Tag Archives: Deputy Michael McNamara

A PROTEST at RTÉ’s studios in the Midwest demonstrated the anger of rank and file staff at so-called “sweetheart deals” for top star, Ryan Tubridy.  The station has been mired in controversy since news broke that Mr Tubridy received €345,000 in additional payments between 2017 and 2022. As representatives of RTÉ’s top brass got set to appear before two Oireachtas committees this week, staff took to the picket line. They voiced concerns over precarious contracts, low pay and cuts that have deepened at RTÉ in recent years. With no licence fee increase for 17 years and growing competition, RTÉ has been bidding for greater State support and aiming to prove that it could make reign in spending. Against that backdrop, news of the payments to Mr Tubridy pushed staff anger to boiling point.  The mood among journalists was described by one RTÉ worker as a “mix of despondency and anger”. The staffer spoke to The Champion on condition of anonymity. …

ENNIS town centre has been suggested as the focus of a government pilot project aimed at bringing buildings back into residential use. Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara, who presented the proposal to the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dáil Éireann this week, said that many business premises which once had families living over them now lie empty over ground level for a variety of reasons including particularly building regulations and insurance costs. Addressing the Taoiseach in the Dáil, Deputy McNamara said, “Ennis, like other market towns in Clare and like market towns all over the country, has streets full of fine old buildings where there is a retail unit at ground level and in many but not all cases, they are vacant over ground level. A century ago, there were families living in them.” “I don’t underestimate the difficulty of converting those back into residential use. There are regulations, there are issues around financing, but it would offer many benefits not …

SERIOUS questions continue to been raised over Coillte’s proposed deal with investment fund, Gresham House, with a Clare Independent TD suggesting it represents “greenwashing”.  During a debate on forestry, Deputy Michael McNamara probed the deal that is tipped to see forests acquired and land planted to deliver returns to investors and help meet climate targets. “This deal has made people sit up and take a look at the role of investment funds in protecting or enhancing the environment, and at Coillte’s relationship with investment funds,” the Scariff TD said. “Both are important matters to consider. A number of questions arise. Why did Coillte select Gresham House? What procurement process was put in place? Gresham House came up with a great blurb but it is not unique in that. Many investment funds around the world are into greenwashing these days. Were all the other greenwashing investment funds allowed to bid? If not, why? Why did Gresham House choose Coillte?” Deputy McNamara …

PROPOSALS to sell Coillte lands to an overseas investment fund in order to meet climate targets through afforestation have been described by Deputy Michael McNamara as “a bizarre construct”.  Under the planned deal, thousands of acres are to be planted through the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund (ISFF) launched by Coillte and Gresham House. This aim is attract investors to plant as well as acquire forests across the country to meet Ireland’s climate targets. The Scariff-based TD launched a scathing attack on the deal. “It is a bizarre construct whatever way you look at it,” he said. “To give State funds earmarked for environmental measures to foreign investment companies to fund forestry practices that are not environmentally appropriate is just baffling.” He noted that once the crop is harvested, those profits will go back to funds based outside of Ireland.  Deputy McNamara accepted that forestry does have the potential to store carbon and to have environmental benefits, but he was adamant …

SENIOR medics in Ennis Hospital will conduct a review of what additional resources are required in the Ennis Medical Assessment Unit (MAU) after one week of the new trial transferring all non-critical Clare patients by ambulance to Ennis Hospital. Non-critical patients can now be transferred directly by ambulance to the Ennis MAU from Monday to Friday as part of a new pilot project to ease chronic overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick. Paramedics previously had no option but to transport all Clare patients directly to UHL via ambulance following the controversial removal of 24-hour casualty cover from Ennis and Nenagh Hospitals in April 2009. The unexpected change by the National Ambulance Service (NAS) in the controversial protocol, which started in Clare on Monday, is seen as a boost for the Mid-West Hospitals Group campaign to secure the return of round-the-clock cover in Ennis and Nenagh Hospitals. Pressure is growing on the UL Hospitals Group to provide additional resources to Ennis Hospital …

THE housing minister has been accused of being “obsessed” with curbing funding for homeowners affected by pyrite, while failing to properly pursue those responsible for the crisis. Deputy Michael McNamara said that Minister Darragh O’Brien seemed excessively concerned that homeowners would not profit from the scheme, in cases where they chose to downsize, but was less bothered when it came to properly pursuing the quarries that supplied the defective material.  He added that while the minister had rushed new legislation through the Oireachtas to extend the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, there was now no sense of urgency in terms of giving access to homeowners in Clare. The Scariff TD spoke to The Champion on foot of a response to a Parliamentary Question (PQ) he tabled to Minister O’Brien. While Deputy McNamara sought “clarification and transparency” in relation to the timeline for access for Clare homeowners, no precise date was provided. The minister’s response stated that work on regulations to …

THE IDA hosted 28 in-person and remote visits to Limerick for the first six months of this year compared to 12 in Clare, new figures have revealed. Deputy Michael McNamara recently asked the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar to break down the number of site visits hosted by the IDA in counties Galway, Clare and Limerick this year. A new survey has also found the total employment in IDA supported industries increased by 13.9% in the Mid-West compared to 15.2% in Dublin and 63% in the South East from 2012 to 2021. What was also worrying was the Mid-West recorded one of the lowest increases in employment in IDA firms of just 2.6% from 2020 to 2021. This was in contrast to the South-West, which enjoyed a hike of 10.8%, the Mid-East 8.4%, the South-East 4% and Dublin 5.3%. Acknowledging the disparity between the number of IDA visits in Clare and Limerick, Deputy McNamara pointed out there has been a number of …

SCARIFF-based TD Michael McNamara has described anomalies in maternity benefit as “a penalisation of women for having children”.  In a Dáil debate on policy and legislation, the Independent TD raised the matter with Tanáiste Leo Varadkar, noting the poor rate of maternity benefit in I reland compared to other EU states or other OECD states. “In Ireland, the average proportion of previous earnings that maternity benefit accounts for is 25.2%,” Deputy McNamara pointed out. “It is one of the lowest rates in the OECD and the EU. During the pandemic, people were coming off pandemic payments of €330 per week and being reduced to €250 because they had just had a child. That is a penalisation of women for having children.” Deputy McNamara questioned the Tanáiste on moves to address the anomaly. “There will be a proposal coming to the Cabinet soon to realign unemployment benefits with previous payments and with what people were being paid before they became unemployed,” …