Results 1-20 of 995 for at speaker:Martin Browne

Committee on Public Petitions: Business of Joint Committee (16 May 2024)

Martin Browne: Apologies have been received from Senator Gerard Craughwell. I welcome Deputy Colm Brophy, who has been formally nominated to join this committee to replace the Minister of State, Deputy Emer Higgins. I thank Deputy Higgins for all her hard work with the committee and wish her all the best in her new role as Minister of State with responsibility for business, employment and retail at the...

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

Martin Browne: I want to ask a couple of quick questions. The first is for the Department. Is there no way it can work with the SEC to ensure there is reasonable accommodation for dyslexic students in State examinations at junior certificate and leaving certificate stage? Would it not be expedient for the Department to develop a policy framework to fast-track the provision of extra time for such...

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

Martin Browne: I am looking at the specific section with the clear recommendation for the introduction of additional time.

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

Martin Browne: I have a couple of questions. It was stated earlier that will be extensive consultation and engagement with as broad a range of stakeholders as possible, including young people with special educational needs, their families and representatives. The SEC is finalising the terms of reference. What timeframe is it looking at to finish that?

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

Martin Browne: Does the Department look at the exam scores for those who get assistance compared with those who do not? To be certain if something is working, I presume this would inform the process in the future. Will the witnesses outline if it is included in any of the assessments that are done?

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (16 May 2024)

Martin Browne: The next item is the consideration of public petitions. I propose that the petitions that are considered by the committee at this meeting and during previous meetings are published and that the replies from the Departments and other bodies may also be published. Is that agreed? Agreed. We have four petitions for consideration today, the first of which is P00021/24, which is titled "4...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (16 May 2024)

Martin Browne: Yes. The responses from both Departments have indicated that now is not the right time. It might be worth following up with them about whether they have considered when the right time would be. Also, to run a pilot programme like this, one would probably need more follow-up than just the likes of the public body because there would be fundamental changes. Are the recommendations agreed?...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (16 May 2024)

Martin Browne: That concludes our consideration of public petitions for this afternoon. I invite members of the public to submit petitions via our online portal, which is available at petitions.oireachtas.ie. A petition may be addressed to the Houses of the Oireachtas on a matter of general public concern or interest or on an issue of public policy. We will move on to any other business. Do members have...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (16 May 2024)

Martin Browne: Before we go, I thank Leo Bollins for stepping in for Martha Dowling for the past couple of meetings. I wish Martha all the best. She is recuperating from a cold. I also thank Alex Alino, Barbara Hughes, Ciaran McConway and all of the rest of the secretariat staff who do a great deal of work here on our behalf. As we say at the end of every meeting, "Thank you and well done".

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Nursing Homes (9 May 2024)

Martin Browne: As I mentioned earlier in the Chamber, plans have been announced to repurpose the new community care nursing unit in Nenagh. The decision to change it from a public facility to a privately run stepdown facility, in order to take pressure off UHL, is a prime example of robbing Peter to pay Paul and moving the deckchairs around. Again, it is the elderly in the area who will suffer. It...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Nursing Homes (9 May 2024)

Martin Browne: On the Minister of State's last point, 50 patients will come from UHL to the new unit. Twenty patients in the existing St. Conlon's facility are waiting to move into the kind of facility that the Minister of State is talking about. They will be left in the old St. Conlon's. I did not give the impression that HIQA turned down St. Conlon's. All I said was that HIQA had previously reported...

Challenges Facing the Childcare and Nursing Home Sectors: Motion [Private Members] (9 May 2024)

Martin Browne: I want to speak on the Government’s appalling attitude towards the elderly in this country. I am speaking against the backdrop of the suggested repurposing of the new community nursing home in Nenagh as a step-down facility to take the pressure off University Hospital Limerick, caused by Government failures. I am also speaking in the wake of the repurposing of St. Brigid’s...

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

Martin Browne: ...members in. In the Plan for Places report published in June 2022, the Office of Ombudsman for Children focused on forward planning and the provision for school places for children with special educational needs. What is the office's current view on how the provisions for these schools are organised each year, because we get it every year? It is like the school buses. It is absolutely...

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

Martin Browne: Therefore, I take it there is nothing happening with that strategy at all at this stage.

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

Martin Browne: It has no role at all.

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

Martin Browne: I agree. Those who have settled and integrated in communities over the past two or three years are now being told they will be moved. At this stage children have integrated in sports' clubs and parents are involved in tidy towns committees. To speak about moving them sounds crazy. The office's three-year strategic plan ends this year. What are the post-Covid strategic priorities for...

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

Martin Browne: Not at all. Deputy Buckley never makes mistakes.

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (9 May 2024)

Martin Browne: I propose that the petitions considered by the committee at this meeting and previous meetings may be published, and that the replies from the Departments and other bodies may also be published. Is that agreed? Agreed. We have four petitions for consideration. The first is petition No. P00033/21. It is from Mr. Cormac McKay and it is a call for a citizens' assembly on the Irish justice...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (9 May 2024)

Martin Browne: To be fair to the petitioner, he is not against the policy change itself, it is just that families that have been living in Ireland, who have been contributing, will be affected by the new €39,000 limit. He is just asking that the Minister would look again at the proposal and would perhaps put in a clause addressing their case. Next is No. P00033/24, “Toxic Fumes on Aer...

Committee on Public Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (9 May 2024)

Martin Browne: Additional stuff came through last night. We have not had time to go through it so we will look at it and come back.