Results 1-20 of 759 for long speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 May 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...is now talking a big game nine days out from an election. He sat at the Cabinet table as the Government chose not to introduce permanent supports for struggling families, which would have made a long-term difference. He was there as the Government chose not to increase the core rate of child benefit or the qualified child payments to the levels needed. Last month, the Government chose...

Ireland's Recognition of the State of Palestine: Statements (28 May 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...their homeland and to a future free of oppression and war. We recognise the human rights of the Palestinian people, their right to exist as equals in this world. Today's announcement has been a long time coming, too long. Ten years ago, the Dáil voted unanimously in favour of a Sinn Féin motion to recognise the State of Palestine. A decade ago we had cross-party support for...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (22 May 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...x20ac;10 billion of public money into the pockets of private landlords. It has done this through mechanisms such as the housing assistance payment, HAP, the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, rent allowance and long-term leasing. That money could and should have been used to build tens of thousands of permanent homes for ordinary people. Instead, the Government paid out €10...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 May 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...urgent intervention. Pamela and Liam wrote to both the Taoiseach and I at the weekend stating that Liam needs a scan immediately to review his deteriorating condition. He has been waiting so long that he will now likely need two surgeries to correct his spine. He needs that surgery this week, not at the end of the month. He needs it this week. What steps has the Taoiseach taken to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 May 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...the reality. The Housing Commission is naming the Government's failure. It says that we require a radical reset. The individuals on this commission have been critiquing Government policy for a long time. None of the ideas is new. Many of us have been telling the Government for the longest time that its housing policy has failed. I want to ask this again. The Government...

Dublin and Monaghan Bombings: Motion [Private Members] (14 May 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...the implementation of the 2008, 2011 and 2016 all party motions. This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Friday, 17 May 1974 remains a date marked deep in the psyche of our nation, etched in unimaginable pain and loss and prolonged by a searing injustice. At 5.30 on that early summer's evening, three no-warning car bombs ripped through the centre of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (14 May 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...players - the big corporate landlords, the cuckoo funds and the vultures. I want to raise one area in which the Government's mismanagement and incompetence in housing looms large; that is its long-term leasing fiasco. Figures released to our housing spokesperson, Deputy Eoin Ó Broin, revealed the extent of the scandal, and it is shocking. From the Government that brought us the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Constitutional Amendments (30 Apr 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: .... If the Government believes this is a good idea and a worthy move, it needs to go back to the people and get their democratic sanction by means of a referendum. Anything less than that will have long-term consequences that have no purchase and no widespread public support. No amount of rhetoric or fancy footwork on the Government's part can alter that fact. The removal of the need for...

Acknowledgement and Apology to the Families and to the Victims of the Stardust Tragedy: Statements (23 Apr 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...bang. The lighting in the nightclub failed. Darkness. Mass panic. People rushed towards the exit in a desperate bid to escape. The section of the crowd that rushed for the main exit was carried along in a crushing sea of desperation. Only one door of the main exit was open. The other had to be kicked open. Some people lost their footing as they reached for air and to escape....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Apr 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...us in some way during our lives. When somebody receives a cancer diagnosis, the world stands still. In that moment, life comes to a shuddering halt as all of the possibilities hit at once and the long hard road to be travelled then opens up in a flash. When a child receives such a diagnosis, these feelings are amplified beyond what most of us could even contemplate. A cancer diagnosis...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...organs making it increasingly difficult to breathe. It is especially tough on young children. Where children do not get the surgeries they need on time, the consequences are devastating. The longer they wait, the more complex the procedures they will eventually need and without timely care, children end up in wheelchairs. Some children wait so long that they become inoperable and they...

Ceapachán an Taoisigh agus Ainmniú Chomhaltaí an Rialtais - Appointment of Taoiseach and Nomination of Members of Government (9 Apr 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...in 13 years. People did not come down in the last shower. They know this is just more spin and promises from a Government that is big on announcements, but falls very short on delivery. In the century long history of this State, there have been 15 taoisigh. We have had three in the past four years alone in order just to keep this charade on the road, even though the wheels have fallen...

Taoiseach a Ainmniú - Nomination of Taoiseach (9 Apr 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...the fiction you are spinning today, a story that dresses up failure as progress. Micheál Martin said this Government would be the one to fix housing, but it got worse. Then Leo Varadkar came along saying he would sort out housing, and it got worse again. Now we hear Simon Harris say he will fix housing once and for all. Frankly, the people brace themselves. So, here we go...

Death of Charlie Bird: Expressions of Sympathy (20 Mar 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...Bird. For four decades, his voice was to be heard across the most important news stories of our times. His incredible, heartbreaking work on the Stardust tragedy is a stand-out from that very long career. He will always be remembered for his role, of course, in covering the emerging Irish peace process, including as the RTÉ contact person for the IRA in those years. I pay...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Mar 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ..., but a change of Government and a change of direction. Tá sé in am don athrú, ní hamháin athrú Taoisigh ach athrú Rialtais agus athrú treo don tír. Fine Gael has been in government for far too long. Ireland had one of the highest rates of homeownership in Europe when Fine Gael came to office in 2011. That has collapsed. Fine Gael has...

International Women's Day: Statements (5 Mar 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...and activism. We celebrate the women who dream big dreams and get the job done. On Friday, we are presented with the opportunity to remove from the Constitution a sexist decree that women belong in the home. However, real change must see carers and the incredible, compassionate work they do fully recognised and supported. It must ensure those who need care receive full services and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Feb 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: ...debacle has played its way out. Instead of soundbites, what we need to hear from the Government is what accountability looks like. When will there be consequences for those who have breached the public trust and those who have played fast and loose with taxpayers' money? As long as this saga continues, people are voting with their feet. Hundreds of thousands have chosen not to pay the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Properties (20 Feb 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: 237. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the Garda is still actively using a premises (details supplied); and if so, how long it will remain there. [7930/24]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Properties (20 Feb 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: 239. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform what long-term uses are being considered for a premises (details supplied). [7932/24]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (14 Feb 2024)

Mary Lou McDonald: A long-term strategy for climate, nature and energy was one of the key themes of the World Economic Forum. This brought the gap between rhetoric and action into public view again. Every single report published in the last year from the EPA, the SEAI or Wind Energy Ireland follows a worrying trend. They predict that Ireland is to blow right through our 2030 targets and miss the momentous...