Results 321-340 of 3,337 for speaker:Michael Collins

Central Statistics Office Sexual Violence Survey 2022: Statements (Resumed) (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: It is now a major emerging issue that the added presence of biological males in women's prisons, for example, can lead to an increased risk of sexual violence against women. Transgender women who have not undergone sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy still have male genitalia and may pose a threat to female inmates in prisons. This can be a serious concern for the safety of female...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: We have a serious health crisis in this country, with more than 1 million people on waiting lists for medical procedures. This, coupled with housing, has to be our biggest challenge, but like housing, this and previous Governments have failed miserably to challenge the crisis with any meaningful success. I was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 2016 and it soon became apparent that...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: The Minister said I was taking a cheap shot. I am not taking a cheap shot at anybody. I am standing for the people who are suffering in this country. I am standing for the staff who had been neglected by the Government, at the very top, and have been overstretched in their hospitals. How can the Minister stand here and praise a system that leaves a double amputee in a hospital, unable to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: What was wrong?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: A total of 1 million people.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: That was last year.

Targeted Investment in the Health Service: Motion [Private Members] (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: This is an important motion, which I fully support. Down through the years we have fought bravely to keep services in Bantry General Hospital which looks after the people of Cork South-West and south Kerry and does so excellently. I pay tribute to the hospital staff. However, we are fighting to keep services there. We are fighting every day of the week to have endoscopy and stroke units...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Revitalising Derelict and Vacant Homes on Farmland: Discussion (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: I thank the witnesses for attending. Housing in rural Ireland has always been a major difficulty. All politicians know that there are issues with planning. What we find in west Cork is that young people are being refused planning permission in rural areas because of considerations relating to the scenic landscape and this, that and the other. It seems to us that the planning policies that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Revitalising Derelict and Vacant Homes on Farmland: Discussion (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: I did. I said that as far as I know, the help to buy scheme does not include the renovation or purchase of derelict properties. Also, the banks are not participating in issuing loans to people who want to do up derelict properties. Why is that the case?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Revitalising Derelict and Vacant Homes on Farmland: Discussion (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: Are the banks participating in this?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Revitalising Derelict and Vacant Homes on Farmland: Discussion (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: I thank the witnesses.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: 56. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address the issue regarding almost 60 school projects being on hold due to funding issues including a school (details supplied) in Bantry, County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23209/23]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: Almost 60 school building projects are on hold due to funding issues. One of the schools affected is Coomhola national school, Bantry, west Cork. The Minister might be able to outline when work will commence on the school's new classrooms.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: I thank the Minister for her reply. In 2020, the school in Coomhola, which is north of Bantry in west Cork, was approved for the building of a new classroom to replace two Portakabins, which are very unsuitable for long-term use as classrooms. As we know, Portakabins are cold and very damp in winter and too hot during warm weather. In August 2022, I wrote the Department on behalf of the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: I thank the Minister for her reply. The extension for these two rooms was approved in 2020; it is now 2023. We are three years on and the Minister cannot tell me today when a sod will be turned on the project. She cannot tell me today that in the first week of September or late August when the children go back to the school that it will have these two new classrooms in place. We will...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Public Service Obligation (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: 183. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment why the PSO levy has not been removed from ESB bills in view of the effectiveness of the wind energy and solar power in recent years; what plans are in place to remove the PSO levy in totality; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23155/23]

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: 310. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the grants available for a person who wants to make their own picture frames from their own garage (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23156/23]

Planning and Rural Housing: Motion [Private Members] (10 May 2023)

Michael Collins: I built my own house.

Planning and Rural Housing: Motion [Private Members] (10 May 2023)

Michael Collins: It is still standing, thank God. Many a gale has come up over Mizen Head and, by jeepers, it struck us, but it did not knock the house. I tell the Minister a person cannot build a house today. A young person or couple are stifled by costs. About €100,000 is added to the build before it can even get off the ground. A first-time buyer's grant would alleviate some of this financial...

Planning and Rural Housing: Motion [Private Members] (10 May 2023)

Michael Collins: Planning laws in rural areas are put together to make sure people are refused planning. That is the situation I find for many of my constituents in Cork South-West. Young couples starting off are being refused planning all over west Cork and other areas. Scenic landscape is thrown in as one of the excuses. Someone says, "Oh, you are coming out onto the N71 even though there are five...