Results 1-20 of 71 for speaker:Joanne Collins

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Joanne Collins: I thank the Cathaoirleach and witnesses for being here and giving their time today. I have one or two questions on waiting times for driving tests. There is an area in County Limerick that has one tester. Is the RSA considering a minimum number of testers per area? This tester was out sick a couple of weeks ago. While the RSA cannot mitigate against sickness because it is not...

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Joanne Collins: My next question is on the pass rate. The RSA said it is currently at 53%. Learners are now doing their theory test and the compulsory lessons. Does the RSA have statistics on whether that failure rate relates to major faults or an accumulation of minor errors in the tests?

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Joanne Collins: Yes.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Joanne Collins: Is the RSA considering allowing those with an accumulation of small minor offences to pass rather than fail?

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Joanne Collins: Brilliant. On NCTs, some NCT centres will backdate to the date on which a person should have had his or her test done. People can be six months waiting for a test in some areas, depending on their work schedule and what they can accommodate. Those test centres will backdate for six months, but other test centres do not backdate. Is it a decision of the test centre?

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Joanne Collins: Is there an outright rule that they should be backdated or should not be backdated?

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Joanne Collins: I am asking about people who are delayed in getting a test by six months - a person who was supposed to get it done in January, for example, but does not actually get the appointment until June.

Committee on Transport: Driving Test and NCT Delays: RSA (11 Jun 2025)

Joanne Collins: They have improved in Limerick. In Limerick City and Limerick County there is a good selection of test centres. There are some people who have had their tests late, and the day of the test is the date that they get their certificate.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Jun 2025)

Joanne Collins: I raise the issue of school transport and this crazy rule of Bus Éireann that its drivers have to retire at the age of 70. I had a phone call from the wife of a gentleman over the weekend. He turned 70 last Thursday and, on Friday, his wife had to drive the school bus to take the children to school and collect them. The school itself can contract him to come down a half an hour after...

Seanad: Insurance Reform: Motion (10 Jun 2025)

Joanne Collins: I welcome the Minister of State. While I welcome any debate which highlights the pressing issues of insurance costs and accessibility, we must move beyond words and deliver tangible solutions for our citizens. This motion, like many before it, rightly identifies the challenges but the question remains: does this Government's action match the urgency of the problem? I want to focus on two...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Special Educational Needs (28 May 2025)

Joanne Collins: I highlight a deeply concerning gap in supports for children with disabilities, particularly around the availability of summer services and structured activities during school holidays. I am not speaking about July provision or anything within schools. In recent years, Enable Ireland and other service providers secured places within private summer camps to enable children with special and...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Special Educational Needs (28 May 2025)

Joanne Collins: That all sounds amazing. The funding is desperately needed. I get the staffing issue. Would there be a way to alleviate that issue through special needs assistants that are qualifying and need to do a placement? Would it be an option to try to get their placement as a summer camp? Similarly, special education teachers who are qualified and vetted need to do some training or placement....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Engagement with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (28 May 2025)

Joanne Collins: I welcome the Minister and thank him for giving of his time to be here. I have just two or three points to make. The first is on the delays to ACRES payments. The Minister has said he is now more or less on top of the issue. I know it came down to IT issues. Can he give assurances that these delays will not continue? Much of the backlog has been covered but, given that it took so much...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food: Engagement with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (28 May 2025)

Joanne Collins: I thank the Minister. That is great and it is nice to hear he recognises when schemes do not go right. I want to go back to forestry. Is the Minister in agreement that we should be planting on peatlands and increasing the planting on peatlands?

Committee on Transport: National Transport Authority: Engagement (28 May 2025)

Joanne Collins: To return to rural transport, I will not get down to the granular level of Local Link services between villages and towns but address the issue of people living outside cities and trying to get into the city for school, college or work. People working from nine to five can forget about it because anyone travelling from west County Limerick into Limerick city has to take a bus coming from...

Committee on Transport: National Transport Authority: Engagement (28 May 2025)

Joanne Collins: That is great. It is just about having that service. As I said, the Local Link service is great but that is for those over a certain age who are not trying to get to a job, school or college at a certain time. The times on that route do not seem to work. The buses are single capacity. Even if the NTA could look at providing double-deck buses, it would help. We have college students...

Committee on Transport: National Transport Authority: Engagement (28 May 2025)

Joanne Collins: This is the route 300 Limerick coach service, the green bus, and the Bus Éireann service. The issues are frequency and capacity, both are working against users at the same time.

Committee on Transport: National Transport Authority: Engagement (28 May 2025)

Joanne Collins: That is brilliant.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2025)

Joanne Collins: I wish to raise an incident that happened in Newcastle West in County Limerick last weekend. Vile videos were sent to me of fighting on the streets between two different groups. They were absolutely disgusting to watch. People were being kicked in the face while they were on the ground. One person was knocked out, jumped on and punched about 20 times while he was knocked out. This...

Seanad: Local Democracy Task Force: Statements (27 May 2025)

Joanne Collins: Yes.