Results 301-320 of 3,850 for speaker:Mick Wallace in 'Dáil debates'

Structural Assessments of Schools: Statements (7 Nov 2018)

Mick Wallace: There are many issues at play here, and we can only scratch at them at the moment. The problems in the construction industry in Ireland reflect poorly on this Government, the previous Government and the Government before that. Nothing is being done about the problems that prevail. How in God's name did one company get so much State work? I would love to know that. What kind of...

Data Sharing and Governance Bill 2018 [Seanad]: Second Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Mick Wallace: The Bill contains some welcome provisions which have the potential to improve efficiency in the public sector, interactions between staff and the public and also reduce costs. The proposed personal data access portal, the establishment of a data governance board and new data sharing agreement requirements, particular the necessity for all public bodies to hold a public consultation process...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Foreign Conflicts (18 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: I am disappointed with the Tánaiste's answer, and he did not answer my two questions either. Did he raise the plight of the people of Yemen and the threat of starvation this week at the Foreign Affairs Council or did he just talk about the journalist? I am amused that the journalist is getting such coverage and the ordinary people of Yemen are being starved to death. It has been...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Foreign Conflicts (18 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: The control of the story of Yemen and the spin surrounding it are scary. Our own State broadcaster, RTÉ, cannot mention the Houthis without saying "Iranian-backed Houthis" despite the fact that it has no evidence of this. I have not seen anyone else produce such evidence either. The Houthis robbed most of their ammunition and guns from former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's government...

Third Interim Report of the Disclosures Tribunal: Statements (17 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: I have read the report. I would like to have an hour to make my contribution but I have only a few minutes. On 8 June, Mr. Justice Peter Charleton said "I know that an awful lot of people haven't been telling me the truth". I welcome Mr. Justice Charleton’s report. He had a very difficult job. He said it was a dreadful struggle, but he has done incredibly well. We attended...

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Second Stage (Resumed) (16 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: A number of Deputies in their Second Stage contributions have claimed that the people voted in the referendum earlier this year with the heads of this Bill in mind and that, therefore, we should stick to the draft legislation that was published before the referendum. While some, or even a majority of people, may have voted with the heads of the Bill in mind, we have no idea to what extent...

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (16 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: There was a Foreign Affairs Council meeting yesterday. Not surprisingly, there was talk about Mr. Khashoggi and his terrible disappearance from the Saudi embassy. It is in no way surprising. I am not surprised that the Saudis are misbehaving or that western media are now so exercised about the same thing. There is no excitement among the western media about what is happening in Yemen,...

Resignation of Minister: Statements (11 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: I am not going to try to defend the mistakes made by former Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten. One of the most nauseating aspects of this strange place is the head-hunting that takes occurs. More often than not, it is linked to political expediency rather than the serious problem of how the system operates. Personal attacks in the context of head-hunting, when there is so much more to an...

Resignation of Minister: Statements (11 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: The Government threw Deputy Fitzgerald under the bus. We were very critical of her as Minister for Justice and Equality but we did not go after her head. The third interim report of the disclosures tribunal was published earlier by Mr. Justice Charleton. It is an excellent report. It does no harm to Deputy Fitzgerald or to the Comptroller and Auditor General - the same Comptroller and...

Financial Resolution No. 3: Value-Added Tax (9 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: I declare that I have an interest in the restaurant industry. The Government does not understand how VAT affects the food and restaurant industry. Only the big restaurants will benefit from this. One could not defend the hotels given the prices they have charged for hotel rooms in Dublin for some time. However, I know many restaurants that will struggle to survive after this change. I...

Financial Resolutions 2019 - Budget Statement 2019 (9 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: This is the eighth budget since I became a Member. I suppose they have one thing in common in that they were very similar and none of them was inspiring. Little has changed in how budgets have been done over those eight years that I can remember. I heard some people saying today that this was an election budget. I do not think so. After listening to Fianna Fáil kissing Paschal's...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Human Rights (4 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: On the issue of human rights, the Minister is probably aware that the United Nations Human Rights Council mandated an examination of the human rights situation in Yemen. It is very damning. It said that more non-military than military targets have been struck in Yemen. Those responsible are targeting food production, agriculture and animals. The latest tactic of the coalition of Saudi...

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (3 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: The lack of honesty in the Government's approach and its failure to acknowledge the fact they have failed miserably to deal with the housing crisis is shocking. I heard Audrey Carville pin down the Minister to eventually putting a figure on the number of newly built local authority social housing in 2018 and he put it at 4,000. I advice him that the chances of that happening are less than...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Shannon Airport Facilities (3 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: 48. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if it is the case that Defence Forces personnel involved in aid to civil power duties at Shannon Airport in 2018 were not protecting US military aircraft involved in war or military activity; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39997/18]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Shannon Airport Facilities (3 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: This is not a new question, but there are always new circumstances. The world insists on throwing up new facts to support the case that what we are allowing to happen at Shannon is unethical, criminal and morally indefensible. For more than 15 years we have allowed our airspace and airports to be used to fuel the destruction of any country that gets in the way of the hegemony of the United...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Shannon Airport Facilities (3 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: The Minister has spoken about the past 50 years, but he knows well that the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2001 was a game-changer in terms of how Shannon Airport is used. The American military has been using Shannon to funnel death and destruction around the world. What it is doing in Yemen today has to be the most inhuman and disgusting episode yet. What is happening to that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Shannon Airport Facilities (3 Oct 2018)

Mick Wallace: While I understand that four Departments are involved, the Minister of State's Department is one of them. Bad things are happening in Shannon, and the Minister of State is overseeing it. Not only are the media not telling the truth about what is going on in Shannon, but the UN itself is complicit. Two years ago, the UN told us that almost 10,000 people had been killed in Yemen. The most...

Engagement with Investment Funds: Motion [Private Members] (27 Sep 2018)

Mick Wallace: They have made a fortune at the expense of the Irish people. They bought loans from NAMA for peanuts, paid a bribe to get Project Eagle in the North and we are fine with that. God help us. What will the history books tell us? I hope they detail statements the Government made in this House in its efforts to defend what has taken place. I remember begging Fine Gael and the Labour Party...

Engagement with Investment Funds: Motion [Private Members] (27 Sep 2018)

Mick Wallace: I find it hard to listen to the Minister of State talking about insolvency legislation and what it protects and does not. It is absolutely useless because the Government allowed a bank veto. It was a waste of time. Deputy McGuinness pointed out that there were 125 meetings with vulture funds between 2013 and 2016 but that they would not meet the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public...

Regulation establishing Internal Security Fund: Motion (27 Sep 2018)

Mick Wallace: We have no say in military matters. That is a joke. A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, you should pick the Minister up on that.