Results 1-20 of 554 for speaker:Paul Lawless

Central Bank (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage [Private Members] (17 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: I welcome this fundamentally important Bill. Aontú has been campaigning for this for a long time. The right to be forgotten is crucially important for cancer survivors. We welcome and support this right 100%. The State has effectively punished cancer survivors and victims on the double. The first way is in terms of delayed treatment and diagnosis. The Irish Cancer Society this week...

Proceeds of Crime and Related Matters Bill 2025: Second Stage (17 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: I welcome the Bill and commend the great work of the members of An Garda Síochána and those officers who work in the Criminal Assets Bureau. It is important that we tackle criminals at source. The best way to do this is by tackling the proceeds of crime. We welcome that the turnaround time will be reduced from seven years to two years. This is something for which we in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Schemes (17 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: 133. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps she is taking to ensure that children have access to summer provision and adequate supports during the summer months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32483/25]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I congratulate him on his appointment. I have lots of questions, so I might just go one by one if that is okay with the Minister of State and he might be as brief as he can. First, who was responsible for bringing ash dieback into Ireland? Has there ever been an investigation by the Department? It was found in Leitrim in 2012. I understand...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: Who brought the disease in?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: The point I am making is that it started in Asia, it was widespread all over Europe in the 1990s and was first found in Ireland in 2012, very close to a Coillte forest. We are bringing in millions of whitethorn trees as part of ACRES and hedgerows, which is obviously a good thing, but I am very concerned about the importation of this. Have we learned anything? My understanding is that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: No. I am referring to imports. I want to be very clear. I understand that this was long before the Minister of State's time. My point is about imports.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: I know that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: My concern is about imports-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: Is the Minister of State concerned about the level of imports in, for example, whitethorn? Is there a danger of repeating ash dieback in the future? That is my question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: May I go on to the next question? Who owns the carbon credits that are planted on the land under the current schemes?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: So the landowner, the farmer, owns the credits today and will own them into the future under the current scheme.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: Since Storm Éowyn, has there been any change to the distances with regard to trees and the ESB corridors? Will the Minister of State consider any changes to that? In the west, in particular, it caused havoc.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: I appreciate that. I urge the Minister of State to try to get that over the line as quickly as possible because we need to be more prepared for the next storm. I want to raise concerns I have that go back to the Gresham House deal. I understand there is an Irish strategic forestry fund that is supported by Coillte. This country has been asset-stripped for hundreds of years. In fact,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Ash Dieback and Other Forestry Issues: Discussion (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: I also agree on forestry. I believe we need to ensure that, where possible, companies and investment funds are not competing against farmers. That is currently the case, and the Minister of State needs to revise the incentives on commercial taxation of the land and the product at the end of it. He mentioned the forestry appeals committee. A forestry was recently approved in Ballycastle,...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Home Help Service (16 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: 226. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the number of home help agencies that are registered in Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39928/25]

Endometriosis Care in Ireland: Motion [Private Members] (15 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: I welcome the motion brought forward by Sinn Féin. I also welcome the visitors in the Public Gallery. Aontú has done quite a lot of work on this issue. It is really important that the lived experiences of so many women across Ireland are brought to the floor of the Dáil and put in front of the Minister. The fact is endometriosis is not a minority condition. It affects one...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (15 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: What about all the other schemes I mentioned?

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (15 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: There exists a huge chasm between Government rhetoric on housing and the reality locally. I draw the Taoiseach's attention to the housing situation in Mayo. The first home scheme, introduced in 2022, has delivered, on average, just six houses each year across the county. The affordable housing scheme, introduced in 2019, has delivered just five units, which is less than one per year. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (15 Jul 2025)

Paul Lawless: Housing delivery has collapsed under Fianna Fáil. This is a very serious issue. I ask the Taoiseach to please not deflect and to give us the reality.