services. (27 Sep 2007)

Alan Kelly: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Máire Hoctor, who is from my own county. I tabled this Adjournment matter in anticipation that we would not succeed in amending yesterday's Order if Business. Today is effectively D-Day for Shannon Airport. If the motion before the other House is passed, we will be on a slippery slope in terms of the future of the mid-west and of Aer Lingus. It...

Seanad: Air Services. (27 Sep 2007)

Alan Kelly: Currently, there are eight flights from Belfast to Heathrow, whereas there is no competition on the Shannon-Heathrow route. British Airways has already quit Aldergrove. Is it not the long-term goal of Dermot Mannion to move long-haul slots from Heathrow to New York and elsewhere? I ask the Government to use its shareholding to intervene on this issue. It is important to do so before we...

Seanad: Air Services. (27 Sep 2007)

Alan Kelly: I appreciate the Minister of State's response. I acknowledge that legal advice should be heeded but the advice given to the businesspeople and workers is contrary to that given to the Government. Legal advice to the effect that shareholdings cannot be used to change management's opinion does not mean a vote of no-confidence cannot be taken to change the decision-making process. I ask the...

Seanad: Shannon Airport: Statements (10 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Shannon Airport: Statements (10 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: The Senator has 30 seconds.

Seanad: Shannon Airport: Statements (10 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: While I welcome the Minister of State to the House, it is a pity the Minister for Transport and the Marine, Deputy Noel Dempsey, was unable to remain. I speak on behalf of the Labour Party and thank my colleague, Senator Brendan Ryan, who is our spokesperson on this subject, for allowing me to do so. I speak as a representative of the mid-west who is highly exercised about events in Shannon...

Seanad: Shannon Airport: Statements (10 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: I am concluding. These slot conferences are important because they will decide the future of where Aer Lingus can work from. Wait until we see the decisions that come out of those conferences. We in the mid-west will continue to fight this decision. The people of the mid-west are not whingers or exaggerators, and it is to their great credit that they have fought this decision. I will...

Seanad: Shannon Airport: Statements (10 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Tony Killeen, to work with the Government to reverse this decision. It is the only sustainable option for the mid-west.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: I would like to be associated with the comments on mental health of Senators White and Harris. It is a worthy debate, there is an element of stigma associated with this topic that must be addressed. As a result of the way in which the HSE is managing its business, there will be knock-on effects in other areas that the House should know about. Given the management style of the HSE, where it...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: With all due respect, I would like some latitude. As a result of this cap, the ambulance service will ferry people between hospitals instead of doing their normal work. Within Nenagh there are 75 beds so if a 76th person arrives, he must be ferried to Limerick. I got a phone call from an ambulance driver asking what will happen if the control room gets an emergency call while a person is...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: As a result of the significant investment in the ambulance service in coming years, 80 ambulances will be bought that will only have one stretcher, instead of two, and there will be capacity problems. I would like the Minister for Health and Children to explain how this will be dealt with given that ambulances will now be used for areas they were not used in the past.

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: I wish to raise two issues. I call on the Minister for Transport to come into the House — I know we had a discussion on Shannon last week — to discuss overall access and aviation policy. We are heading into the most important time of the year for tourism because it is the planning season. We need to discuss how people will get into this country. The industry is concerned in regard to...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: Yes.

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: Thank you. Just in case the Minister gets the idea to announce funding for this plan, as well as funding as a consequence of the loss of the Shannon-Heathrow route, one cannot spend the same money twice. He should lose any notions of doing so in the near future, especially since he has not been brought up to speed by his Department on decisions made about access. If there were ever an...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: Another matter is of concern to the social fabric of the country. We need the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism to come to the House to inform Members what he will do to prevent a strike in the GAA by the Gaelic Players Association. I am not sure whether any other Member of the House is a member of the GPA, but I am an associate member. Unfortunately my days of gracing the hurling...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: There must be some way to decide on the funds. I cannot see why the Irish Sports Council cannot do it. I accept there is an issue regarding professionalism, which nobody wants. There must be some way to deal with this. Surely it would just mean that on 1 May each year the names of 30 players would be handed into the Revenue and it would be dealt with in that way. It should be a simple...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Oct 2007)

Alan Kelly: The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism should attend the House to discuss tourism policy. We underestimate the value of tourism as a driver of economic growth and I have a number of concerns which need to be addressed in this regard. In particular, a recent analysis has shown that in the first six months of this year the number of visitors from Britain dropped. This is an important...