Results 101-120 of 251 for long speaker:Michael McNamara

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Heritage Sites (26 May 2021)

Michael McNamara: ...architecture, when there is existing architecture of world merit it should be preserved. I am not suggesting that one builds a fauxreplica of it in any way, as once it is gone it is gone. There was for a very long time, and perhaps even now, a lack of awareness on the part of Dublin City Council of the importance of preserving what is there. Returning to the main topic, a new list is...

Nursing Home Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Michael McNamara: Like previous speakers I commend the Minister of State for bringing this legislation before the House. Sometimes one marvels at how resistant the system is to change and how long it takes to achieve change. When someone does bring a measure before the Dáil that changes the system, albeit long argued for and long promised, they are to be commended. I commend the Minister of State,...

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements (31 Mar 2021)

Michael McNamara: ...emerge and immune evasion reduces vaccination effectiveness in the short and medium term." It concluded: "Using stop-start general confinement as the main response to the Covid-19 pandemic is no longer feasible." That is a hugely different approach to the approach we are taking at present. We are hoping that vaccination will be the magic bullet. It is fair to say that we are less...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Irish Aviation Authority (24 Mar 2021)

Michael McNamara: 316. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason, after the long and detailed negotiations with the IAA employee staff panel on the rescue of the deficit in the IAA staff superannuation scheme which resulted in LCR19713 (2010), this major industrial relations agreement was misleadingly represented by the IAA to his Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and...

Young People and Access to Further and Higher Education: Motion [Private Members] (11 Mar 2021)

Michael McNamara: ...certificate as it is and allowing people into first year would be a panacea is not necessarily the case. In certain professions, people are expected to work for nothing or next to nothing for a very long time, and are supported by their parents. That is open to some people in society but not to the vast majority. It is a difficult thing to address but one we necessarily have to address....

Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Mar 2021)

Michael McNamara: ...derelict buildings in towns across Clare, as there are right across Ireland. They are damaging to the morale of a town and I suppose they are particularly offensive in circumstances where there are long housing lists. If the Derelict Sites Act needs to be amended, that is fine. Clare County Council has made the point that it feels the Act is inadequate. On the other hand, I believe...

Insurance (Restriction on Differential Pricing and Profiling) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (17 Feb 2021)

Michael McNamara: .... It is also important to point out that, in effect, it preys on people's vulnerability. What frequently happens is that it affects people who have been with an insurance company for a very long time, who know that they must insure their car, home or whatever else, and they get a bill in the post. The only way to challenge that is to ring around or to ring a specific insurance company....

Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (Covid Restrictions Support Scheme) (Percentage Adjustment) Order 2021: Motion (27 Jan 2021)

Michael McNamara: ...scheme where one actively must demonstrate that the Government's regulations preclude the public from visiting one's physical premises to get the money. The Government's response will be with us for a long time and will hamper livelihoods and lives in this country for a generation because a shrinking economy, which has been intentionally shrunk by the Government, affects our health...

Covid-19 (Health): Statements and Questions and Answers (13 Jan 2021)

Michael McNamara: One of the key recommendations of the Covid committee, of which the Minister was a member, was that in the long term, we should move away from care and congregated settings to care in the community. Rightly, those in congregated settings are a high priority for the Government's vaccination programme. The Minister may correct me if I am wrong but I do not see any mention of those who are in...

Impact of Covid-19 Restrictions: Motion [Private Members] (16 Dec 2020)

Michael McNamara: ...negative. The logic for the refusal to distribute or legalise condoms in Ireland in response to sexually transmitted diseases was that people would behave promiscuously. That argument failed a long time ago, yet that same logic is being deployed now against antigen testing. I was appalled to read in the newspapers that the owner of a bar who was carrying out antigen testing was arrested...

Central Mental Hospital (Relocation) Bill 2020: Second Stage (10 Dec 2020)

Michael McNamara: ...by the Victorians, to whom the Minister of State referred in her introduction. I welcome the proposal to move the Central Mental Hospital, finally, from the facility in Dundrum, which was built long before the State was founded, to a new purpose-built facility in Portrane. That is very much to be welcomed. However, what we need more than a change in bricks and mortar is a change in...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (1 Dec 2020)

Michael McNamara: 647. To ask the Minister for Health if his Department has assessed the negative impact of long-term mask wearing in secondary schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39661/20]

Scrambler Motorbikes and Quad Bikes: Motion [Private Members] (17 Nov 2020)

Michael McNamara: ...Resources, Deputy Hugh Byrne, a Fianna Fáil member from the Minister's part of the world. I know that general boating is not subject to licensing in Ireland and I do not think it should be. There is a long tradition of lake boating where I come from in Clare, and I am sure it is the same in most counties with lakes. However jet skis are very different from a young lad doing a...

Regional Airports: Motion [Private Members] (11 Nov 2020)

Michael McNamara: ...precarious financial position of airports outside Dublin; and — acknowledge Shannon Airport's traditional role as Ireland’s transit airport and the reduced carbon emissions of intercontinental flights from the airport due to its longer runway and, in acknowledgement thereof, limit fifth freedom rights to airlines using Shannon Airport for intercontinental transit flights." ...

Finance Bill 2020: Second Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2020)

Michael McNamara: ...again, but we are nowhere near that point. We are still at the stage of trying to deal with this situation. Borrowing money to compensate is not feasible. I share Deputy Ó Cuív's concern that, in the long term, there is a risk of hyperinflation. I look forward to the Minister of State addressing this issue. We see the graphs and are told that Ireland is fine. We are in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Legislative Measures (22 Oct 2020)

Michael McNamara: ...particular question. I stress to the Minister that it is not just about those who are undocumented. A huge amount of administration goes on in dealing with people who have been here for such a long time that they are almost inevitably going to be able to stay. It is not just for their benefit but for the benefit of the Department and the broader administration that they be dealt with....

Financial Resolutions 2020 - Budget Statement 2021 (13 Oct 2020)

Michael McNamara: ...that respect. We also need clarity as to whether that budget is ring-fenced. The last Minister of State with responsibility for mental health who had a ring-fenced budget, as far as I am aware, was Kathleen Lynch. That was a long time ago and even that budget was not quite as ring-fenced as it appeared. It was, perhaps, something like this €38 million. We need a ring-fenced...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: ...our contacts. I am not saying we should not limit our contacts but there is an obvious conflict there and there are issues with urban and rural isolation and with mental health difficulties in a long northern European winter. I worry for my neighbours, my family and the fabric of the society I live in every bit as much as I worry about Covid, which I do worry about along with the...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: Okay. I am trying to be very brief. Obviously, a coroner's report takes a long time to make its way through the system.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Update on Testing and Tracing and Rising Incidence in the State (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McNamara: What number of cycles of testing are likely to show that people have had the virus a very long time ago, are not symptomatic and, maybe, not even be shedding anymore? There is also the issue of a margin of error that is part of all tests.