Results 1-20 of 563 for at speaker:Pat Buckley

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Pat Buckley: I thank the witnesses. It has been a Pandora's box, to be honest. It was a comprehensive opening statement. The statistics and the numbers are rising because the spectrum is broadening. We have to talk about one specific point and how we can accommodate it. I do not want to nit-pick but we are a committee, but we are also legislators. If there was a legislative change to make things...

Committee on Public Petitions: Reasonable Accommodation for Dyslexic Students in State Examinations: Discussion (16 May 2024)

Pat Buckley: I thank the witnesses for their answers. I was fortunate enough to sit on the autism committee. A good deal of material came in regarding education and accessing services. That we are having this conversation is great. I suspect that people on the other side of the table sometimes think that, when they appear before a committee, they will get ripped apart and there will be a big...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Dental Services (14 May 2024)

Pat Buckley: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke, for being here tonight. I am raising the long waiting list for dentures, specifically for people over 70. I want to go back to a newspaper article in January 2009, which appeared under the subheading: "Dentures will be rationed for medical card holders as part of a wave of Health Service Executive ... cutbacks, dentists representatives...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Dental Services (14 May 2024)

Pat Buckley: I thank the Minister of State. I respect the response outlined. I am well aware that new dentures can be provided every five years, but that is if a patient can access a dentist. That is the issue here. Then there is the medical stuff that goes with it. Oral health is vital. The Minister of State's written statement reads, "The HSE is required to support the provision of emergency...

Committee on Public Petitions: Ombudsman for Children's Annual Report 2022: Office of the Ombudsman for Children (9 May 2024)

Pat Buckley: The name of the report, Falling Behind, explains it all in terms of children's rights and we are in 2024. I wish to follow on from what the Chair was talking about with regard to mental health, the Mental Health Commission and CAMHS. Was that clinical audit of all the CAMHS teams ever done? I ask because in my former position as a member of the mental health committee here, which was a...

Committee on Public Petitions: Ombudsman for Children's Annual Report 2022: Office of the Ombudsman for Children (9 May 2024)

Pat Buckley: I even know the figure. The total package is approximately €300,000. When the budgetary Revised Estimates are looked at every year and one sees how much additional money the HSE gets to pay compensation, legal fees and stuff, it is really frustrating for families to be in that situation for so long. They have been very open and frank with me. They have given me full permission to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Relief Schemes (2 May 2024)

Pat Buckley: I reiterate what my two Cork East colleagues were saying about the flooding. I thank the Minister of State. I met him in Midleton and I put in a number of parliamentary questions which, in fairness, the responses were fairly detailed. I echo what previous speakers said. The three problems here are fear, frustration and the pace. It seems there are solutions but it is about the pace at...

Committee on Public Petitions: Public Petition on Kiltimagh Water Scheme: Discussion (25 Apr 2024)

Pat Buckley: I have been observing most of this meeting. In our job, we listen to two sides of the story and somewhere in the middle is the truth. We are very familiar with this. It is down to communication, unfortunately, whether it is the people of Kiltimagh or anywhere else. We have had issues before with communications with county councils breaking down, memorandums of understanding being signed...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (25 Apr 2024)

Pat Buckley: That is agreed. An awful lot of work has gone into that but, my God, we will have to get to the end of it at some stage. It is going on too long. It is mad.

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Give Travellers the Floor: Discussion (18 Apr 2024)

Pat Buckley: I thank the Cathaoirleach. At this stage I was going to say, "No, you are fine." I will be very brief. I want to congratulate all in attendance. They probably do not realise it, but this is a very historic day for each and every one of them. They are now all part of history. Senator Flynn is an amazing Chair. We have had very frank conversations here, but the beauty of this committee...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Museum Projects (16 Apr 2024)

Pat Buckley: I thank the Minister of State for taking the question. There seems to bit of a Cork contingent here tonight, for a change. I wish to read into the record a statement from the Sinn Féin spokesperson on Gaeilge, the Gaeltacht, arts, culture and heritage, Deputy Ó Snodaigh. It is to do with the scrapping of the LÉ Eithne. It states: Opting to scrap the vessel without even...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Mar 2024)

Pat Buckley: I thank the witnesses for coming in. I read the submissions and listened to the opening statements. There is frustration on their side and on our side regarding the people who are stuck in the middle, the Travelling community, and also the local authorities. Ms Heavey stated that the local authorities may ignore their legal obligations. However, if they are not given the resources, it...

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community: Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Mar 2024)

Pat Buckley: ...I know the place he is talking about in the city. I am just throwing this out regarding local authorities and the county council. When I was on Cork County Council, we had a Traveller's consultative committee and it was absolutely excellent. Members of the Travelling community ran that committee. We were the ears while they were the mouths. It seemed to work and was very...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (21 Mar 2024)

Pat Buckley: I totally agree that it has to be an Oireachtas committee. It is public money that is being spent to run these agencies. The first reaction would be the that it should be Public Accounts Committee. We have as much power and responsibility as the Public Accounts Committee and we should have these agencies in front of us and they should be able to answer those questions on behalf of the...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (21 Mar 2024)

Pat Buckley: We are caught between a rock and a hard place. As for retention and contractual law, if people are being subvented, it is not hard to write up a contract that states that once a person is qualified, he or she will work there for the next five years. We have the best trained people in the planet but the working conditions, the cost of living and the whole lot is what pushes them out. People...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (21 Mar 2024)

Pat Buckley: I agree with the proposal to bring in the responsible bodies because in Cork University Hospital, CUH, where staff are charged extortionate money for parking, they now want to use the car park for an extension that will leave staff with nowhere to park. They will have to move away from CUH and probably will go across to the private car park. We are going backwards. I sat on the autism...

Committee on Public Petitions: Business of Joint Committee (21 Mar 2024)

Pat Buckley: Sorry, Chair, for cutting across you. My frustration is that I received the response to the freedom of information request only yesterday, and it politely tells me to - you know the two words I would use. It hides behind legal threats again, and we have had that in committees before. That is why we amended the committee's powers a long time ago to give it the strength to bring people in...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (21 Mar 2024)

Pat Buckley: Sick to the stomach is the way I described it when we listened to the witnesses. However, what was more terrifying about it was the way they were treated. Something like nine boats came out of this factory. It is similar to the national car test, NCT, and four of these boats practically failed the NCT and were allowed out. Nobody is being held responsible for that. That poor man spent...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (21 Mar 2024)

Pat Buckley: We should reiterate the possibility that there are three more ships out there, that families' lives are at stake and that nobody is doing anything about it.

Report of the Joint Committee on Autism: Motion (7 Mar 2024)

Pat Buckley: I thank the Minister of State for being here. The report contains 109 recommendations, but the committee probably could have made more. A great deal of work went into the report, which is a blueprint for how the services should be run. It tells the true life stories of the witnesses who appeared before the committee, provides details of the expert reviews and so on. This was probably the...