Results 61-80 of 5,527 for speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Energy Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I will try to ask all of my questions at once. They are more for the Department of housing than for the Department of Social Protection. I have a brief question for the Department of Social Protection to flag two issues. I can be critical of the Department, so it is good to give credit where it is due and I take this opportunity to do that. We had the Irish Cancer Society before us earlier...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Energy Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Just to supplement that, Ms Stapleton mentioned meeting the cost of inflation. Construction inflation has risen way above other inflation, especially the cost of timber. Has the Department taken into account increased construction inflation in particular?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Energy Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I do not. Perhaps the information on the pilot in Fingal could be forwarded to the committee. I would be very interested in that whenever it is completed. It would be very interesting.

Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (27 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The Government's response is a nonsense. A programme for Government commitment remains unacted upon. We are expected to simply wait because the Government is promising an all-singing, all-dancing Bill, and it promises us that it will be better than what we have, but nobody has seen it. I do not think that is good enough and it is no reason to not support this legislation. We could work...

Recent Arson Attacks: Statements (27 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: So many things could be said. As I considered where to begin, I clarified my thinking and thought there is only one place to begin and that is that arson is wrong. Arson is wrong, criminal damage is wrong, attacks on property are wrong and potentially putting people at risk of serious injury and death is wrong. There is no excuse for it and no justification. It is clearly becoming a...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff (27 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 599. To ask the Minister for Health whether the recent decision in the parity claim of medical scientists with biochemists, which has put both categories on the same payscales from January 2024, will also apply to recent retiree medical scientists; and whether their pensions will also be brought to parity, particularly given the attempts to secure parity have been ongoing since 2002. [9212/24]

Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Second Stage (21 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Aontaím leis an méid atá ráite ag an Teachta Cullinane. Tá go leor sa Bhille seo a dhéanann ciall agus go leor a bhí á éileamh ag Sinn Féin ar feadh tamaill mhaith. Déanfaidh an Bille cinnte de go mbeidh sé de chumas ar go leor poitigéirí thar timpeall na tíre, a bhfuil fonn orthu níos mó a dhéanamh...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Building Projects (21 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I do not believe what is set out in the Minister of State's reply. I know it is not his fault. I was offered the choice to postpone this matter or allow him to take it this morning. Conscious of the urgency of the situation, I asked that it be taken today. The Department officials who drafted the reply either did not look into the issue properly or they decided to be too clever by half. ...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Building Projects (21 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Owenabue Educate Together National School was set up in 2020. It has faced a number of challenges during its short existence. A building that was earmarked for it at one stage was subsequently given to Carrigaline Community Special School. This was no fault of Carrigaline Community Special School, which is an excellent school. However, what happened made the long- and medium-term planning...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Energy Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir. This is really fascinating stuff. I will be as efficient as possible. I have three questions for EnergyCloud and one for Irish Rural Link. First, I had heard a little about what EnergyCloud does in advance of this meeting and from reading about it. It is really impressive and quite ingenious and creative and the scale of the increase, the fact...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Energy Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Can I just make one point as it occurs to me?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Energy Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: One thing that does occur to me, and maybe this is for the longer run because I am sure there are an awful lot of other potential beneficiaries from a housing point of view, is that DEIS schools are another category of people who serve people with disadvantages . Schools are under very severe financial pressure at the minute. Capitation does not come anywhere meeting the costs they have....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Meals Programme (20 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 65. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to provide an update on the roll-out of the hot school meals programme. [7916/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Meals Programme (20 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I thank the Minister for that very comprehensive answer. I got most of it. I am sitting next to Deputy Ó Murchú, so I did not necessarily get all of it. In any event, we have regarded this area as a vital priority. In any event, the programme is in an area that Sinn Féin sees as a priority. It is a good news story that it continues to be expanded. In the longer run,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: EU Directives (20 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I have no dispute in terms of our international obligations. We supported the legislation that made those changes to social welfare payments for people who arrived from Ukraine after a certain date. This is not about Europe, however. The provision of social welfare payments is a decision that has been adopted by the Irish Government. Given it is highly likely that at the expiration of the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Children in Care (20 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 52. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will review the fact that standard disregards for maintenance that apply in the means testing of other payments do not apply in the means testing of the guardians payment, non-contributory. [8089/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Children in Care (20 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: There is a lot of talk about care at the minute in the context of the referendum. We should acknowledge, in that context, the role that kinship carers play. Very often they are the unsung heroes of the system who step up when, for whatever reason, a relative of theirs is not in a position to care for children. Very often they are working very hard, they step up and it can be complicated....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Children in Care (20 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Will the Minister repeat that last sentence? I wish to understand it.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Children in Care (20 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: My sense of this is that either this has not fully established itself yet or maybe the change in approach has not factored through on the ground. I received a parliamentary question response saying that the means of the guardian, including any maintenance payment paid to them, in respect of the child are not assessed when establishing entitlement. The problem is not just in terms of means...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Children in Care (20 Feb 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I could probably send several cases to the Minister albeit I do not have them directly. Kinship Care, a subsection of Treoir, highlighted this issue to me. Kinship Care met the guardian's payment deciding officer relatively recently. As far as that meeting was concerned, the deciding officers were unaware of the recent change of maintenance not being factored into entitlements for other...