Results 221-240 of 432 for speaker:Niall Blaney

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: 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: 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...

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 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?

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 Londonderry Chamber of Commerce and Foyle Port (16 Dec 2021)

Niall Blaney: I extend a warm welcome to Mr. Clancy and Mr. O'Kane and thank them for their presentations. As someone who is from the north west I am very much in favour of their proposals and a lot of what they said. First, I completely concur with what Mr. Clancy said about the cross-Border issues concerning Brexit. I am very much aware that his organisation has a strong relationship with the...

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: There are a number of tax issues. I agree with what was said by the Chairman. I am very much aware of individuals on both sides of the Border who work on both sides of the Border. As some of them are in an awful position taxwise and are really crippled, I very much favour the proposals made by Mr. O'Kane. I suggest to the Chairman that we write to the Ministers for Finance and Public...

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...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Business of Joint Committee
Engagement with WAVE Trauma Centre (9 Dec 2021)

Niall Blaney: I was delighted to meet Ms Peake and others at the WAVE Trauma Centre in Belfast. If there is any way those of us on the committee can be of assistance as Government representatives, they should please let us know. We will only be delighted to help their cause. We have treaded gently around this issue. This is not to have a go at Sinn Féin but, in a way, I will be having a go at...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Dec 2021)

Niall Blaney: I wish to discuss the railway strategic review which is now under way. It was announced by the Ministers, Nichola Mallon, MLA, and Deputy Eamon Ryan on 29 November. I did not speak on it last week because of the whole mica situation. I did not want to blur the lines. I very much want to emphasise that this review is now taking place. I thank the two Ministers for the input they have had...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (7 Dec 2021)

Niall Blaney: This week we celebrate the first anniversary of the setting up of the shared island unit. This is at a time when we are celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It is 23 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. Society and Members of both Houses have an opportunity to finally put to rest grievances and differences in this country and have...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Dec 2021)

Niall Blaney: I will speak about the new scheme put in place by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, yesterday. I strongly wish to put on record how much I welcome this new scheme. It affects the Deputy Leader's county as well as mine. There has been an awful lot of confusion overnight. I wonder how much of the €200,000 Sinn Féin raised at a golf event in the US over the past number of...

Seanad: National Development Plan 2021-2030: Statements (30 Nov 2021)

Niall Blaney: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. As a Donegal man, it would be remiss of me to stand here without mentioning the approval of the mica scheme by the Government. It is welcome and we will speak more about that another time. I am somebody who has taken a keen interest in the national development plans. The concept of the national development plan has come to the fore since the...