Results 1-20 of 114 for long speaker:James O'Connor

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs (22 May 2024)

James O'Connor: ...for early and cost-effective interventions for children and young people. The Minister acknowledges that the increasing waiting lists for primary care services, and particularly those waiting for a long time to access services such as primary care speech and language therapy, is a source of real concern for clients and their families. The HSE has advised that an increase in referrals has...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

James O'Connor: .... After many years of lobbying and campaigning by the community to get the schools built, they are now built and look fantastic. Well done to the Department on that. It is good work. It took a long time but we got there in the end. There are schools that have been given resources by the Department for the construction of sports halls. Some of them have been funded. There are...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Water Services (15 May 2024)

James O'Connor: ...with a safe and secure water supply for every type of domestic use, there should be some reflection on that so that in an area such as east Cork, where so many people have been affected over such a long time, they need to be given some kind of compensation to allow them to get on with their lives without having to bear that additional cost. I outlined how where people are buying vast...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Water Services (15 May 2024)

James O'Connor: ...context of the introduction of the deposit return scheme for plastic bottles. Unfortunately, thousands of people in my area have been consistently affected by the quality of their water supply over a long number of years. Some people have been affected for seven or eight years and indeed even longer than that in some parts. East Cork, as many people will know, is a low-lying...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Mar 2024)

James O'Connor: I raise the issue of the Covid sick pay scheme that was in place for healthcare workers who, unfortunately, suffered from the serious consequences of long Covid. I met with these workers in my office recently. They are two nurses who have been out sick since they contracted long Covid. Unfortunately, it is not recognised as an occupational illness. I express my discomfort that this scheme...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Transport (27 Feb 2024)

James O'Connor: ...amalgamation of the three secondary schools in Youghal into one, Pobalscoil Na Tríonóide. The bus served Gaelscoil Choráin, Bunscoil Mhuire and Pobalscoil Na Tríonóide. Youghal town has long had significant social needs. It is a commuter town from where many people commute to places such as Dungarvan, Cork city, Little Island, Carrigtwohill and other major...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media
Sport Ireland: Financial Statements 2022
FAI: Matters relating to Governance and Funding (22 Feb 2024)

James O'Connor: It was around midnight the day before the witnesses were supposed to appear here. Why did the meeting go on so long?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: IDA Ireland: Chairperson Designate (21 Feb 2024)

James O'Connor: ...his extensive service in the private sector will be a great help to the IDA. I also wish his predecessor well. I do not want to be overly parochial but I come from an area of Cork East that has long yearned for IDA focus and investment because there were huge issues with long-term unemployment. Youghal was once a thriving hub of light industry around textiles and other areas that,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: IDA Ireland: Chairperson Designate (21 Feb 2024)

James O'Connor: ...working hubs unless they have a secure facility. In east Cork, particularly Youghal, this might be worth examining. The number of people who commute to Cork city daily from Dungarvan and Youghal along the country's southern corridor, the N25, is enormous. From a political perspective locally, what I call for would be much appreciated. I understand the prism through which IDA Ireland...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Large-scale Capital Projects: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (14 Feb 2024)

James O'Connor: ...Cork and Waterford and on to Rosslare. Many people are familiar with it. The garage opened and then closed. There was a restaurant there originally with a filling station. It then shut for a long period and during that closure, in the middle of the previous decade, a right-hand island for westbound traffic to turn off was removed under a line repainting scheme. Subsequently, in 2017,...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Childcare Services (29 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: ...of this. I understand the parents have been in direct communication and contact with him. We need to be realistic. It is an horrendously difficult situation for a business to retain staff for such a long period and not to be able to open until the works are completed. My asks are very simple. Will the Minister talk directly to the people and families involved? Will he engage with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: ...and arrive on time. People arrive at bus stops in Youghal after 8 a.m. to find they cannot get a bus until 9.30 a.m or 9.40 a.m., which is clearly not sufficient. I have been working on this for a long time. It has been a bone of contention between Ms Graham and me because of the PSO versus the commercial Expressway service. If anything can be done on costs I would be delighted.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 31 - Transport (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: ...of sending freedom of information, FOI, requests to the Minister's Department to try to establish what is really going on with it. However, I am getting to my wits' end in terms of why it has taken so long for that to be advanced. Obviously, I am conscious that we could have an election next year. We are definitely going to have an election before March 2025. The public deserve and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Management of Passenger Numbers at Dublin Airport: Discussion (22 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: ...I have seen some improvements in catering options and some other things. What plans does the DAA have to improve terminal 1 customer experience? Senator Dooley mentioned overcrowding. This has long been a concern of mine. When you go through airport security, heading down towards the location of Starbucks, the corridor is very cramped when the airport is busy. Is anything being done...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Management of Passenger Numbers at Dublin Airport: Discussion (22 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: That would be incredible. I am not levelling criticism at Mr. Jacobs on this, but it is interesting that it takes such a long time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Management of Passenger Numbers at Dublin Airport: Discussion (22 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: I was very disappointed to see that border preclearance facility planning permission had been declined. Obviously, the DAA has a long-standing relationship with Fingal County Council. It could be argued that it is a very important piece of tourism infrastructure from a business and economic development perspective. Does Mr. Jacobs think it is sustainable that a local authority would have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Management of Passenger Numbers at Dublin Airport: Discussion (22 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: ...fascinating fact that beneath terminal 2, a space was built for a metro connection to the city, which has just been lying idle. It is incredible that this untapped resource has been there for so long. Everybody, not only in Dublin but around the country, is watching with great interest to see how this is progressing. Is there anything happening in that regard?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: ...everyone this morning. I want to follow on from Deputy Catherine Murphy's comments on the public spending code. How this instrument has been used to any effect when it comes to projects has long been of interest to me. My understanding of the public spending code, which is that of the majority of politicians, is that it exists as a safeguard to prevent projects from going into...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: I am interested there because the most costly one there by some degree is MetroLink. How long will that process for the analysis of a project take? I believe €22 billion was the last estimate I saw in the paper.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 5: Vote Accounting and Budget Management (16 Nov 2023)

James O'Connor: How long would it take the Department to sit down and analyse a project of that scale?