Results 501-520 of 8,008 for speaker:Bríd Smith

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: I would argue with the Minister that the announcement he made in January was deeply irresponsible and has left hundreds of people at risk. I say that because it was aimed specifically at international protection refugees. This has been a proxy for a policy operating along racial lines. It was not aimed at the greater number of Ukrainians who are coming in; it was aimed at international...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: To make the accusation that the announcement specifically targeted international protection refugees?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: I am just stating fact; I am not making-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: I am not; I am stating fact. The announcement was targeted at international protection refugees.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: I am stating that the policy was targeted at international protection refugees, who are in the main black and brown men. It has left them very vulnerable on the streets, and we all know the story of the consequences of that. My question to the Minister is how much more the Department can do. Nobody in this House has ever answered the following questions. What about Baggot Street...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cost of Living Issues (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: I am asking this question on behalf of Deputy Boyd Barrett. It asks whether the Minister is aware of the national representative survey carried out by Barnardos but I am quite sure the Minister is aware of it. I thank Barnardos for conducting the survey and shining a spotlight on this very important issue. The survey received responses from over 315 parents or guardians with children under...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cost of Living Issues (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: Perhaps the Minister is not aware of the report, which is entitled Cost of Living Crisis: Impact on Children Report 2023. The Minister has not addressed the cost-of-living crisis and its impact in the immediate term. Instead he tells me that his Department has a strategy from 2023 to 2028. How does that resolve the issues for families, 57% of whom, when asked, said they could not afford to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: 33. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of childcare providers that participated in the core funding scheme but have subsequently raised fees for services despite the commitment in the scheme not to (details supplied); if his Department has received any complaints about this practice; if any service provider has done so; if so, the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: I ask the Minister about the core funding model for childcare, how it is applied across all providers and the number of childcare providers that participated in this scheme, but subsequently raised their fees for services, despite the commitment in the scheme not to do so. Has the Department received any complaints about this? If so, how does the Department deal with the service providers...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: I welcome the fact the Minister has tried to reduce the fees, but some of the larger providers - in the case of the parliamentary questions I have asked the Minister and in this case - such as Safari Childcare in Dublin 8, have brought in a model where they have said to parents they have to avail of the service 52 weeks per year. In other words, parents who do not normally pay for...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: We certainly do. I hope that continues to be the commitment from the Department. However, it is not rhetorical to say - it goes to core of the issue - that what is happening here is we have a disjointed, privatised and fragmented childcare service in this country. We would not allow this to happen at primary or second level, but the care is a patchwork of various different types of service...

Respite Care Services: Motion [Private Members] (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this motion to us. The figures in the motion are stark. Three quarters of families get no respite care at all. In 2022 fewer than 5,200 received a respite service, despite the fact that there are 20,000 people or more with disabilities, including physical and sensory disabilities, or autism who need respite care. Fewer people received respite services...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Offices (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: In the same vein, there is a report in this morning's edition of the Irish Independentabout a summer of discontent. The article listed a series of workers who have voted for strike action. As well as water workers, they include firefighters, paramedics in the National Ambulance Service, emergency call operators in Munster and pilots at Emerald Airlines. We already know that nurses have...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Commissions of Investigation (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: I received a reply to a parliamentary question from the Minister for Justice stating that the report into the tragic and untimely death of Shane O'Farrell, commissioned with the co-operation of Judge Gerard Haughton, was presented on 1 June 2022. In a couple of days, that will have been a year ago. After 12 years of Lucia O'Farrell and her family fighting like tigers to have this report...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: Tomorrow morning, Marie O'Shea will present at the health committee on her review of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. I have two asks of the Government parties here today. I know people are concerned about the Bill that I have before the House, that will be voted on tomorrow night. I understand there are concerns left, right and centre about this issue, but I...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: -----it would only be correct for those parties to give their Deputies a free vote-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: -----and please to listen to the health committee before they make up their mind.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: But we would be waiting a whole year.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: It is a whole year that the Government is parking it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Liquefied Natural Gas and Oil Prospecting: Discussion (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: I apologise for having to leave. Professor McMullin's contribution has been very useful and I thank him for answering our questions. I want to come back to the basics on this. Both Professor McMullin's submission and that of the International Energy Agency, IEA, are really unequivocal about us not being able to have extra fossil fuel infrastructure and reach our climate targets. If we...