Results 201-220 of 432 for speaker:Niall Blaney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Londonderry Chamber of Commerce and Foyle Port (16 Dec 2021)

Niall Blaney: I thank the witnesses for their replies and recognise, as Deputy Smith said, the activity that takes place, especially between the two colleges mentioned, LYIT and Magee University. We had Malachy Ó Néill and the LYIT president in at the start of last year and we had a very good presentation on collaboration from both of them. I met Mr. Clancy two weeks ago. There is further...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Londonderry Chamber of Commerce and Foyle Port (16 Dec 2021)

Niall Blaney: I welcome Mr. McGrath to our committee today, albeit online. I would rather see him in person, but this is the way things are presently. Foyle Port has quite an impressive portfolio. There is certainly much activity going there and it does an awful lot of good work for the north west. I also live on a lough, although it is the next one over, Lough Swilly, so I recognise how much...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Londonderry Chamber of Commerce and Foyle Port (16 Dec 2021)

Niall Blaney: That is very good. It is an exciting project. On cost, I imagine Mr. McGrath is looking at a major development in Greencastle at a pretty serious cost. Did he get that far?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Londonderry Chamber of Commerce and Foyle Port (16 Dec 2021)

Niall Blaney: I agree completely. It is something I and others have advocated for many times before. The Antrim coast into Derry and Donegal is certainly some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. However, the areas are completely virgin to the type of infrastructure we need to attract and keep people here. The proposal is a very good one. Certainly, I will talk to the council in relation to...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Jan 2022)

Niall Blaney: Given the week we are in, I wish to raise the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday events this year. It is ironic that the 50th anniversary falls on a Sunday. The Bloody Sunday Trust in Derry has duly titled its work One World-One Struggle and has organised events from this Thursday, 27 January, until Sunday, 30 January. I ask people to engage with those events over that four-day period....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Integrated Education Fund (27 Jan 2022)

Niall Blaney: I will start.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Integrated Education Fund (27 Jan 2022)

Niall Blaney: Deputy Smith is there but I am not sure whether Senator McGreehan is still there. I will be as quick as I can. I thank the Chairman for putting this on the agenda for today. This is one of the most important things we discuss as a committee. I give a warm welcome to Mr. Osborne, Ms Merron and Mr. Collins. I thank them for the broad spectrum of work they are doing on this. The research...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Integrated Education Fund (27 Jan 2022)

Niall Blaney: I want to ask a question on that point. What are the timelines for that independent review? When is it expected to report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Co-operation and Working Together (10 Feb 2022)

Niall Blaney: I compliment Deputy Smith and go back to the outset and the mention of Tom Conaghan, a great Donegal man and politician in his own right. Services in Donegal have been very well looked after in the past and I certainly look forward to that continuing. The presentation mentioned the services that exist between Donegal and Altnagelvin. I am aware of patients whose lives were saved as a...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Solar Panels for Public Buildings, Schools, Homes and Other Premises) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Feb 2022)

Niall Blaney: The Minister of State is very welcome here today to deal with this vital legislation. I commend my Green Party colleagues on taking it forward. Senator Garvey has been pushing the merits of this very step on me for some months now, and I am fully in agreement with her. It is excellent legislation. The Fianna Fáil party is very much in agreement with the principles of the legislation....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Co-operation and Working Together (10 Feb 2022)

Niall Blaney: The witnesses may reply via email but I forgot to ask about neurology services in the north west. It is a particular concern in Letterkenny and Sligo, especially with regard to equipment. That would take in Derry as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Representatives from the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (17 Feb 2022)

Niall Blaney: I welcome our guests and thank them for the presentation. I was between meetings so I heard some of it, but not all. However, I read it beforehand. I tried to get in from my office and I did not manage that so I came back down again. I am very much aware of the work the centre has done over the years before and after the Good Friday Agreement. I spent a weekend in Glencree Centre for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Representatives from the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (17 Feb 2022)

Niall Blaney: I thank the Ms McNamee and Ms McGlone for their answers. They are right in that conversations have to take place and I will be calling for them to happen. We also have to be careful about our conversations. What the witnesses have highlighted is that not all these conversations can take place in one room. It has to be a much bigger picture than a citizens' assembly. It is good to have...

Seanad: Credit Union Sector: Statements (2 Mar 2022)

Niall Blaney: I welcome the leadership shown by the Minister of State on this issue. As many speakers have noted, the past ten years or so have been very tough in terms of banking in this country. There are still many people in this country who have been burned as a result of banks holding fire sales of loans and selling them to vulture funds. This left many couples across this island in no man's land...

Seanad: Brain Health and Dementia: Statements (9 Mar 2022)

Niall Blaney: I thank the Acting Chairperson very much for the meeting she arranged yesterday, which was very useful. The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. I am very much aware of the work she has done prior to the role she is in now. I am also very aware of the esteem in which she holds her brief but also the priority she affords the whole area of brain health, dementia and Alzheimer's...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 Apr 2022)

Niall Blaney: I ask the Deputy Leader to write to An Taoiseach and ask him to join us for a debate on a shared island. Next week, Assembly elections will take place in Northern Ireland and we are all too well aware of how long the parliament in Stormont has not been working. I know from being in Northern Ireland canvassing that people are sick of politics not working there. I believe that it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Work of the Shared Island Unit: An Taoiseach (28 Apr 2022)

Niall Blaney: The Taoiseach, Ms O'Donoghue and Mr. Duffy are most welcome before the committee. I am delighted to have a discussion on this matter because the whole shared island concept has created a non-threatening space on the island, across societies, for the first time. I welcome the Taoiseach's presentation. There was a lot in it and it is a pity that we are constrained by time limits at this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Work of the Shared Island Unit: An Taoiseach (28 Apr 2022)

Niall Blaney: What is the Taoiseach's position on dealing with issues of legacy, truth and justice? It has not been mentioned today but we met with a group from the United States yesterday - the Ancient Order of Hibernians, AOH. The UK Government has put proposals out there that the Taoiseach has rejected. What is his opinion in that regard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Work of the Shared Island Unit: An Taoiseach (28 Apr 2022)

Niall Blaney: It would have been 1986-87.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Work of the Shared Island Unit: An Taoiseach (28 Apr 2022)

Niall Blaney: The southern part of it is.