Results 1-20 of 704 for speaker:John Kelly

Seanad: Election of Cathaoirleach (25 May 2011)

John Kelly: I congratulate you, a Chathaoirligh, on your appointment. As a fellow west of Ireland man, you will get my full support. I hope, when the Rossies beat your county in the Connacht championship this year, you will fully support me thereafter. I am honoured to be the first elected Oireachtas Member for the Labour Party from Roscommon-South Leitrim. It is a great honour for my father Kevin...

Seanad: Tourism Sector: Motion (1 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: Developing tourism is the most immediate means at our disposal of addressing the unemployment crisis. I commend the measures taken by the Government thus far, including the abolition of the air travel tax and reduction in the lower VAT rate. On the decision to allocate €1 million for a Discover Ireland promotional campaign, I refer to comments made by Mr. Niall Gibbons of Tourism Ireland...

Seanad: Tourism Sector: Motion (1 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: We must promote rural Ireland to attract tourists from Britain which will require us to focus on promoting our lakes, rivers and landscape and the céad míle fáilte. I support the decision by Irish Rail to introduce a special fare promotion. This should be extended to Bus Éireann by offering bus travel vouchers to any tourist who arrives at a regional airport. If a tourist has a voucher...

Seanad: Tourism Sector: Motion (1 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: And within budget.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: I would like the Minister for Health to come before the House to address a number of issues relevant to his portfolio. One such issue about which I am extremely concerned is the proposed centralisation of the medical card system. The system under which those over 70 years were dealt with by local community welfare officers in their counties was centralised to Dublin. It is proposed that...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: -----have consistently informed those with cancer that they are entitled to a medical card. That is false information because all applicants are subject to a means test. I would like the Minister for Health to indicate how he is going to deal with the fact that discretion will be removed from the process in granting medical cards. Those granting the cards will be bound by guidelines that...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: I welcome in advance that the Minister for Finance will come to the House. I call for a wide-ranging debate on finance matters. It was brought to my attention at the weekend by a number of business people who negotiated the restructuring of their payments and were sent new contracts to sign. Two of them signed and returned the contract without reading it. One person read it, but in all...

Seanad: Jobs Initiative and Competitiveness: Statements (8 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: I also welcome the Minister of State, Deputy John Perry, who knows my native Ballaghaderreen in County Roscommon very well. On behalf of the people and small businesses of Ballaghaderreen, elsewhere in County Roscommon and County Leitrim, we must focus on sustaining existing jobs. Commercial rates are a big stumbling block to many businesses remaining in business. They are putting many...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: I call for a debate on two issues on which I have strong opinions. The first concerns our wind energy policy. I will not go into detail on that now but will do so when we have a debate on the issue. I ask for a debate on our wind energy policy because unless we shout "stop" regarding our current policy on wind energy and re-evaluate it, this country will have so-called ghost wind farms in...

Seanad: Progress on the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language: Statements (9 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: Ba mhaith liom céad míle fáilte a chur roimh an Aire Stáit. Little did I know 20 years ago when he attended my wedding in Gweedore, County Donegal, that I would have anything to do with politics and I would be in the Seanad today addressing him on matters relating to the Irish language.

Seanad: Progress on the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language: Statements (9 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: I married a native Irish speaker from Gweedore who is an Irish teacher and I am ashamed that I would feel it easier to address the Minister of State in Spanish on matters relating to the Irish language than in Irish. However, I firmly believe that most Irish people have a genuine grá for the language. It does not necessarily follow, though, that they are in favour of the current compulsory...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: It was reported in Roscommon at the weekend that the Health Service Executive proposes to reduce accident and emergency hours at Roscommon hospital from the current 24-7 basis to a service running from 8 a.m. on Monday until 5 p.m. on Friday evening with no cover at weekends. Needless to say, the HSE would prefer the people of County Roscommon to get sick during the week only and not at...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: I am getting to that point.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: I will conclude on this point because the Minister should be called before this House to address this issue as a matter of urgency. As the HSE has this plan in place for 11 July, which is only a few weeks away, it is very important that he does. The Cathaoirleach should bear in mind that before the general election, the Minister for Health gave a written commitment to the people of County...

Seanad: Accident and Emergency Services (14 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: I welcome the Minister of State. I raised this issue in the House earlier as it is a serious situation for Roscommon. I do not wish to repeat what Senator Leyden said so I will focus on a couple of points. It is only in recent months that, as a county councillor attending meetings with the HSE, I realised the HSE wants to abandon any past notion there was a practice called "the golden...

Seanad: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Second Stage (15 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Lucinda Creighton. I welcome the measures contained in this finance Bill which seek to promote tourism. However, as Senator Jim D'Arcy stated, our prices are not enticing tourists to come here. He also pointed out that while lunch in the United Kingdom cost £5, it cost €13 here. In the past many of our tourist operators were forced out of the...

Seanad: Fair Deal Nursing Home Scheme: Statements (Resumed) (16 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: I will be brief. I welcome the Minister of State, my party colleague, to the House. In recent years I often referred to the fair deal scheme as an "unfair" deal. I agree with every statement made in the House today by all Members. We represent every sector of society and every statement should be taken on board and another look taken at how we deliver nursing home care to the elderly and...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: Two weeks ago I raised the issue of centralisation of medical cards. I called for the Minister for Health to answer questions on this. Now we are at the 11th hour because centralisation is taking place on 1 July. I am satisfied that 90% of medical cards are centralised but 10% are granted on a discretionary basis. Such people may be over the guideline amounts for medical cards but,...

Seanad: Jobs Initiative and Competitiveness: Statements (Resumed) (22 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: I will focus on what has gone wrong and what changes need to be made. While I do not propose to reduce our generous social welfare rates, it is unfortunate that a series of other bonuses have been introduced for those in receipt of social welfare payments. Free travel and electricity, rent allowance, mortgage subsidies, medical cards and so forth make it difficult for recipients of social...

Seanad: Housing Market: Motion (22 Jun 2011)

John Kelly: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I will briefly discuss the steps we should take to address reckless lending and borrowing. Prior to becoming a Senator I was employed as a community welfare officer. I dealt with many of these cases, including one which involved a young man who had borrowed €187,000 from one institution. Having paid his mortgage for a couple of years, he...