Results 1-20 of 9,148 for speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Coroners (Amendment) Bill 2025: First Stage (9 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I am very proud to join in this renewed effort along with Deputies Ward and Guirke. I welcome to the Public Gallery the McGill Lynch family, whom I worked with in the past, and also Jim and Vera Connell, who have joined them. Jim and Vera are here because the issue has not gone away. There was a missed opportunity when I introduced this legislation as a Senator. The Government said it...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: They are not agreed.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: No. There is a story on RTÉ today about the 257 post offices that have closed in the past ten years. Of them, 56 were in towns and cities. This is not just a rural issue. We need to have statements and for the Minister to come in. We know from the Irish Postmasters' Union that the existence of 40% of the remaining post offices is threatened unless the Government provides serious...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Fishing Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: 80. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is aware that only 52 persons have availed of fish assist across the State as of 31 May 2025; and if the Minister of State with responsibility for the marine and his Department officials will now engage with the representative POs for inshore and islands fishermen to discuss a financial support or subsidy scheme for the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I apologise for being a little late and thank my colleague, Deputy Conor McGuinness, for introducing my question. I appreciate that the Minister of State is new to his role but my difficulty is that what he has just read out was said to me again and again by the previous Minister for agriculture, Deputy McConalogue. This is an uninhabited rock and there is just no basis under...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I am mindful that the previous Scottish First Minister, Ms Nicola Sturgeon, according to reports in The Guardian newspaper, was trying to resolve this issue. Ultimately, it is a jurisdictional issue and the British Government has probably been let off the hook on this. The fisheries element of the TCA was recently extended by 12 years. That is very problematic because it locks down the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fishing Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: 74. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for an update on the most recent discussions between the Government and the UK Government on reinstating access for Irish fishers to their traditional fishing grounds at Rockall; if he is considering taking the matter to international arbitration, given the illegality of this long-standing blockade; and if he will make a statement...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Common Fisheries Policy (3 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: 102. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to outline his Department’s plan to build support with his counterparts in the European Union member states for an urgent review of the impact of the Common Fisheries Policy, CFP, and the recent 12-year extension of the fisheries component of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and the UK, on the Irish fishing...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: As the Minister knows, the victims of the pyrite scandal in the east coast of Ireland, comprising 3,000 families, rightly received 100% redress. In the west of Ireland we did not get this. Worse, nine months ago the Government looked at the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland rates and increased the cap but this was for people who were new entrants. Hundreds of families are being denied...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Services (2 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: All we are asking for in Donegal is fair play. We are not asking for special treatment; we are asking that our citizens do not have to travel long distances for care that should be provided in their own community. We are asking that our emergency services not be allowed to collapse and that we have the necessary number of surgeons and consultants in Letterkenny University Hospital. If...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Services (2 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: This could not be more serious. As the Minister of State will know from his Government colleagues, we have been told this very clearly. These doctors and consultants have said publicly on local radio that our emergency services could be lost. Imagine us losing an emergency department in Letterkenny University Hospital. That is how serious our surgical services have gotten to. We are down...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: What about the surgical hub issue?

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: There was no response on it.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: It absolutely is.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Apologies. Deputy McAuliffe seems to be responding instead of the Ceann Comhairle.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Of course it is.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: No. Last Friday, on Highland Radio, the Minister of State, Deputy Marian Harkin, stated that she secured a surgical hub for Sligo University Hospital as part of the Lowry Independents' negotiations for Government. In Donegal, we have been standing together to look at a surgical hub. Our services are in absolute crisis and our emergency Department is threatened. Will the Minister clarify...

Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs: Review of Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006: Discussion (1 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I thank the witnesses for their submissions. I previously expressed my serious concern around the SFPA at the agriculture committee, which dealt with fisheries at the time. I want to go through the various points that have been made on accountability and the consistency of approach compared with other European member states. First, I want to share a wee story for members here who might...

Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs: Review of Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006: Discussion (1 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: The next question is on oversight. I found it extraordinary. Everybody on this committee accepts the need for a regulatory authority. There is a job to be done and that is fair enough but it is about common-sense policing, as I would refer to it. We all know the difference in communities between having a garda who works for the community and having one who does not, and the outworkings of...

Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs: Engagement with Chairperson Designate of the Marine Institute (1 Jul 2025)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I congratulate Mr. Sisk on his new role. I wish him every success. I submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister recently. I am advised that there are 295 aquaculture license applications awaiting an appropriate assessment. It seems to take an inordinate amount of time. There are two problems. If we are looking to develop the aquaculture industry and meet the objectives of BIM...