Results 1-20 of 1,075 for long speaker:Brendan Howlin

Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (2 May 2024)

Brendan Howlin: ...in the Tánaiste's speech and I have not heard any compelling rationale for it. For example, the Secretary General of the Department of Justice is not a member of the Policing Authority. We had a long debate on oversight of An Garda Síochána. The Tánaiste indicated that the Secretary General of the Department of Defence would be there for reporting purposes. I am...

Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (2 May 2024)

Brendan Howlin: ...and to involve structured and fundamental change, underpinned by legislation. This is the first legislation that we have seen. I wonder why we only have the first legislation now after such a long period. The prescription has been laid out and accepted in the commission report that was endorsed by this House. We were able to deal with issues like Brexit with a comprehensive package of...

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (20 Mar 2024)

Brendan Howlin: ...become active agents to bring about a halt to the killing. I commend the comments of the Taoiseach in the United States last week coming in tandem with the remarks of Senator Chuck Schumer, a long-standing ally of Israel. I hope they had an impact in the US but I feel they will have no impact on the Netanyahu government. This week Europe must do more. Even the most ardent supporters...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Elections 2024, Voting Rights and Combating Disinformation: Discussion (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Brendan Howlin: How long is retention required of previously broadcast material? Is that enforced?

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: The Future of Local Democracy: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Brendan Howlin: ...there are so many different views. That is a perennial issue. If I may put it bluntly in this august Chamber, it is more like the discussions on Seanad reform that have been going on for as long as I have been here. Everyone is in favour of it but we cannot get around to agreeing on what reforms should be made. There are a few fundamentals in terms of local government. One is the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Elections 2024, Voting Rights and Combating Disinformation: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Feb 2024)

Brendan Howlin: ...but in all this I am hearing a broad picture of difficulty with the multimedia platforms we have now. How do we ensure people have objective fact but are entitled to say what they like, as long as it is not unlawful, in a democratic system, which is our big flaw in many ways? That gives them a broad terrain to peddle untruth, if that is their opinion. These are fundamental issues....

Second Anniversary of War in Ukraine: Statements (20 Feb 2024)

Brendan Howlin: ...caused him to invade his neighbour, Ukraine, and set out to remove that nation from existence, remains unabated. Well before his unlawful and brutal attack on Ukraine, Putin set out in an hour-long speech his dream of a new Russian empire, one to be achieved through coercion and conquest. His speech sees independent Ukraine reduced to a tributary State where any aspirations to nationhood...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Middle East (25 Jan 2024)

Brendan Howlin: I would first make it crystal clear that while the litany of abuse against the Palestinian people is decades long, shocking and horrible, there is no excuse whatever for the wanton murder carried out by Hamas on 7 October. My question is directly in relation to the provisional measures that will hopefully be announced tomorrow. One of the calls relating to those measures relates to an...

Tribunal of Inquiry into certain matters relating to the Complaints Processes in the Defence Forces: Motion (24 Jan 2024)

Brendan Howlin: I welcome the establishment of a tribunal of inquiry. It has been a long time coming. It comes due to the tireless and courageous work of the Women of Honour group, who have campaigned relentlessly and effectively to have this statutory inquiry put into place and who have been since joined by others, whom those of us who attended the briefing in the AV room yesterday heard. A tribunal of...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Asylum Seekers (23 Jan 2024)

Brendan Howlin: 421. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the supports available to enable international protection applicants, long-time resident in direct provision centres, to undertake courses of study to acquire skills that will be useful to enable them to find employment if their applications are approved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2440/24]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union: Ambassador of Belgium to Ireland (17 Jan 2024)

Brendan Howlin: ...feasible that they will all be concluded in advance of the end of the mandate of this current European Parliament? In particular, if I may, I want to ask about Africa, in which I have had an interest for a long time. Ms Van Vlierberge made reference to working closely with the EU's African partners. My view on this, having followed political relations between Europe and Africa very...

Neutrality: Motion [Private Members] (28 Nov 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...shocking. The other issue raised by the motion, on which most of the speakers tonight have focused, is the sudden and surprising announcement by the Tánaiste to this House last week about the abandonment of the long-standing triple-lock arrangement for the deployment of Irish military personnel overseas. While the Tánaiste's announcement surprised us, the reason behind it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors Annual Report 2022: Discussion (22 Nov 2023)

Brendan Howlin: I welcome Mr. Murphy and his team back to the committee. Mr. Murphy presented a very large array of material. I have a long list of questions I could ask, but in deference to the committee, I will be as focused as possible. The overall budget expenditure being presented is €196 billion in 2022, which is 2.5% of GNI of member states. When looking at a company, most auditors...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...Noonan, for his indulgence. I wanted to make a few comments on the legislation before the House and the fact that this is the product of a new entity, the Electoral Commission, that we have been long promised and has been long talked about. It is great to actually have it in existence. All other electoral boundaries that were presented, and by convention passed without amendment, were...

Escalation of Violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (14 Nov 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ..., Al-Shifa, is today reported to be burying scores of dead patients in a mass grave. The hospital's administrator Mohammed Abu Salmiya said that bodies are littered across the complex and there is no longer electricity in the morgues. He said that so far 179 bodies have been buried, including those of seven babies and 20 ICU patients. The UN has stated that 10,000 people are in the...

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements (8 Nov 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...been in the West Bank on land they have owned, forced out both by settlers and the Israeli military, is a shocking additional crime. We on this island know full well that in Yeats's words: Too long a sacrifice Can make a stone of the heart. We are watching a great horror. We know that in every community, every village and every meeting we go to and every time we look at our emails,...

Home Care Workers and Home Support Scheme: Motion [Private Members] (8 Nov 2023)

Brendan Howlin: I compliment my colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, on his long advocacy for home care workers and home care support, and for tabling the motion. No Member of this House has not struggled with difficult cases from constituents desperate to continue living at home or families desperate to have loved ones come home from long-term hospital care, only to be told again and again that there is no home...

Extension of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021: Motion (7 Nov 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...and there is no difficulty with it. The difficulty is that this is the fifth time we have been asked, in essence, to extend a provision, which no matter what way you slice it and dice it, is no longer fit for purpose. As the Leas-Cheann Comhairle knows, I like to read Bills and their Long Titles, and I take my legislative duties seriously. This is a motion under the Civil Law...

Situation in the Middle East and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Statements (18 Oct 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...close to success, as in the Oslo Accords. None, however, succeeded in providing a lasting resolution to the legitimate requirements for an independent and sustainable Palestinian state existing alongside an independent and secure Israel. In all the decades, Palestinian people have yearned for their own homeland, a deep-seated yearning that the people of the Irish nation know full well....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Unlocking EU Funding: Discussion (18 Oct 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...something that I think we should look at and we should make that case in our discussions with Brussels. Senator Keogan has gone and I do not want to steal her thunder but she has advocated for a very long time to have EU officers in every local authority. Quite frankly, the regional assemblies are too diverse, large and disparate from most organisations on the ground. I am sure people...