Results 181-199 of 199 for like to work speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (19 Jun 2013)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: We are back again. Every year we debate this, every year Sinn Féin opposes it and every year it passes. We all know the background to the Offences against the State Act and I will not re-hash it again today. Suffice to say I have no hesitation in renewing the call on those responsible for what happened at Omagh to cease their activities and to embrace the peace process. The events...

Reports of Unlawful Surveillance of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission: Statements (11 Feb 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: The report in The Sunday Times was disturbing and alarming for citizens across this State. To put it kindly, we have had a problematic 18 months in terms of public confidence in the Minister's ability to preside over and assist, depending on what body it is, the GSOC or An Garda Síochána. When previous issues came into the public domain relating to the GSOC, the Minister's...

Seanad: Annual National Transition Statement on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (15 Feb 2017)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Sinn Féin is committed to reaching the State's renewable energy targets for 2020. The State has committed to generating 16% of its overall energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020. Our party will introduce measures on an ongoing basis to grow renewable energy production and to reduce Ireland's carbon emissions. This will require involvement from the State and at community...

An Garda Síochána: Motion [Private Members] (29 Jan 2013)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I will share time with Deputy Michael Colreavy. Fianna Fáil has a hard neck to speak about cutbacks to Garda stations. In November 2008, my party colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, who was then a Senator, published a document entitled Awakening the West, which documented how rural communities were being hammered by the Government. The Government at that time was a Fianna Fáil and...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Second Stage (16 Nov 2016)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...an mBille seo, bhí deis ann reachtaíocht láidir a thabhairt isteach chun éifeacht a thabhairt do na rudaí is tábhachtaí a bhí leagtha amach sa phlean tithíochta. The cited aim of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill is to facilitate the increased supply of housing and to enhance the functioning of the private...

Travellers' Rights: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (4 Nov 2015)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I also listened to Deputy Barry's speech and his appeal that we respect free speech. I point out to him that hundreds of Irish citizens felt it was acceptable to log on to thejournal.iewebsite and give a thumbs-down to expressions of sympathy, including a simple "rest in peace" and "my heart goes out to the families" from decent Irish citizens about the fact that ten human beings - ten Irish...

Sea-Fisheries (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (2 Feb 2022)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: We have had many exchanges with the Minister about this. He knows the history of it. When he was the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on agriculture, food and the marine, his colleague, Pat the Cope Gallagher, the then Fianna Fáil spokesperson on the marine and fisheries, moved an annulment of the statutory instrument from 2018 and for the first time in the history of the State, a...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (12 Mar 2013)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...-violent crime and yet had their conviction hanging over them for the rest of their lives. Ireland is the only jurisdiction in the European Union which does not have in place appropriate legislation to ensure certain criminal convictions can be expunged and people can move on with their lives and make a clean start with a clean slate. We are all aware of the problems that result from...

Funding of Disability Services: Motion [Private Members] (4 Dec 2012)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...in that Government, Deputy O'Dea, was heckled and booed by disability rights campaigners who were protesting outside the Dáil a few weeks ago. That Fianna Fáil Government also cruelly slashed funding to voluntary organisations working with the disabled as well as front-line services to the disabled across the State. We witnessed savage cuts to the number of special needs...

Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union) Bill 2012: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Apr 2012)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I will start by taking us back a few steps. To understand where we are now, we must look at where we came from and how we got here. Sinn Féin's criticism of the Maastricht treaty and the proposition of economic and monetary union related to the idea of a one size fits all policy working. We said having a single interest rate for all of the eurozone would not work. During our economic...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015: Statements (6 Dec 2017)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I concur with Senator Daly that, taking the Irish statistics in isolation, it does not read well that one third of greenhouse gases come from the agriculture sector. One could be inclined to a knee-jerk reaction to that, but it is important to point out that we have never developed an industrial base in this State. In terms of our industrial base versus that of our neighbouring island,...

Oireachtas Europe Day: Statements (9 May 2011)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this important debate. I also echo the welcome extended this morning to Ireland's European Commissioner, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and our MEPs. I welcome in particular to the Oireachtas my party colleague, Bairbre de Brún, MEP, in further evidence of the all-Ireland nature of Sinn Féin's political project. Members are convened to...

European Union (Common Fisheries Policy) (Point System) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 318 of 2020): Motion [Private Members] (29 Sep 2020)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...that the European Union (Common Fisheries Policy) (Point System) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 318 of 2020) be and are hereby annulled. On behalf of all the fishing organisations Sinn Féin has spoken to, we support a penalty points system being put in place - it is essential - but the system must be fair and just. It is important that I outline the history of how we got here this...

Reform of Judicial Appointments Procedures Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (6 Jun 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The Reform of Judicial Appointments Procedures Bill 2013 was published in January last year and it seeks to increase transparency and accountability in judicial appointments. Confidence in the justice system is contingent on a Judiciary which is free from political control and political or other bias. It is essential that there is an...

Government's Priorities for the Year Ahead: Statements (Resumed) (5 Mar 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: That is the respect he has for this House. It was a load of bloody nonsense. If Ministers can schedule three days to make congratulatory speeches, they can listen to the responses from the Opposition following their nonsense speeches. There are three Ministers in the Department of Justice and Equality, but not one of them is here to engage with us. It is an absolute farce. However, I...

Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (18 Apr 2013)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Sinn Féin welcomes this Bill and will support its passage through the House. We must all continue to work hard to ensure it is made increasingly tough for those involved in criminality to channel their money in a way that allows them to live a lifestyle repugnant to any sense of justice. For too long, many of our communities have faced the scourge of organised criminality and criminal...

Water Services Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: The Government has come under extensive public pressure on water charges. It has been forced to introduce the proposed lower rates. This was not something it wanted to do; it was something in which the Government had no choice. Next Wednesday, the Government will be faced with even larger protests. Today, however, it could take the opportunity to do the right thing and scrap water charges...

Cooke Report: Statements (19 Jun 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: In the shadowy world of modern surveillance, it is extremely difficult to definitively prove that surveillance has taken place. As said in various media interviews, it is not like in the old movies where one can unscrew one's telephone and find a bug or take the mirror from the wall and find a bug behind it. It is very difficult to prove but what we can say with certainty is that such was...

Guerin Report: Statements (15 May 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...reflect on the lessons that must be learned. As Sinn Féin spokesperson on justice I will give the Minister a fair wind. Although I am happy with the announcements she has made so far in response to some of these crises, I will detail, with the Minister present, what has gone wrong. The Morris tribunal in my home county, Donegal, revealed an appalling abuse of power by the Garda...