Results 101-120 of 1,035,666 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Michael Lowry OR speaker:Martin Browne OR speaker:Ossian Smyth OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Mark Ward)

Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (11 Jul 2024)

Patrick Costello: This legislation has received a broad welcome from Deputies and the farming organisations. However, there is a broader issue here in the context of how we approach rights and obligations and the enforcement of same. To be blunt, we have created a Byzantine mess of quasi-judicial bodies. There is ultimately a risk of constitutional weakness, vulnerability and challenge to many of these and...

Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (11 Jul 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I welcome the Bill. In everything we do in this area, our concern is that there be fairness for farmers. It is also about bringing the enjoyment back into farming. The Minister knows all about the various schemes, the associated bureaucracy and everything that has happened over the years. I accept completely that there must be proper governance of everything that is done. However, the...

Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (11 Jul 2024)

Claire Kerrane: I welcome the legislation and commend the Minister for making it happen. I know this was a commitment that was made, not least in the programme for Government. It is good to see the legislation before the House this afternoon. The Minister mentioned the pre-legislative scrutiny undertaken by the committee on agriculture and the report that was published subsequently. I am very glad that...

Committee on Public Petitions: Business of Joint Committee (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: I welcome everyone to the meeting. No apologies were received. The first item on the agenda is the minutes of the meetings of 3 and 4 July 2024. They have already been approved in a virtual private meeting, but we must do this for procedural reasons. Are they agreed? Agreed.

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: I will read some formal notices. I remind members of the constitutional requirements that they must be physically present within the confines of the place which parliament has chosen to sit, namely, Leinster House, to participate in public meetings. I will not permit members to participate where they are not adhering to this constitutional requirement. Therefore, any member who attempts to...

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: I will ask one or two questions before I let in other members. I note that Mr. Deering has said there is an inconsistency in how different local authorities deliver their services and deal with complaints, and as a result, we have developed a model complaint handling procedure. How is that working? Are local authorities receptive and collaborating?

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: The model has not been rolled out and launched.

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: I asked that because some of the difficulties every public representative would get would concern the issue of the taking in charge of estates. There is the Department and Uisce Éireann.

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: Every member will say how frustrating it is to deal with such matters. Has the public brought any of those kinds of incidents to the attention to the Office of the Ombudsman in terms of trying to deal with both a council and Uisce Éireann? I ask that because for ten or 12 years, there are estates that have been left in complete darkness with the roads not finished.

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: Yes. In 2021, the Office of the Ombudsman published the Grounded report, which outlined the lack of access to transport for people with disabilities. The Ombudsman stated in his report that he met officials from the Department of the Taoiseach on a number of occasions but he also said the "lack" of progress was nothing short of shameful. We had a disability strategy from 2017 to 2022 and...

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: Yet still the same problems.

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: The Ombudsman believes we need to get an Department or Minister who will be directly responsible.

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: I agree with the Ombudsman because at the minute the approach is one of pass the buck and blame someone else. I want to know about access to public buildings. My own town of Cashel has a gold star. It was not until I went around the town with your chaps, who are dead since, and may they rest in peace, that we found out, even after being awarded a gold star, how much more needed to be done....

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: Ms O'Shea has lodged a complaint and I will too. Ms O'Shea in contact with the Ombudsman.

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: Work away, Deputy.

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: You are okay.

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: I might help. A girl called Michelle O'Shea from Golden, who is disabled, has a video out at the minute about access. I encourage people to look at her video.

Committee on Public Petitions: Office of the Ombudsman Annual Report 2022 and Related Matters: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Martin Browne: We also want to be associated with what Senator Craughwell has said. Coming back to the immigration end of it and the integration in communities, we see people being moved who have been living, for example, in Borrisokane in my county of Tipperary, for ten or 12 years and are integrated into the football clubs, the Tidy Towns and the whole lot. What are the Ombudsman's views on that? We...