Seanad debates

Thursday, 12 February 2015

11:50 am

Photo of Maurice CumminsMaurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The idea of that change was to give Members an opportunity to attend committee meetings and the Order of Business later.

Senator Naughton welcomed the allocation of €320,000 for additional funding for festivals nationwide. She also welcomed the awarding of a purple flag for Galway and lauded many initiatives in her native city in this regard.

Senator Zappone called for a debate on the impact of taxation and fiscal policy on human rights, a debate she has called for previously. I will try to get the Minister for Finance, or the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, as she requested, to attend the House to debate this issue. It was the subject of a Christian Aid conference this morning.

Senator Landy congratulated all involved in the 90th national coursing meeting in Clonmel, County Tipperary, recently. He highlighted the activities of some people who interfered with the coursing event. As we will have the Greyhound (Amendment) Bill in the House in the coming months, it will be an opportunity for him to raise those points then.

Senator Leyden called for profile checks of people coming into the country. One cannot discriminate against one set of people coming in from Europe. All the same, I am sure the Garda is keeping everything under control and checking any people with criminal records coming into the country. The force does great work in that regard.

Senator Comiskey complimented the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine on his old-young farmer scheme. Senator Ó Clochartaigh seems not to realise that unemployment has decreased from 15% to 10.6%. On his question about the recent arrests of people over protests at Jobstown, that is a matter for the Garda and will continue to be so.

Senator Mooney raised the issue of pay and conditions, as did Senator Marc MacSharry several weeks ago, for new Garda recruits. A low pay commission will be set up by the Government. I am sure the point on the early entry rate for civil servants, and gardaí in particular, will form part of the commission’s work.

Senator Cáit Keane raised the increasing use of stolen mobile telephones in burglaries and the new technology that is available to switch off stolen mobile telephones. I suggest she raises it as a Commencement matter to discuss it with the Minister.

On university degrees and University Panel Senators, in my eyes all the Senators are equal.

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