Results 181-200 of 839 for speaker:Michael Kennedy

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Fine Gael is confusing the public and deliberately misconstruing the situation. That is the only point I am making.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: We have to deal with measures to bridge the gap between the State's current income and expected revenue. Some €3 billion is needed to run the country for the next year, and there is no point in denying it or rewriting history. No more than previous Fianna Fáil-led Administrations, Fine Gael-Labour Governments were equally bad in terms of increasing the national debt and creating...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: ——blamed the Government even though his constituents, whether they vote for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Labour Party, etc., were clearly telling him they wanted the metro. No project has ever been so widely welcomed by the public——

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I am only stating the facts. Deputy Broughan and his colleagues would have berated the Minister if he had excluded metro north. It is in this programme. I hope those opposite will acknowledge that because when I read the Northside People and see Deputy Broughan's comments about metro north, sometimes I want to cringe and tell the people what he says at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Metro west will follow. Let us get metro north to the airport so that metro west can come about. Metro west will happen when public finances allow. Again, it is badly needed. Deputy Broughan knows Transport 21 is a substantial €34 billion programme. Most of it is intact. Many of the items in Transport 21 have been delivered. I refer to our new roadway structure. One can drive from...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: We will come to the buses. Let us deal with Transport 21 about which Deputy Broughan is so sceptical. We have delivered on the vast majority of the road programme in recent years ahead of time and ahead of budget.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Deputy Barrett should look at the record. I am talking about recent projects coming in ahead of budget and ahead of schedule. That is a fact. If he doubts it, the Deputy should look at the record. The NRA will confirm that and I am sure Deputy Broughan will do so too because he asked the NRA quite recently about its programmes.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I travel on as many roads as Deputy Broughan. I had the pleasure of driving from Galway to Dublin recently in two and a half hours and it did not involve breaking the speed limit. That is indicative of the progress we are making. In regard to education issues, we all regret an increase in the pupil-teacher ratio but we must live with the reality of the financial constraints. I listened to...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: He never mentioned the 19,000 extra teachers and special needs assistants who have been put into our schools in the past three to four years. He did not even have the guts to admit that there has been a substantial building programme, including in Deputy Broughan's constituency and in my constituency of Dublin North. Major news schools have been announced and, more important, built in the...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I will leave Deputy Broughan to deal with Dublin North-East. There has been a substantial programme. One must be realistic in terms of what we can do at this point. In regard to class sizes, there are exceptions to every rule and I will focus, in particular, on schools with large numbers of foreign national pupils in their midst whose command of English is not too good. We need to put...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I realise Deputy Broughan suffers slight embarrassment at the progress the country has made under Fianna Fáil Governments. I will not give out to him for barracking, because that is all he can do. I am sure he will not have too much to say.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I will continue with my speech if the Deputy does not mind, but if I have time, I will revert to that later. At this point in time, it was necessary to have a tough budget. It is in the country's interest that we get our public finances back in order and bring competitiveness back into business. We must use every opportunity to educate the public about the current downturn and to warn them...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Let me say to Deputy Broughan that the members of his party are hypocrites. They had the chance to wear the green national jersey on that legislation. However, they tried to stop it being introduced.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: At least Fine Gael supported the legislation, because it knew there was no alternative. The stance taken by the Labour Party in voting against the legislation was ridiculous. The Labour Party is proud to be anti-national.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: It is proud to say it would let our economy sink, but even my salary and that of Deputy Broughan depend on a viable banking institution. Deputy Broughan is proud of the Labour Party stance, but he needs to reconsider his philosophy.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: There is transparency. The Minister complied with requests from all sections of the House in terms of putting directors on the boards and ensuring transparency.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: The Labour Party members should hang their heads in shame. They let the country down and said they would not let the legislation come into the House. They wanted to knock it. Even last week, when the Minister's plans came before the House, including provisions for transparency, the Labour Party would not vote for it.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Shame on the Labour Party, it let the side down.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: The Labour Party had the opportunity to show how big it is and that it recognised the interests of the small people as well as the big. It failed miserably to take that opportunity. Much as we would all like to have seen the fat cats suffer, we need a banking system. America, Britain and all of Europe need a banking system. When the Labour Party has time to reflect on what it has done, it...

Medical Cards: Motion (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Does the Deputy remember what he said in December 2007 to The Sunday Business Post?