Results 21-40 of 4,708 for speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: An Garda Síochána (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I have won the oral questions lottery this week. This question relates to the issue of Garda resignations, which I have raised a number of times. There were 147 resignations from An Garda Síochána last year, which was unprecedented. The Minister decided not to attend the Garda Representative Association, GRA, conference. That was an unsurprising move in the absence of an...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: An Garda Síochána (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: What gardaí are telling me is that it is not the job it used to be and that it is harder to do the job. There are people doing it now who want to leave and clearly the statistics back up what I am saying. There are also people who, in previous generations, would have wanted to enter the profession but do not want to do so now. We can see that in the difficulties we have had with...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Crime Prevention (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: 5. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she has considered the establishment of a knife amnesty to help address the problem of knife crime. [17752/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Crime Prevention (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The Minister made a move towards addressing knife crime last week. Has she considered introducing an amnesty in this regard?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Crime Prevention (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I am interested in what the Minister of State said. I am aware of an instance in the UK where a knife amnesty was initiated. A family member of someone who carries a knife or someone who is aware of a knife in a household avails of an opportunity to drop the knife into a box, be it in a community centre, a police station or somewhere else that is safe. This takes some knives out of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Crime Prevention (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I am not hung up on the idea of a knife amnesty. It was just something I wanted to tease out. We need a change in culture among young and not so young people to ensure the carrying of a knife is simply not acceptable in our society, is not needed and leads to harm. I am interested in listening to public awareness campaigns. I spoke to the Minister in a committee meeting earlier about a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Legislative Measures (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: 6. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to restate her intention to pursue the passing of hate crime legislation this year. [17753/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Legislative Measures (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: In the public sphere, the Minister has restated her commitment to hate crime legislation. In light of rumblings from Government backbenches and from the Opposition and of people abandoning their previous commitments to supporting hate crime legislation, will she now take the opportunity to speak to her own commitment to pass hate crime legislation?

Acknowledgement and Apology to the Families and to the Victims of the Stardust Tragedy: Statements (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The truth shall set you free, or so they say. What we heard last Thursday was, indeed, the truth. We can only pray that the truth has begun to set the families of the 48 free – free from the campaigning, the meetings, the closed doors, the trauma, the criticism and the lies, free from 43 years of seeking the truth, free from the disgusting suspicion that the phrase “probable...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I thank the Chair and the Minister. It is great to have a crowd here. It is a bit like going to a League of Ireland match. You wonder where everybody was, and now they are here, which is great. On the issue at hand, can the Minister confirm for me that the right to seek asylum will be maintained, enshrined and protected under this proposal?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: That will not change. Can the Minister understand why there may be reluctance or concern in that regard? Is that completely unfounded?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Does the Minister know what those time limits are going to be?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: It is probably for the Minister to propose and for us to discuss.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: "Pull factor" is a favoured phrase of the Department of Justice since my term there. I used to think that it almost needed to be painted on a wall of the Department of Justice, just to remind people what the main worries of the Department of Justice were. Anyway, that is just me being mischievous. Every time we have had this discussion over the last 20 to 25 years or so, every new...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I have two very quick questions. I appreciate that I only have a minute left. The Minister may have already answered my first question because I was in and out of the room. The Minister can appreciate that there are other things going on, not least of which are the Stardust statements. Are we going to separately legislate for each of the measures in this pact, and very importantly, does...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Textbooks (23 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: 302. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on the roll-out of the primary school book grant scheme; and to confirm when the revised guidelines for 2024/2025 will be published. [17700/24]

Road Safety: Statements (17 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Road safety is an issue that is seemingly spiralling out of control. This year is currently on course to prove the most lethal for traffic fatalities in 15 years, with all the good work that has been done in the years gone by completely erased. So far this year, 63 people have died on the roads, with the death toll climbing by an alarming 31% compared with the same period in 2023. In...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Reviews (17 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: 173. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the review of the status of PhD researchers, that is, their classification as either students or employees, will be published. [16843/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disadvantaged Status (16 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I am not in any way suggesting that the Minister does not appreciate the severity of the issues at hand. I have shared stories of my time teaching. The stories of people now on the front line are harrowing. We are losing children because of interventions which could take place and which, as has been acknowledged, would make the difference. It is very upsetting and very emotional to speak...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disadvantaged Status (16 Apr 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: 66. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the proposal to introduce a DEIS plus scheme for the most acutely disadvantaged schools in the country. [16367/24]