Results 1-20 of 3,862 for speaker:Pauline Tully

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (1 Jul 2025)

Pauline Tully: Am I permitted to read a letter to Members from survivors of Ireland's industrial and reformatory school system?

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (1 Jul 2025)

Pauline Tully: Can I be permitted to speak on the Bill at a later Stage or now?

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (1 Jul 2025)

Pauline Tully: I want to explain why Sinn Féin has opposed the Bill. There are supports in this Bill that are welcome for survivors. However, in good conscience, we could not support it when it excludes some survivors from different residential institutions. We feel there should be equal access to support for all, irrespective of whether they had received a settlement from Caranua or any other type...

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (1 Jul 2025)

Pauline Tully: If I may, I will read this open letter to all Members of the Seanad from the survivors of Ireland's industrial and reformatory schools system, dated 30 June 2025. To whom it may concern, We, the Survivors of Ireland's Industrial and Reformatory Schools System, write to you today with heavy hearts and unwavering determination. For decades we endured cruelty, neglect, abuse and the erasure...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Care of the Elderly (26 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: I wish to raise the issue of boarding-out regulations, that is, the service for older people. Not everyone is familiar with boarding-out services. This is a service for older people who are mobile and generally in good health and who do not require nursing home care but who cannot live on their own because they might not quite manage or they do not want to because of loneliness and so...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Care of the Elderly (26 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, told me that he was unable to be here because of questions to the Minister for rural affairs in the Dáil. What he is saying is really reassuring, but I have been hearing that for a number of years and nothing has been done. When I first raised this issue in 2021, 51 providers were involved. Now there are only eight. That tells you that people...

Seanad: Dental Services: Motion (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: Our public dental service is basically not functioning, or functioning to a very low standard. In 2006, there were 330 dentists working within the public dental service. Last year, there were 253. Considering that the population has increased by about 1 million, it tells the story that children are not getting the check-ups they should be getting throughout primary school. They should be...

Seanad: Disability (Personalised Budgets) Bill 2024: Second Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: I speak in support of this Bill. I spent many engaging hours as part of the Committee on Disability Matters during the previous Government term, along with Senators Clonan and Flynn and a number of others. I engaged with the Acting Chair, Senator Rabbitte, as the then Minister of State many times on the issue of disability as well. I learned so much from the engagement with disabled people...

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: The first issue I want to raise relates to SNA allocation. This is similar to what Deputy O'Rourke brought up. I was contacted by a local school last week. On Friday evening, the school got notification of its SNA allocation for the year. It had two SNAs and it has three students with significant needs enrolled in junior infants for this autumn. In order to allow the principal to accept...

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: I have emailed the Minister of State all the details.

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: When I spoke to the NCSE, it was almost like it was not aware this review had happened in March. Either there was a breakdown in communication or a mistake was made. I am seeking clarification because the principal and deputy principal are extremely worried about this. The other thing I want to bring up is NEPS psychologists and the lack thereof. There are many schools without access...

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: We have spoken about early intervention being key, which it is. The previous Minister of State with responsibility for special education, Deputy Naughton, talked about better communication between preschools, early intervention classes and primary schools. Is that happening? Preschools have immense amounts of information that would be useful to primary schools, if passed on. Parents also...

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: Is there any sign of the EPSEN Act review being concluded and the results being published? It has taken longer to complete than it was supposed to. I am aware of lots of primary schools that applied to the NCSE for a special class but were refused this year. They are not looking for it because there is not a need. There is a need within the school and it also getting enquiries from...

Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science: Review of Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: Good afternoon to everyone. By the time we get to the bottom of the list, most of the questions have already been asked but I echo the concerns of my colleagues around low wages. I was recently talking to a young man of 23 who decided to take up an apprenticeship, but receiving only €7 or €8 per hour made it very difficult for him. I am also concerned about the delays in...

Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science: Review of Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: The witnesses mentioned a figure of 5,236 new apprenticeships in 2020 and said that the figures have grown since. That figure seems very low. Was it much higher earlier? Did the recession cause a drop-off in the number of apprenticeships?

Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science: Review of Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: If you were to go back ten or 15 years prior to that, would the figure have been much higher?

Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science: Review of Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: Deputy Ó Súilleabháin mentioned Germany earlier. There are other countries with very high levels of apprenticeships. Do SOLAS and ETBI do comparisons with other countries? Do they look at their models to see if there are lessons to be learned as to how to do things differently?

Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science: Review of Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: I refer to the drop-out rate in apprenticeships, which is very high. I assume it is related to wages. Are exit interviews done with all the people who leave apprenticeships to find out why they are leaving?

Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science: Review of Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025: Discussion (25 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: Yes, it is still significant.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Jun 2025)

Pauline Tully: I raise the issue of boarding-out services. These are services that support older people to live in their own community, people who do not require nursing home care but cannot live on their own or do not want to live on their own. They live in their community and are supported where they need to be they but live practically independent lives. At one time there were eight houses providing...