Results 181-200 of 3,518 for speaker:Martin Kenny

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Surrounding Recent Reappointment of CEO of Horse Racing Ireland (13 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: There are still a couple of issues to be resolved, the first of which is the letter which formally requests approval to extend the contract beyond the current term. It states there are issues facing the organisation and that there is a new draft strategic plan covering a period of five years. Is that the basis on which the contract should be extended? The letter goes on to state Mr....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Surrounding Recent Reappointment of CEO of Horse Racing Ireland (13 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: Mr. Keeling states the board has confidence in Mr. Kavanagh. It had little option but to have confidence in him. He was appointed and when it was put to the board, it was over. It had to accept it, or there may have been some on the board, many of them I assume-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Surrounding Recent Reappointment of CEO of Horse Racing Ireland (13 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: The issue is not whether Mr. Keeling has confidence in him; it is about legal responsibility. The legal responsibility to appoint a new chief executive officer was the board's, collectively, but it was not made by the board. It was made outside it. It was presented to it as a fait accompli.. That is the problem. There are also issues about the money. People have spoken about the salary...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Surrounding Recent Reappointment of CEO of Horse Racing Ireland (13 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: Yes, please.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Surrounding Recent Reappointment of CEO of Horse Racing Ireland (13 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: While I accept that, the issue is that inability of the board to deal with the appointment of a chief executive officer casts doubt on its ability to achieve any of its plans, particularly with regard to spending public money. Since the establishment of Horse Racing Ireland in 1999, more than €1 billion has gone into the horse racing industry. This is a serious amount of money in a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Issues Surrounding Recent Reappointment of CEO of Horse Racing Ireland (13 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: All the other sports on which bets are placed do likewise, yet they do not receive money.

Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Second Stage (18 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: Sinn Féin is committed to the preservation of our national wildlife and resources, including our raised bogs. It is fair to say that most people in this country who cut turf could say the same about themselves and they would be right. I feel as if I have to say this because there has been an inclination among environmentalists to suggest that turf cutters, even those cutting only for...

Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016: Second Stage (18 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: While I accept that great work has been done in a very short period, it is regrettable that it took so long and caused so much anguish among so many people and communities the length and breadth of the country to bring us to this day. I will support the Bill and I thank the Minister for her efforts in respect of it.

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: This budget did little to make life easier for working families and was a disappointment in the measures it brought forward to deal with the housing crisis and our health services, which have many difficulties and many inadequacies. While it was a disappointment, it was probably an inevitable conclusion of the alliance we have here between two very right-wing parties, Fianna Fáil and...

Questions on Proposed Legislation (19 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: The programme for Government states that the public marked walkways around the country will be increased in number from 40 to 80. I was speaking to people in the Leitrim development company and they say they are trying to keep many walkways open using the rural social scheme. They have been in contact with the recreation unit of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: Considering the recommendations arising out of the Mahon tribunal were published four and a half years ago, it is good to see this Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill in the Oireachtas. We in Sinn Féin tried to bring a motion before the House last year, as Deputy Ellis stated, to establish a planning regulator's office but the Government opposed it on the basis that the...

Questions on Proposed Legislation (20 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: There is a clear commitment in the programme for Government to support our tourism industry and, in particular, the development of the angling sector. Earlier in the summer there was a proposal from Inland Fisheries Ireland to shut a number of the hatcheries which produce the small fry which angling clubs and fishing associations use. It has been seen as a very retrograde step and a review...

Written Answers — Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Údarás na Gaeltachta (20 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: 29. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she is aware that the two former executives of Údarás na Gaeltachta who handled the sale of Arramara Teoranta to a company (details supplied) and were then employed by the company; if the sale was completed by ministerial order; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21284/16]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Sector: European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development (20 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: I welcome the Commissioner and thank him for his contribution. I am keen to know more about one issue. The Government is undertaking a review of the areas of natural constraint scheme and what will happen in this regard in the coming period. Many areas of natural constraint in Ireland correspond to the old disadvantaged areas. Over many years the areas have spread and grown. People in my...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Applications (25 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: 295. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the rationale behind the demand for the long version of birth certificates from persons who are already in the system but who are making a new claim, despite possession of other documents such as passports, driving licences and short version of birth certificates, in the context that applicants do not necessarily want to reveal all the details...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Priorities of Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Discussion (25 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: I welcome the delegation. The ANC areas are up for review next year. Many of the farmers in these areas, particularly those with marginal land, will be hoping they will get a bit extra out of it. When will the criteria be set for this? Some farmers are ineligible for the young farmer scheme because they have been farming for too long but are underage. I accept the Department's point...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Priorities of Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Discussion (25 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: Does that mean that any changes to be made will be made as a result of these criteria rather than anyone else's views or considerations? Mr. O'Driscoll is telling us it will be very scientific.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Priorities of Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Discussion (25 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: I would have expected that drainage of marginal land would increase the productivity of the land and its ability to grow grasses, and would have an impact in the opposite direction in that it would move the production of livestock on that land to the positive side of CO2 emissions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Priorities of Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Discussion (25 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: I refer in particular to meadow ground, where people want get fodder.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Priorities of Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Discussion (25 Oct 2016)

Martin Kenny: There is a specific scheme North of the Border. There has not been an examination of trying to model something similar here.