Results 1-20 of 2,207 for at speaker:Louise O'Reilly

Delivering Universal Healthcare: Statements (15 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I will not say I listened with amusement, but I listened with one eyebrow raised to Deputies talking about what happened in 2009. You would nearly think the accident and emergency departments closed themselves when we know it was the Minister's party, Fianna Fáil, that closed them. They did not close on their own, as appears to have been suggested. I also listened to the Minister's...

Ceisteanna Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (15 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: High-performance computing is at the core of the fourth industrial revolution and is central to growing the Irish economy and securing next-generation foreign direct investment, FDI. Under the watch of An Taoiseach when he was higher education Minister, Ireland's national supercomputer, known as Kay, reached the end of its life last November without a new supercomputer to takes its place....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Businesses: Discussion (15 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I thank our guests for the information they have given us. This is one of a series of engagements we are having on this subject. I am sure I will not be the only one to say it this morning but the more we know, the more we realise what we do not know. That does not mean we are not interested. It is an issue that the committee is taking a particular interest in, which is very welcome, and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Businesses: Discussion (15 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: The witnesses referred to jobs that are skilled or semi-skilled. That is grand. However, for people who have an app on their phone, which is all that guides their day, the witnesses will understand the fear of that app being somehow empowered to hire and fire without any human interaction. While I respect what the witnesses are saying and understand where they are coming from, let us be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Businesses: Discussion (15 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I have one other question. I am conscious that my time is tight and I do not think I will have a chance to come back in again because I will have to leave after this. I have to chair a thing at IBEC. I wish to speak briefly about the importance of high-performance computing in co-ordinating cutting-edge research, developing AI, etc. Do our guests know that Ireland's national...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Businesses: Discussion (15 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I would like to see the evidence linking that to improvements in living standards. Certainly, we will find ourselves in an increasingly difficult place until that supercomputer is replaced. The Chair is telling me that my time is up, so I will leave it at that.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Primary Care Centres (14 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: 663. To ask the Minister for Health what services are currently provided in Balbriggan primary care centre; what additional services are planned to be introduced; when a full range of services will be provided at Balbriggan primary care centre, including phlebotomy, x-ray and other; how many WTE staff are working at the centre and how many WTE vacancies there are, in tabular form; and if he...

Progressing Special Education Provision: Statements (9 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: Who I am hoping is on his way. I will hold the time anyway until my colleague gets here; half of it is mine. I listened with some interest - I know she is not here now - to the Minister of State's backbench colleague absolutely decrying the cut her own Government made to summer provision. The irony of that is not lost on me, nor will it be lost on the parents of kids with special needs in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Small Companies Administrative Rescue Process: Discussion (8 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I thank the witnesses for coming in and sharing the information with us. It is an issue we have discussed. Even when we are not directly discussing it, it comes up a lot, so the presentation has been useful. I have a couple of questions and if follow-up is needed, we can engage again afterwards. The first relates to the number of businesses that are failing. Deloitte insolvency and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Small Companies Administrative Rescue Process: Discussion (8 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: That brings me to my next question. It relates to the debt warehousing scheme which, as we know, ended last Wednesday. Some 55,000 companies still owe Revenue a total of €1.65 billion under this scheme. How many companies have not engaged with Revenue in this regard? We know that some are engaging. It is not necessarily that people have their heads in the sand. They may be trying...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Small Companies Administrative Rescue Process: Discussion (8 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: On companies that have only recently engaged, do they have a caseworker appointed directly to them? Clearly, there is an issue if somebody has not engaged or they are only picking up the phone or sending an e-mail at this stage. What kind of supports are there for each individual business? How is that structured?

Report of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Motion (2 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I thank our Chairperson, Deputy Quinlivan, and the secretariat staff of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment for all of their work on this report. In a time of climate change and energy insecurity, there is an opportunity for industry and coastal communities, working together, to develop a new industrial sector supporting regional development, creating thousands of...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (2 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: Last week, I was contacted by the parents of a girl with autism who lives in Skerries. They were one of 32 families in my area to receive the devastating news that their child will not have a place in the ASD unit in the Educate Together primary school in September. This morning, I spoke to the girl's mother and to say she is devastated is an understatement. She is heartbroken, the same as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Role and Operation of the Health and Safety Authority: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I thank the Chair. I hope he was not looking at me when he was issuing that warning.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Role and Operation of the Health and Safety Authority: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I am only joking. I wish everyone a good morning. I thank the witnesses for the evidence provided and for the work they do. I have had first-hand experience of dealing with their organisation. The staff were always efficient. They are good at what they do, and it is very necessary. I have a couple of questions. I will try to relate them to the points in the authority's submission if...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Role and Operation of the Health and Safety Authority: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: I thank Mr. Cullen. Point 19 relates to something that is a bit of a bugbear of mine. I refer to advance notice inspections. Are there specific sectors that will always get notice? I appreciate that the witnesses are saying they sometimes have to give notice and cannot be jumping out of the back of a van all the time. I am just wondering whether it is always in the one sector. What...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Role and Operation of the Health and Safety Authority: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: Okay. I move to points 24 and 25 on staffing. Will the officials give me a breakdown of how many of their total staff count are dedicated to carrying out inspections? They can express that as a whole-time equivalent or whatever way they want. A 14% vacancy rate was alluded to. That is not a small number given the seriousness of the work. Will the officials give us a breakdown of what...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Role and Operation of the Health and Safety Authority: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: What is the difference? Is it career prospects and salary? Is it just the baseline salary and conditions? I am sure the conditions in the public service in respect of pensions, etc., are similar and comparable with a decent employer in the private sector. At what point does difference arise? What is Mr. O'Brien talking in terms of salary?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Role and Operation of the Health and Safety Authority: Discussion (1 May 2024)

Louise O'Reilly: What is the breakdown between the more traditional health and safety issues versus this issue, which we can safely call a non-traditional health and safety issue, although one that is very much part of the health and safety and welfare at work? I am not looking for a definite figure but rather Mr. O'Brien's sense on it.