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The International Grand Committee on Disinformation and Fake News is meeting in Dublin this week. James Lawless TD is one of the representatives of the Oireachtas and they are hearing from the social media industry, journalists and industry experts.
Earlier James questioned Facebook’s Head of Global Policy Management about political advertising on its site as well as the motivations behind its proposed Libra currency.
You can see the video here
James Lawless TD spoke in the Dáil this week during the debate on the National Broadband Plan
“As vice chair of the Committee on Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, our committee conducted a detailed scrutiny of the plan and found the current tender is massively over budget and overly complex. The department of public expenditure has also found that the cost benefit analysis is not positive. The cost of the plan has been escalating while the number of homes requiring intervention reduced constantly due to ever more installations and technology adaptions by the private sector. Imagine are already offering broadband to 80,000 houses and Eir to 300,000 that were due to be subsidized by the exchequer. Rather than ignoring the concerns surrounding the NBP, the Government should address them before committing billions of euro of public money.”
You can watch James speak here
Frank O’Rourke TD introduced a bill into the Dáil last night that seeks to allow families facing eviction access the HAP scheme sooner.
Frank commented, “This Bill aims to prevent families from entering homelessness, by making changes in access to HAP. As it stands, a family served with a tenancy termination notice can only access HAP as their eviction date looms. My Bill seeks to give families access to HAP at a much earlier stage of their notice period, thereby giving time to seek and secure alternative accommodation. As well as the social implications, my Bill also makes economic sense, as it costs the state significantly more to house families in emergency accommodation, than in a stable home assisted by HAP.”
You can see Frank speak in the Dáil here
Frank O’Rourke TD spoke on the unacceptable waiting times for children with special needs requirements in getting an appointment for an Assessment of Needs with the HSE.
Waiting times average 2 years and the delay in any diagnosis has a knock on effect at a critical stage in a child’s development, causing further delays in accessing essential services and supports, such as Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, and Speech and Language Therapy.
You watch Frank speak here
James Lawless TD raised the recent chronic traffic congestion in Maynooth town in the Dáil this afternoon
James asked the Tánaiste to ensure government prioritises work on the second motorway interchange.
James said, “This is one part of the puzzle in relieving pressures across the town which have brought traffic to a standstill of late.”
Raising Traffic Congestion in Maynooth with Tánaiste in Dáil
I raised the recent chronic traffic congestion in Maynooth town in the Dáil this afternoon and asked the Tánaiste to ensure government prioritises work on the second motorway interchange – this is one part of the puzzle in relieving pressures across the town which has been at a stanstill of late.
Posted by James Lawless TD on Thursday, October 3, 2019