Results 81-100 of 193 for long speaker:Fintan Warfield

Seanad: Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second and Subsequent Stages (16 Jul 2021)

Fintan Warfield: ...plan is unworkable. I do not need to tell the House that young people put their lives on hold to protect older people and their families and friends. They did that to reduce the risk of getting long Covid, as the previous speaker outlined. Many of us have met or know people who have had to endure long Covid. Young people sacrificed their personal freedoms. They had to listen to...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Fintan Warfield: ...no obligation for An Bord Pleanála to consider Government policy. It needs only have regard to Government policies. If an order to comply under section 29(1) was given, An Bord Pleanála shall comply as long as the order is given before the planning application is lodged. The Minister should not leave the decision to chance when there are options available to make an airtight...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Fintan Warfield: ...which sought to link rent increases to inflation. On five separate occasions in the previous term, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil voted against rent certainty. This linking of rent reviews to inflation was a long battle between the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, and former Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan. The key change here,...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (2 Jul 2021)

Fintan Warfield: ..., and regions, and (b) set out the Ministers’ proposals and policies for supporting the workforce, employers and communities in those sectors, households, communities, and regions.”. We have had a long conversation about this in that this amendment seeks to put just transition policies and principles at the heart of the climate action plans. Climate action plans are...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (2 Jul 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I am disappointed the Minister will not accept either of these amendments. I know we have had a long discussion. I was here for it. I did not weigh in at the time, but it is outrageous the Bill does not contain a definition already.The original Bill also lacked a single mention of just transition. The version we have now mentions it but does not define what it actually is. I urge the...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Solar Panels for Public Buildings, Schools, Homes and Other Premises) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (28 Jun 2021)

Fintan Warfield: ...on the scale that we need them, but it is not sufficient. The other enabling factor, as we have spoken about, is the microgeneration support scheme and that it is fit for purpose. Many people have long-championed the roll-out of solar panels and microgeneration. A colleague of mine in the Dáil introduced a Microgeneration Support Scheme Bill, whereby suppliers would have to pay the...

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I move amendment No. 10: In page 4, line 32, to delete “(if any)”. I will not speak for long on this amendment. It is about removing the ambiguity that exists in this part of section 2 to make it more straightforward and clear. I look forward to the Minister's response.

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Jun 2021)

Fintan Warfield: ...reflection of what is happening by widening the number and scope of businesses which will be obligated to keep this information about their employees. I do not think this is a huge burden. In the long run it is important for us to have this data. We need a truer reflection of the inequality that exists in the workplace and I do not think we will have pushback from industry. We are...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Fintan Warfield: ...once the minimum cost-rental designation period comes to an end and that the Minister must revoke it, given the mandatory meaning of "shall" in section 39. The minimum period is at least as long as the cost calculation period of 40 years, which we have debated and in which respect amendments have been accepted. The provision in the Bill builds in what is essentially an automatic end to...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I still believe this undermines the long-term benefit of cost-rental. I am worried about the tenant who may have been in a property for 40 years. What will happen after that period?Will they face a market rent or, worse, eviction? Senator Higgins has spoken about international investors. There is no obligation on them to act in the interests of tenants, in contrast to AHBs. What will...

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2021: Second Stage (14 Jun 2021)

Fintan Warfield: ...data for future policy formation. Women predominantly take on more unpaid work than men, such as caring and household work. Women reduce their hours at a higher rate than men and spend nearly 60% longer than men on unpaid work per week, according to an EU study.Implementing gender pay gap reporting will raise awareness among employers, employees, policymakers and the wider public. The...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jun 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I move amendment No. 51: In page 15, to delete lines 5 to 7. The "long stop date" goes against the fundamental principles of affordable purchase or rent. If the initial equity is not recouped in 30 or 50 years, it effectively remains there as a charge for whenever the house is sold on. I would like to get the Minister of State's view on that. Is this amendment grouped with amendment No. 52?

Seanad: Right to Housing: Motion (4 Jun 2021)

Fintan Warfield: ...about meeting the needs of workers and families and fixing a catastrophic market failure, then we need to double capital investment from €1.4 billion to at least €2.8 billion. By public housing I mean social housing, affordable cost-rental, which Sinn Féin has long supported, and affordable cost-purchase, all on public land and delivered by local authorities, approved...

Seanad: Right to Housing: Motion (4 Jun 2021)

Fintan Warfield: ...Taoiseach gave a commitment in the Dáil on Wednesday to prevent that increase. However, let us be honest, we need to ban rent increases for three years because renters are being fleeced. Sinn Féin has long supported Home for Good and I commend its campaign. This Fianna Fáil motion calls for a right to housing to be inserted in the Constitution, but it is two years since...

Seanad: Right to Housing: Motion (4 Jun 2021)

Fintan Warfield: On a point of order, there is a long-standing tradition in this House that if a person is not here, he or she cannot be referred to.

Seanad: Right to Housing: Motion (4 Jun 2021)

Fintan Warfield: Nobody has sat here as long as I have.

Seanad: Young People: Motion (17 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: .... There is a major supply issue in the context of volunteers and the funding is not there to run many important programmes. Our amendment also refers to the student contribution charge. It has been a long-held demand of the left that student fees be reduced. The charge involves no small sum. People are more impatient having seen what can be done in terms of how the State can respond to...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Second Stage (17 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: .... Will the Minister agree annual targets for the delivery of cost rental and affordable purchase homes with every local authority and approved housing bodies, co-operatives and community housing trusts? Sinn Féin has long argued for affordable and cost rental homes. We need 8,000 affordable homes every year, of which 4,000 should be cost rental and 4,000 affordable purchase. The...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Mar 2021)

Fintan Warfield: Places such as the Pearse Museum in Rathfarnham and Kilmainham Jail in Dublin were long protected and saved by volunteers. Equally, the integrity of Moore Street has been maintained by street traders, working-class Dubliners and small business owners on that street. It has also been saved by campaigners and the relatives of the 1916 leaders. The men and women of Easter week restored our...

Seanad: Family Leave Bill 2021: Second Stage (12 Mar 2021)

Fintan Warfield: ...Minister on bringing this measure forward and giving it the priority it deserves. I did not come here to give a history lesson but to set out what happened because we need to learn the lessons of the past. Long after the photo shoots for marriage equality, people’s rights still need to be recognised and sometimes that costs money. Whether it is this issue or the ancillary...