Results 1-20 of 688 for at speaker:Jennifer Whitmore

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Bus Services (16 May 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: ...disappointed. This Topical Issue was first scheduled for 23 April. The Minister was not available and I was asked whether I would postpone it until he was available, which was today. Unfortunately, he is not here. That is very disappointing. I want to discuss issues relating to BusConnects for Wicklow. I have a number of concerns. The primary one arises from reports that Go-Ahead...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Corporate Governance (14 May 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: I thank the Minister of State. I have a number of concerns about it. They may all be completely fine and not warranted, but there is no information on the Re-Turn website anywhere about the organisation, how it is structured, who the board of directors are or any of that information. When the Minister of State talks about transparency, it is not there at the moment. He talks about the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Corporate Governance (14 May 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: I would be interested, and the Minister of State might not have the figures now, in what the salaries of the staff are and whether there are any bonuses or salaries being provided to the directors. That is very important information. Regarding the revenues that are made by this not-for-profit company, they could actually be quite large. It has been estimated that from 1 February to this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Draft National Energy and Climate Plan: Discussion (14 May 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: This is a comment on the politics of it all. The message we are putting across, particularly outside Ireland, is that Ireland is a real leader when it comes to climate measures and climate action, but the reality is very different. What level of risk is there? My fear is that we will get to the end point and say we were not doing such a good job after all. People are not aware that we are...

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

Jennifer Whitmore: ...so this really important motion. I will cover both aspects of this motion today. Regarding elder care, in January the ESRI found the 74% of all nursing home beds were provided by private providers which is 14 operators providing 40% of all beds nationally. Those figures should have set off alarm bells in the Department regarding the consolidation of nursing home ownership, but...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 May 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: What is the Taoiseach's plan? What is he going to do? Clearly, Government policy is failing the men who are in tents, the communities where the tents are cropping up and the local businesses. What is the Government's plan and when is it going to implement it? What it has done to date is not good enough. The Social Democrats called for a full audit of IPAS and Ukrainian accommodation to...

Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Second Stage (30 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: I thank my colleague Deputy Gannon who has very strongly and adeptly described the flaws and gaps in this legislation, and indeed the trauma still experienced by so many survivors in the State. I want to talk about another group of men and women who deserve recognition and the support of the State but who have been completely ignored by it to date, namely the survivors of Westbank...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: I thank the Minister of State for coming in today. My daughter asked me to say "Thank you very much" on her behalf as she makes an absolute killing from returning bottles and cans, which also considerably reduces the amount of pocket money required from her parents. I want to raise the issue of disability proofing the new recycling machines. When the circular economy Bill was before the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: The best time to make them accessible was at the start. According to the Minister of State, the Government said it was to be an accessible machine, but it seems to me that Re-turn has not done that. What engagement will the Minister of State have with Re-turn to tell it it did not adhere to our guidance and statutory instrument and to ask it how it will rectify the situation? Going...

Gas (Amendment) Bill 2023: From the Seanad (24 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: I do not know how we have gone from this Bill that talks about the remit of Gas Networks Ireland to one that is now looking to transfer the functions relating to the Maritime Area Planning Act from the Minister for housing to the Minister for the Environment at the very last Stage. It seems extraordinary the Government is tacking on such a significant change without any discussion with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Ireland's Climate Change Assessment Report: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: I thank the witnesses for coming in today and for all of their work on this really important piece of work. It is great to see it come to fruition. I am trying to get a sense of where we are at the moment. It sometimes can be difficult to have that full picture. We try to get the balance right and do not wish to be overly negative as positive things are happening, such as very worthwhile...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Ireland's Climate Change Assessment Report: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: The difficulty is if we do not make those short-term changes, the impact will be much greater. It will be much harder to do at a later point. We backloaded a lot of the measures. When we are talking about the different pathways what I have the greatest difficulty with is that it is very difficult for those in the agricultural sector, for example, to see what changes they need to make...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Ireland's Climate Change Assessment Report: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: In the likes of transport, is part of the problem that we are bringing in the stick before the carrot? We have not invested in public transport, yet we are saying to people to get out of their cars. We have that balance wrong and we need to switch that around. We need to put in the public transport and have as many buses, even if they are not full because if the buses are provided, demand...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Traffic Management (23 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: 151. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if there are plans to deal with increased capacity for traffic at Bray train station in light of BusConnects proposals for the area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17306/24]

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: I wish to raise the issue of the EU migration pact. It is a highly controversial and complex issue. It took eight years for the EU to agree these proposals and yet only half a day has been set aside at the Joint Committee on Justice to hear them. If we compare that with the amount of time given to the controversy in RTÉ in two different committees, we can see the disparity. These...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: ...broken record when I address this issue. The Taoiseach is familiar with it. It is the 20 or so students in Greystones who do not have a secondary school place yet for September. We have been repeatedly told that a solution will be found for them. We are only five or six weeks away from secondary schools closing and the primary schools will close a few weeks later. These students do...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (11 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: There are approximately 20 children in the Greystones-Kilcoole area who are in sixth class at the moment and still do not have a secondary school place for September. Their sixth class year will finish in ten weeks' time. Their peers are getting their yearbooks ready, going to open days in their secondary schools and picking their subjects, but these children still have no idea where they...

Future Ireland Fund and Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund Bill 2024: Second Stage (10 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: I welcome the opportunity to participate in today's debate. I will focus primarily on the climate and nature fund component of the Bill. It is getting more and more difficult to read news reports on our climate crisis and keep an eye on what is happening in the media. It is getting progressively hellish when it comes to what we see globally and across this country. The state of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (9 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: 528. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update and estimated timeline for the development of a new school at (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14978/24]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (9 Apr 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: 529. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update and estimated timeline for the development of a new school at (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14979/24]