Tag Archives: seanad

Clare political activist and co-founder of the Clare Leader Forum, Ann Marie Flanagan, has announced her intention to run for a position in Seanad Éireann. Seanad elections will take place after the next general election, which is expected later this year or early in 2025. Ms Flanagan has secured the nomination of the nominating body Independent Living Movement Ireland, with almost 80% of that group voting to select her as a candidate to be a Senator. After an unsuccessful bid to become a Senator during Covid 19 lockdown in 2020, Flanagan gained national attention earlier this year for her outspoken opposition to the Care Referendum. “Everybody knowns that I am a political activist. I have contested local elections and if I had the resources to contest a General Election, that is something I would also consider,” she said. “I was honoured in 2020 to be put forward by the Independent Living Movement Ireland, which is a nominating body, to run …

Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) has outlined his commitments as Co-President of the ALDE Party as one of the reasons why he finished third from the bottom in a Seanad league table for the number of votes he cast for the first six months of the year. The Fianna Fáil Senator voted nine times, compared to 17 for Senator Roisín Garvey and 33 for Senator Martin Conway after 36 ballots, which were held in the Seanad this year. Senator Dooley pointed out a vote is not held every day in the Seanad where ten votes could be held one day, there may be no vote for three or four weeks, there could be two votes before a long break with seven or eight held on another day. “You could be off site attending another meeting. You always have the permission of the whip to be absent. For the past two and a half to three years, I have been Co-President of …

CLARE Senator Róisín Garvey has said she is “honoured” to take up the role of the Green Party’s leader in the Seanad. The Green Party decided shortly after the formation of the current government to rotate the position of its Seanad leader in tandem with the rotation of the cathaoirleach of the Seanad. The change means that Senator Garvey takes over from Senator Pauline O’Reilly who had served in the position since 2020. She said she is excited to take on the responsibility and will use it to put people’s needs to the fore in the upper chamber, particularly around water quality, nature protection and regional balance. Senator Garvey, the party’s spokesperson for Rural Development and Enterprise, Trade and Employment, said, “It’s a great honour for me to take on the role of Green Party leader in the Seanad. It’s a position I intend to devote myself to over the coming two years and I plan to use it to …

JOBS for Ukrainian professionals could help to provide support for those fleeing to Ireland and minimise the impact on services, Clare’s Fianna Fáil senator has said.  During a Seanad debate, all three of Clare’s senators commended the efforts made in this county to welcome refugees. Senator Timmy Dooley said that, after speaking to a number of health and education professionals, he believes they have the capacity to support their community.  He said that following his own first-hand experience in Ukraine and Poland, the scale of the crisis has not yet become apparent. “I do not think we have seen anything like the scale of the demand just yet,” he said. “I hope and I have great faith in the Irish people that they will stick with it. Everybody I have met wants to be part of the solution right now. “This will require holding the nerve as numbers increase. We are at 10,000. It is a long way to 100,000 …

GREEN Party Senator Róisín Garvey is calling for multi-faceted approach to the ongoing problem of flooding. The Inagh native introduced a Private Members’ Motion to the upper house to calling for a multi-faceted, catchment-based approach to managing flooding. Senator Garvey introduced the motion, which recommends a multi-faceted response to flood management while maintaining a multi-annual investment programme managed between the OPW and the local authorities. “I’m raising this motion because of what I’ve seen happening first-hand in my own county of Clare over the last few years and across the rest of Ireland,” she told the chamber. “The climate has changed and so has our rain fall in both frequency and ferocity. I am deeply worried about what lies ahead if we don’t take action.” “International best practice demonstrates that catchment-based solutions, using a combination of natural flood management approaches and hard engineering, are the best way forward and cost less than using only hard engineering solutions.” The motion calls for …

CONCERNS shared by the family of the late Laura Brennan about the effect Covid-19 has had on the roll-out of the HPV vaccine have been highlighted in the Seanad. Senator Martin Conway has urged the government to “think outside the box”, suggesting Covid-19 vaccination centres could be used to administer the HPV vaccine alongside drafting in pharmacists. The Fine Gael Senator recalled the “phenomenal work” that Laura Brennan did in promoting the vaccine prior to her death. “We are all fully aware of the immense challenges that have been posed by the Covid-19 pandemic but this vaccine is extremely important. It is critical to the future health of girls and boys,” he said. He continued, “The pandemic caused difficulties, particularly in the delivery of the programme within schools. It is well-recognised that giving the vaccine in schools has resulted in a significantly higher uptake. We need to think outside the box. “We have had vaccine capacity in some of the …

CONCERN has been expressed about the lack of a definitive opening date for a new €19.5 million 60- bed block modular unit to tackle overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) after a government minister recently pledged it would be operational at this stage. Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler stated in the Seanad recently “from a construction perspective, the new ward block should be ready to be operational by Monday, November 9”. In fact, Minister Butler praised all those involved on their hard work and patience in seeing the much-needed additional capacity for University Hospital Limerick come to fruition. She also thanked Senator Martin Conway for his constructive approach as she was aware he had raised this issue many times. “The Government is committed to developing acute hospital services and infrastructure. University Hospital Limerick is an integral part of the University of Limerick hospital group, providing hospital services and care to the populations of Limerick, …

RÓISÍN Garvey admits she is “still in shock” with her nomination to Seanad Eireann and acknowledges it will take her a while to get used to being called Senator Garvey. On Saturday, Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan contacted her around 3pm to inform her she would be going to the Seanad as one of the 11 Taoiseach nominees and only told her parents as she joked “people are very bad at keeping secrets, particularly good ones”. “I felt really good for the people who helped me in politics. When I lost the General Election I had about 100 supporters helping me. They were nearly more disappointed than me that I didn’t become a Dáil deputy. I think this is a boost for them. “I can now work on legislation that will help local authorities. Being a senator is an important role,” she said. She is just the third Clare female Senator following in the footsteps of Tras Honan and Madeleine …