Results 81-100 of 392 for long speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Nov 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...line having to answer questions from the families and deal with the tough conversations, is because of the Government's recruitment embargo. This is madness. It will cost the State more money in the long run. I ask the Leader to again make representations to the Minister for Health outlining the stupidity of this policy, the impact it is having in places like Donegal and across this...

Seanad: Inquiry into the Death of Shane O'Farrell: Statements (20 Nov 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I met Ms Lucia O'Farrell and her husband, James, when I was Sinn Féin spokesperson on justice many years ago. I will never forget that meeting. As a long-standing Deputy, the Minister for Justice and Equality will appreciate that some meetings with families that have been through unspeakable grief are harrowing. My memory of that meeting is that the family had been destroyed by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill: Discussion (13 Nov 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ..., Ms Dunne said a lot of things - without being asked - that were reassuring, but I would like to have more on that. Ms Dunne referred to six to nine months' duration. Nine months seems to be a long time for a seasonal permit, given that it may be getting renewed annually. I would like some further clarity on that. Perhaps I could get answers to these first and then pose another...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Nov 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...about the shocking set of circumstances and failure of the criminal justice systems, North and South, that led to the failures which culminated in Shane's death. I met Shane's mother and father not long after his death. I was a Deputy and justice spokesperson for my party at the time. I will never forget the devastation inflicted on that family, particularly his mother, Lucia. This is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Unfair Trading Practices: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...break the mould and examples are emerging of sustainable farming practices. My frustration, however, is that the European Union farming model goes against the interests of rural communities in the long term and we are starting to see that unravel. I am interested in what Ms Tacon said about subsidising people who adopt good, sustainable, environmental practice rather than meeting an...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Accommodation Provision (3 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...appointing new personnel. The embargo has to be waived in Letterkenny. The Minister is watching as large numbers of people, many of whom are elderly, have to wait in the emergency department for long periods before being placed on trolleys. There is a wider issue in the county. Over the past ten years, our community hospitals have lost one in four of their beds and one in four of their...

Seanad: Beef Sector: Statements (3 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...is a subsidy for the meat factories and the multiple retailers to keep prices low. A number of images from the recent beef protests educated and enlightened the wider public, something that was long overdue. One was of the 20% farmers and primary producers received compared to the percentage for the meat factories and the major retailers which are the power players in the sector but...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition Law and Trade Associations: Discussion (1 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...and profits across the meat chain from processing to retail. People do not believe that there is transparency. Various Oireachtas Members have produced Bills on transparency in recent weeks. As long as I have been a public representative, which is almost 18 years, the feedback I have always got from people involved in various parts of the agriculture sector is that they are like David...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition Law and Trade Associations: Discussion (1 Oct 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: .... The terms of reference - the framework the commission has been given as an authority - are not fit for the purpose of addressing the range of issues that have led to the crisis, which has been long coming. Am I correct that Mr. O'Leary would acknowledge that his authority, with its current legal framework, is not appropriate for addressing the range of issues we face and that there is,...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Sep 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I will place on record a profound failure of policing in my home county of Donegal. I have agreed with the victim's family that I will give this brief account. There is a long-established housing development in a town in Donegal. A number of years ago, two persons moved into a house in the development, one of whom, a man, has a long criminal record and has been convicted of dealing drugs...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Sep 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: -----that I have seen incontrovertible video evidence. I accept the guidance of the Cathaoirleach. I will wrap up. I thought long and hard before I decided to read this into the record. The whole community in the area in question is asking why this criminal thug, who violently assaulted a pensioner, has not been arrested. The pensioner in question was taken to a Garda station yesterday....

Seanad: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (26 Jun 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...right to strike but, rather, to have recourse to the industrial relations apparatus of the State to resolve issues. I hope the Minister of State will agree to address our concerns in legislation before too long.

Seanad: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2018: Second Stage (19 Jun 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ..., to amend the Industrial Relations Act 1990 to allow just members of An Garda Síochána and their representative associations to access the State's industrial relations mechanisms, namely, the WRC and the Labour Court. Gardaí have waited too long to be allowed access to the industrial relations mechanisms of the State resulting in internal disputes escalating due to no...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Schools Building Projects Status (21 May 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...prefab buildings are completely unacceptable. There are dilapidated conditions on the outside and leaks in the home economics room, for example. Facilities have been completely inadequate for a long time. Young people are crowded in together. The physical education, PE, facilities are utterly unacceptable by modern standards. There is no storage space. They can only avail of two of...

Seanad: Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (26 Mar 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...in this and helping them to develop their industry. It is completely perplexed as to why on the one hand he has a strategy for the next number of years to try to grow our inshore fishery potential at long last, while on the other hand he does not fully address the concerns that this sector has before he pushes this legislation forward. I will also put on record that there is a man...

Seanad: Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Mar 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Come on now. The Leas-Chathaoirleach should let people speak for as long as they need to.

Seanad: Update on Implementation of National Forestry Programme: Statements (27 Feb 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...Minister of State to the House. The planting of large areas of land with trees, driven by grant aid and annual payments to landowners, has to be examined for its overall impact on communities and long-term impact on the land and the environment. The reason for very generous Government assistance for forestry is to encourage it as a means of reaching our commitments on climate change, as...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Services for People with Disabilities (5 Feb 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...to year, faced with massive demands of fundraising. Both organisations have achieved a great deal. They have great support in the community but, frankly, they have been taken for granted for far too long. If funding is not confirmed by the Minister of State today, urgent intervention is needed to secure that funding as soon as possible. As we are now into 2019, we need confirmation - I...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Services for People with Disabilities (5 Feb 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I acknowledge the Minister of State's long campaign for families with loved ones with disabilities and for persons with disabilities. He has personal knowledge of being a carer so he will understand more than most just how frustrating the situation has been. I will again tell the story of iCare, which I know so well because it is based in my home town of Buncrana. It has been in operation...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Mica Redress Scheme (20 Dec 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...tell the Minister of State many more stories if I had the time. What has happened is heartbreaking and devastating. The Mica Action Group is a group of affected families who have campaigned long and hard. They are inspirational people. Their work led to the expert panel report which concluded its work in June 2017, one and a half years ago. It made firm recommendations and, having...