Results 81-100 of 1,140 for cork speaker:Michael Collins

Our Rural Future Policy: Statements (14 Jun 2023)

Michael Collins: ...opening speech and I had to pinch myself as the rural Ireland I live in is totally different from the one the she spoke about. Yes, there are a few green shoots but they are few. Funding for west Cork has been little and spread well apart. Our roads in west Cork are totally under-funded. Two bypasses in Bandon lie undone for decades. A bypass of Inishannon and Bantry lies undone....

Retained Fire Services: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (13 Jun 2023)

Michael Collins: ...Public Gallery but who have walked out in disgust at the Minister's speech which was shocking, after promising that he would come forward with something tonight. I thank the firefighters in west Cork, Schull, Castletownbere, Bantry, Dunmanway, Bandon, Kinsale and Skibbereen. The fire station in Clonakilty is run down and is in a shocking state, but that is another day's argument. ...

Home Ownership: Motion [Private Members] (31 May 2023)

Michael Collins: ...and time again, I stand here talking about planning permission but the Government has not done anything about planning policy. It is getting more and more difficult for young people in my constituency of Cork South-West to get planning permission. They are continuously refused because the book says the State is totally against the local person getting a bit of local planning. That is...

Respite Care Services: Motion [Private Members] (30 May 2023)

Michael Collins: ...for her daughter's life. Sadly, Ava has passed away. I have stayed good friends with Vera. I was talking to her only two weeks ago. She was in a desperate fight again for her daughter's life at Cork University Hospital, CUH. The lack of respite services has taken a heavy toll on families caring for relatives with disabilities, exacerbating their struggles during the pandemic. As...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 May 2023)

Michael Collins: The condition of roads in west Cork is in an appalling state. As we head into June, I have people from Castletownbere, Skibbereen, Clonakilty, Bandon and Schull telling me that they have had serious damage done to their cars due to shocking roads. Almost three years ago, Cork County Council carried out an independent report, by the All-Ireland Research Observatory, AIRO. It proved the...

Government Commitments on Offshore Renewable Energy: Motion (Resumed) (24 May 2023)

Michael Collins: ...Minister of State would pass on the message to him that it is important to listen to both sides of an argument. I am not against offshore wind energy but have concerns for my fellow fishermen in Cork South-West who have asked me to relay the concerns there. Have they been properly consulted or will this be a diktat from the top telling them where they can and cannot fish in their own...

Access to Autism and Disability Assessments and Supports: Motion [Private Members] (24 May 2023)

Michael Collins: Disability services for adults and children are severely lacking across the entire country, nowhere more so than in rural communities in my constituency of Cork West. A lack of psychological, occupational therapy, OT, speech and language, home support, respite and residential care services are some of the problems faced by my constituents year in, year out. The occupational therapist in the...

Hospital Waiting Lists: Motion [Private Members] (23 May 2023)

Michael Collins: ...Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. Waiting lists are scandalous. It is scandalous that people are suffering as a result of waiting lists. I have a double amputee in a hospital in west Cork who cannot go home because they cannot get home help, so it is in every area of health that the Government has failed the people. The previous Government collapsed on the basis of the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: ...97,000 of these are children. When the additional 243,000 people waiting for CT, MRI or ultrasound scans are added, it takes us way over 1 million people on waiting lists. This weekend, three buses will leave Cork and Kerry, taking people on waiting lists, some of whom have been waiting nearly five years, for operations in Belfast under the cross-Border scheme. Many of these people are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: ...travelling by car, passing Bantry General Hospital after 8 p.m. every night, because the accident and emergency department there is closed and having a to travel 120 or 130 miles to a bottleneck at Cork University Hospital? How can he stand over a mental health service that is losing beds in west Cork? How can he stand over people of more than 80 years of age travelling to Northern...

Targeted Investment in the Health Service: Motion [Private Members] (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: This is an important motion, which I fully support. Down through the years we have fought bravely to keep services in Bantry General Hospital which looks after the people of Cork South-West and south Kerry and does so excellently. I pay tribute to the hospital staff. However, we are fighting to keep services there. We are fighting every day of the week to have endoscopy and stroke units...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Revitalising Derelict and Vacant Homes on Farmland: Discussion (17 May 2023)

Michael Collins: I thank the witnesses for attending. Housing in rural Ireland has always been a major difficulty. All politicians know that there are issues with planning. What we find in west Cork is that young people are being refused planning permission in rural areas because of considerations relating to the scenic landscape and this, that and the other. It seems to us that the planning policies that...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: ...the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address the issue regarding almost 60 school projects being on hold due to funding issues including a school (details supplied) in Bantry, County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23209/23]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: Almost 60 school building projects are on hold due to funding issues. One of the schools affected is Coomhola national school, Bantry, west Cork. The Minister might be able to outline when work will commence on the school's new classrooms.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: I thank the Minister for her reply. In 2020, the school in Coomhola, which is north of Bantry in west Cork, was approved for the building of a new classroom to replace two Portakabins, which are very unsuitable for long-term use as classrooms. As we know, Portakabins are cold and very damp in winter and too hot during warm weather. In August 2022, I wrote the Department on behalf of the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: ...two cold and damp classrooms in Portakabins. I accept there is movement but it has been three years and now it looks like it could be four years. This is not acceptable to the people of west Cork. They should not be treated like second-class citizens. I appeal to the Minister to give me a date for when the works will start and end.

Planning and Rural Housing: Motion [Private Members] (10 May 2023)

Michael Collins: Planning laws in rural areas are put together to make sure people are refused planning. That is the situation I find for many of my constituents in Cork South-West. Young couples starting off are being refused planning all over west Cork and other areas. Scenic landscape is thrown in as one of the excuses. Someone says, "Oh, you are coming out onto the N71 even though there are five...

Construction Safety Licensing Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (4 May 2023)

Michael Collins: ...every day of the week. Recently, one company told me that while it welcomes the new temporary waiver of development levies, small companies are in a precarious position. One of them is in west Cork. It commenced construction of more than 30 houses in County Cork in the past 12 months. The houses are being constructed in two phases, with eight substantially complete and 24 due to...

Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (26 Apr 2023)

Michael Collins: ...in the purchase of fertiliser in Ireland in comparison with the UK. Then, from one province to another and one county to another, there are huge price differences also. In my constituency, Cork South-West, many farmers are angered with me that I was not able to put up the fight to force someone to make some change, with farmers at that time paying maybe €300 extra for a pallet of...

Rent Reduction Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (26 Apr 2023)

Michael Collins: ...in rural Ireland because young people applying for planning permission are continuously refused. It is outrageous how they have been refused the length and breadth of my constituency in west Cork. There is no problem with sky-rise housing anywhere else, but in west County Cork, you cannot get planning permission for the smallest house anywhere you want to put it.