Results 1-20 of 103 for long speaker:Garret Ahearn

Seanad: Court Proceedings (Delays) Bill 2023: Second Stage (20 Mar 2024)

Garret Ahearn: ...Minister and his officials are very welcome to the Chamber. The Bill will be supported by Fine Gael Members. I am here on behalf of Senator Ward, who cannot be present. I will not speak for too long because my voice is almost gone as well. I welcome the Bill. As Senator Gallagher said, it is important legislation that is coming through to speed up, in a timely manner, court...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Feb 2024)

Garret Ahearn: .... Carrick-on-Suir in Tipperary has been selected and given priority. Each local authority will have a person who is in charge of making sure that those jobs are completed on time. For as long as I have been alive, there has always been a feeling in Carrick-on-Suir of the town being neglected by politicians and the Government. In the past 12 months, that is no longer the case for...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Road Projects (14 Feb 2024)

Garret Ahearn: ...has prioritised Tipperary town and its bypass. I am asking for nothing different from what the Minister has done. The Dunkettle roundabout opened this week. That is really positive but it took a long time to get to construction. The Frank Drohan Road is a car park for most of the day. It is no different to the M50 at 5 p.m. It is just a smaller road, obviously, but in terms of...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Jan 2024)

Garret Ahearn: We have succeeded. It has taken a long fight but I will now start another fight. It has not got funding to continue to design stage yet. That needs approval by the Minister for Transport. It needs to be prioritised as quickly as possible. As the Leader knows, that route is divided into two sections, one of which is from Limerick Junction to Cahir. That is in design stage at the moment...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Jan 2024)

Garret Ahearn: ...need to understand the challenges that businesses have and to recognise that there are things we can do. Something I said on the radio yesterday, and we really need to focus on it, is that in the long term - and there are short-term things we can do - we need to be realistic about our VAT rate and recognise that there are different areas. We cannot justify having a 9% VAT rate for hotels...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Shoplifting: Discussion (13 Dec 2023)

Garret Ahearn: What Mr. Dunne is essentially saying is a couple of weeks is not long enough to see if this is working.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Facilities (7 Dec 2023)

Garret Ahearn: I thank the Minister of State for his response, much of which related to the capital funding for developments. That is important in the long term. In regard to his response on school meals, he said the Department is going to liaise with the school with respect to its application. I thank him for that. The principal himself is willing to meet with either the Minister for Education or the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (7 Dec 2023)

Garret Ahearn: ..., Ms Aisling Kilroy and Ms Nuala Hickey came to meet the Minister. The meeting was about Irish Water and water services in Clonmel. It is a huge issue for businesses. Essentially there is a long-term plan which will be to use the River Suir to bring new water into the town but that is a 15-year plan. In between that Irish Water is making short- to medium-term changes in Clonmel. I...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Nov 2023)

Garret Ahearn: ...these are payments that seemingly the Opposition did not think were worthwhile for these groups of people.It will be very welcome coming on the back of what has already been announced in the budget. It will go a long way to cushioning the challenges the cost-of-living crisis has created for those groups. Does the Leader agree that these payments, between now and Christmas and afterwards...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Skills and Supports Required for Businesses to Meet Decarbonisation Targets: Discussion (8 Nov 2023)

Garret Ahearn: ...is doing. I see it my own county of Tipperary and in Clonmel in particular, and in the agricultural sector. We have targets to hit and informing and educating companies is really important in the long run. I am sure that Skillnet does not have enough staff to meet every single company to get targets to be hit by 2030. That is pretty much impossible. For those 250 companies, what is...

Seanad: Control of Exports Bill 2023: Second Stage (3 Oct 2023)

Garret Ahearn: ...of not supporting businesses through some of the biggest impacts we have experienced in the history of the State. If we can do that in the forthcoming budget, as we have done in previous budgets, it will go a long way in protecting the economy and protecting everyone who is employed in this country. While the Minister of State is here, one of the issues about which I hear quite a lot-----

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (11 Jul 2023)

Garret Ahearn: ...only from now that people will be able to receive this significant grant. The argument I and the businesses are making is that businesses that made these changes in the past year were correct to do so, if we take the long view and given the financial advantage, but they have missed out on a grant. This scheme should be available to them and should be backdated to when the TBESS commenced...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Personal Public Service Numbers (31 May 2023)

Garret Ahearn: ...work permits done, and to get people over as quickly as possible. You think you are over all of the hoops once you have gone through work permits and visas only to find out you are waiting a long time for a PPS number. Obviously, people cannot work in that time. They cannot open a bank account. People who are meant to be starting work in hospitality in Tipperary have been waiting three...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Personal Public Service Numbers (31 May 2023)

Garret Ahearn: ...not with Ukrainians, Irish citizens and newborns. Everything is on time, except for people who are coming here from outside of Europe, applying for a work permit and then for a visa and waiting a long time for a PPS number. I welcome the fact the Minister of State and the Department are looking to streamline the work permits and visas going forward. The work done already in speeding up...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (31 May 2023)

Garret Ahearn: ...for four years if it has not been claimed already. People can get back a significant amount of money. The reason I ask for a debate on it is that the scheme has not been updated or reviewed in a long time. There are discrepancies in it that need to be changed. To give some examples, teachers can claim flat-rate expenses where they can claim back a couple of hundred euro a year over the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Strategy and Impact on Disabled Persons in the Workplace: Discussion (Resumed) (17 May 2023)

Garret Ahearn: ...a very interesting one and half hours, discussing autism and learning about it from AsIAm, to become a parliament that is autism aware. We should be doing that if we are developing policy. On long-term employment, an initiative that has been quite successful in Scotland is to reserve contracts for companies that employ a certain percentage of people with disabilities. There are...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2023)

Garret Ahearn: ...it is hugely good news. I was speaking to the superintendent there and he has confirmed his team in Clonmel of this and they are overwhelmed and thrilled that this is happening. It has been a long time coming but we have got there in the end. This could not have happened without the intervention of the Minister, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Covid-19 Pandemic (11 May 2023)

Garret Ahearn: .... Some hospitals continue to impose restrictions on maternity services, citing Covid as the reason. Given the recent announcement by the World Health Organization, the pandemic should no longer impact maternity care. Women in pregnancy should always have an advocate for them there while they are going through the maternity ward. The problem we have is that every hospital is treating...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Engagement with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (10 May 2023)

Garret Ahearn: ...30%, whereas most of our European partners are in the low to mid-50s. It is about what we can do and what the Department’s role is in encouraging businesses to take on people with disabilities long term. I have done a bit of work with the national learning network, and there are many connections between it and businesses to encourage people into the workplace. However, it is...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Business Supports (4 May 2023)

Garret Ahearn: ...couple of days ago, how the wholesale costs of energy have dramatically reduced, but the costs on businesses and homeowners have not reduced to the same level at all yet. It is quite striking how long that takes, when one looks at how quickly costs went up. The reason I ask the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications to look into this matter is that is a long-term...