Results 261-280 of 519 for speaker:Mary Ann O'Brien

Seanad: Report on Grocery Goods Sector: Motion (20 Nov 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: He will be up for sainthood soon - Pope Senator Feargal Quinn. We recently held a very pleasant meeting with a retailer in the US. Beautiful products were presented and the retailer wanted to list them but they also wanted to know how much we were prepared to put forward to support it in its in-house foody advertising magazine. Did we know that four promotions had to be offered and funded...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report 2012: Discussion with Coillte (19 Nov 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I ask Mr. Britchfield to speak about Coillte's business margins, particularly in regard to 2010, 2011 and 2012, and the projected margin for 2013. What were the gross net margins? I am trying to supplement Deputy McNamara's question. Mr. Britchfield's presentation was beautiful but I would have liked more meat and figures that bang it home to us that the company has been run in a cost...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Nov 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I second Senator O'Keeffe regarding our dear friend, Senator Harte. It demonstrates to us all how incredibly fragile life is. That fragility brings us to an announcement in the UK about a poisonous, malignant and damaging industry that permeates the entire planet, that of child pornography. I would like the Leader to talk to the Minister and establish once and for all if the Government...

Seanad: Electricity Transmission Network: Motion (13 Nov 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank Senators Rónán Mullen and Feargal Quinn for proposing this very important motion. We did not inherit this world from our parents. We borrowed it from our children. One day we will return it. It should be every bit as bountiful as it was when we found it. That is what sustainability means and sustainability is what the world needs now, which gives Ireland a momentous...

Seanad: Electricity Transmission Network: Motion (13 Nov 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Then let me erect a 45 m high pylon in his vegetable garden.

Seanad: Electricity Transmission Network: Motion (13 Nov 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I am certain the Minister would not risk it. I heard Senator Aideen Hayden's words on health, that the WHO states there is no risk; however, the scientific committee on emerging and newly identified health risks, SCENIHR, in Europe states there may be a risk. Even if there is the tiniest risk, how can we risk putting one of these pylons near somebody's home? We have all met people who have...

Seanad: The One Percent Difference National Giving Campaign: Statements (22 Oct 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I welcome the Minister to the House and congratulate him on all his work on philanthropy. One of my main passions since I became a Senator has been interacting with the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, on the need for a charities regulator. I wish to speak about this issue. There have been two main constants, namely, the public and the charity sector itself....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Update on Health Issues: Discussion (17 Oct 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I know we are nearly out of time so I will brief. I really feel we are coexisting in two completely different realities. While the Taoiseach, various Ministers and the HSE still claim there is no problem with the allocation of discretionary cards, I speak on behalf of the Jack & Jill Foundation's nurses who are faced with the reality on the ground. We can say with certainty that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Update on Health Issues: Discussion (17 Oct 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank the Minister.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Oct 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I would like to bring to the attention of the Seanad the wonderful announcement yesterday of the creation of the Walsh distillery. The next Baileys or Guinness has hopefully been born. A total of €25 million has been attracted, mainly in Italian investment, to build this distillery in the Royal Oak region near Leighlinbridge in Carlow, a very rural area. Forty jobs in construction...

Seanad: Issues Facing Small and Medium Enterprises in Rural Towns: Motion (8 Oct 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank the Minister for coming here to listen to us. Earlier, Senator Ó Murchú mentioned 98.5% of our businesses are small businesses with 650,000 people employed by them. Surely that is enough to focus our minds. When America gets a cold, we usually get the flu. All of us have been lucky enough to travel and look at the United States for years. The Minister has seen what the...

Seanad: County Enterprise Boards (Dissolution) Bill 2013: Second Stage (2 Oct 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I welcome the Minister to the House to discuss this important and welcome County Enterprise Boards (Dissolution) Bill. I second what Senator Ó Murchú said. We heard earlier from Senator Feargal Quinn. When I started my business he was one of my mentors in that I was living in the Duke of Leinster's country house in the stable flat of Carton, in Maynooth, from where I was working...

Seanad: Tackling Bullying in Schools: Statements (Resumed) (26 Sep 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I would love to strangle Ask.fm, put it in the ocean and drown it forever. A person must be 13 to join Facebook but statistics indicate there are 5 million children aged under ten on it. We have Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Twitter in Ireland, and all the people behind them love to speak to Ministers. The Minister should keep himself informed and be sure to inform the people behind those...

Seanad: Tackling Bullying in Schools: Statements (Resumed) (26 Sep 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: That is what is out there for young children, so we should keep a dialogue open. As well as the task force that has been set up, the Minister needs some young and clever minds that are up to date on these issues. We are a pack of old fogeys, which I am sorry to say, and anybody over 22 or 23 is not with the story.

Seanad: Tackling Bullying in Schools: Statements (Resumed) (26 Sep 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I am so happy to have the Minister here and taking part in this topic. After 20 years, he has taken steps with such diligence in his consultation and action plan on bullying. There is nothing more important than looking after our young. I was pleased to hear the Minister saying that he will keep a constant eye and that the board of management will report every three months. The Minister...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Registration of Births (25 Sep 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: That information is of great use to me, and I thank the Minister for her detailed and informative reply. I hope everything that she has said is correct. I raised the issue because of the unfortunate case of a family who had a baby in need of palliative care. They found that the system has changed, that registration in hospital is no longer possible and that they needed to go to the births,...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Registration of Births (25 Sep 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I will do that. Thank you very much, Minister.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Registration of Births (25 Sep 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House to address the need for the Minister for Health to put in place a special system to enable the births of babies in need of palliative care to be registered in the hospital of their birth, owing to the unnecessary burden being placed on the parents of these acutely ill children in having to travel to local offices to register the birth...

Seanad: Services for People with Disabilities: Motion (25 Sep 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Like my colleagues, I sympathise greatly with the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. I am very upset to hear she is still unwell. I thank Senators Averil Power and Darragh O'Brien for tabling the motion. It covers an area in which we all have a great interest. I am sorry there are not more Members present; I do not know where they are. We know we are in hard times and face...

Seanad: Pathways to Work Strategy: Statements (25 Sep 2013)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I welcome the Minister. As I had not planned to speak, I will be brief. I welcome the positive update and no matter how small the growth rate is, we are moving in the right direction. I feel very positive and feel like cheering. We can only move in one direction and I am delighted. I know it is small, but I welcome it. I also welcome the Minister's efforts to ensure work pays. This is...