Results 221-240 of 743 for speaker:Jim D'Arcy

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: I agree with Senator Power. Was it the case that during the boom years there was not much school building going on? I know there were plenty of summer works schemes but I do not think there were many big capital programmes in the education sector because there was a shortage of engineers. Relative to the wealth of the economy at that time, there was not a large amount of school building...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: Have there been queries from more than one area?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: I do not like to interrupt, but it is a very important sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: In this country the statistic is 70% with degrees. We are looking at it through the wrong end of the telescope. In Germany the statistic is 50% with degrees and it has a huge skills sector based on the guild system that has been in place for centuries. We must adopt a twin track approach to the issue of skills. As was said here previously, an apprentice - there will be 20 new...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: For years lip service was paid to that concept, but I am very confident, having listened to the Minister of State previously and the Minister today and after talking to Mr. O'Flaherty who is an excellent public servant, that in the next couple of years we will see a new attitude to the skills and training sector in the education system and greater self-esteem for those who take that route.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: Subhead B5 on page 21 of the Department's briefing document deals with grants to SOLAS for further education and training activities. There are five education and training boards which do not have direct control over training activities in their functional areas. We have created children of a lesser God in the sense that five out of 11 boards must work under the chief executive officer of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: What I want to know is whether the two gentlemen concerned are happy with the capital and the budget. Is there any problem with the summer works scheme?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: Yes; we are straying into the next programme. We will leave it at that. My other question related to fee-paying schools.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a ghabháil don bheirt seo go pearsa as bhúr bpostanna nua agus guím ráth Dé oraibh san obair atá romhaibh. Senator O'Donnell has raised the issue of literacy and numeracy and the junior cycle and I, too, would like to hear the Minister's views on that. Throughout the country, many people...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: I support the call by Senators van Turnhout and Mullins to increase awareness about MMS, the compound that is being peddled as a miraculous cure for autism. We have made great strides in this country in helping children with autism, particularly in our school system and through parents in the home, and that is the way forward. Parents of autistic children need significant help, but this is...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: I beg the Senator's pardon and thank him. It is great to have a literary sidekick in the House and I look forward to discussing that with him in Strasbourg next week. The Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Harris, needs to come to the House to discuss the dumping of laundered diesel throughout last week in County Louth. The new licensing laws are only partly working....

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: The new education and training boards set up under SOLAS to deliver skills and apprenticeship training to our young school leavers will meet for the first time this month. The legislation to establish the education and training boards was initiated in the Seanad and significant amendments to the Bill were tabled in the Seanad before it was sent to the Dáil. With the demand for new...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: Well said.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Sep 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: Ba mhaith liom ar dtús fáilte a chur roimh ceapachán Phil Hogan mar Choimisinéir talmhaíochta san Eoraip. Agriculture continues to be a major part of life in Ireland and its economy, and especially with Food Harvest 2020 coming up, it is a great appointment. Will the Leader invite the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to the House to discuss two items?...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Election of Chairman (22 Jul 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: I second that nomination.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Apprenticeship Training: Discussion (9 Jul 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: There is so much good to be done in this area.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Apprenticeship Training: Discussion (9 Jul 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: When I was at school people said that as I was good with my hands I should be sent to the tech. Conversely, I was told I had hands for nothing. Being useless at most things I knew I had to become a teacher. It is a straight line to level 10 and I like the idea of moving all the way to level ten. It is wonderful that a young person completing an apprenticeship knows he or she can carry on...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Jul 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to the House to discuss the situation in the Middle East and Ireland's position in that regard. In debates on the Israeli-Palestinian question in the House, I tend to have a lot of sympathy for the Israelis. I am aware that would be a minority position. In the past, the Israelis and the Jews, in particular, have been...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Road Projects (2 Jul 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: I thank the Minister of State for his very comprehensive reply. I am pleased that it has been confirmed that the matter is expected to be discussed at the plenary meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council on Friday, 4 July in Dublin Castle. I expect that the support expressed at the previous meeting will be upgraded to a commitment. I am pleased the Narrow Water bridge project remains...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Road Projects (2 Jul 2014)

Jim D'Arcy: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Perry. The A5 and the Narrow Water Bridge projects are significant cross-Border infrastructural projects and are worthy of support on a number of fronts. Last week, at the meeting of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement representatives from both sides of the Border in the north west, comprising the A5 working group,...