Results 2,521-2,540 of 7,203 for speaker:Ruth Coppinger

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Reclassification of Approved Housing Bodies: Discussion (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: I mean it will be one-third of public housing. That is the shift. To clarify, Fingal County Council has given over all of its land and it is generally approved housing bodies rather than the council building them. It is council land that is being used so it is a shift and we should not pretend that it is not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Reclassification of Approved Housing Bodies: Discussion (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: That is problematic. The council has agreed to develop 1,100 or 1,200 units on one site in Blanchardstown, at Damastown. Is that going to be divided up into eight housing bodies? That will be a nightmare. The representation issue is important because of tenants with pyrite who have not been able to get any communication from their housing body. I have raised this before but nothing has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Reclassification of Approved Housing Bodies: Discussion (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: We raised some of the same issues in today's earlier session with the approved housing bodies. My questions are directed more at the CSO and the Department, however. Can the CSO clarify for us that the approved housing bodies are being put onto the State balance sheet on the basis that they are almost exclusively financed by Government? Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Reclassification of Approved Housing Bodies: Discussion (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: To me, the upping of housing provision under the approved housing bodies was a deliberate tactic to try to bypass the fiscal rules. It would seem that maybe the game is up on that now. I wanted to raise a number of issues with the Department about the EU fiscal rules. Some of these points came up in the special committee on housing and homelessness. Has there been any movement on them in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Reclassification of Approved Housing Bodies: Discussion (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: Mr. McCarthy does not agree with the former Minister for Finance, who told the housing committee that if it goes on the balance sheet, we break the fiscal rules.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Reclassification of Approved Housing Bodies: Discussion (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: I am sorry, and I will not interrupt Mr. McCarthy again, but just to clarify this point. Is he saying the Government could spend the money if it decided, for example, to introduce a wealth tax or something, to pay for house building? Could it do that? Could it decide to increase taxation of a sector to do that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Reclassification of Approved Housing Bodies: Discussion (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: Has there been any discussion about something like a millionaires' tax or wealth tax or some kind of major taxation to build houses?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Reclassification of Approved Housing Bodies: Discussion (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: I am delighted to hear this brought out because they could decide to increase taxation on, for example, the huge wealth we saw amassed last year, much of it based on property prices, by the way.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Reclassification of Approved Housing Bodies: Discussion (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: It was not to get around the rule.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Reclassification of Approved Housing Bodies: Discussion (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: That would be fine except they use council land and public land. It is not like they are coming up with land themselves. This could easily be done by local authorities. Most people would have viewed it as being a way to outsource this to smaller bodies in order to bypass the rule. Why else would they be in here pleading for a change of policy?

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disability Services Provision (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: 26. To ask the Minister for Health if he will report on the waiting times for assessment for occupational therapy and speech and language therapy for children; the measures that will be taken to end waiting times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6381/18]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products Availability (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: 83. To ask the Minister for Health if he will report on the use of Mifepristone and Misoprostol for the termination of pregnancy here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6380/18]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: 138. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the income thresholds for the student universal support grant which will be reviewed to take into account the rising cost of living for students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6550/18]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Cancer Screening Programmes (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: 238. To ask the Minister for Health the waiting times for breast check; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6642/18]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Cancer Screening Programmes (8 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: 239. To ask the Minister for Health if he will increase the frequency of breast check in all areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6643/18]

Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members] (7 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: We are interested actually.

Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members] (7 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: The response of the Government to the Bill is shocking. In its presentation the Government said that in 32 years' time - a generation away - in the year 2050, Ireland might be able to reduce its emissions by 80%. This is not even true. In the past month, the Climate Change Advisory Council has stated that the Government will miss the 2020 targets. Professor John FitzGerald of that council...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach said he will listen to the interview, but he might bring the Tánaiste to sit and listen to it with him. The first issue is that Sarah was not asked if she had allergies. She was asked about her sex life. That is the reality of it. The morning after pill is safer than paracetamol or Nurofen. One can go to the counter and get it without any...

Leaders' Questions (7 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: I wonder if the Taoiseach listened to an interview on Monday on RedFM, a Cork radio station, with a woman called Sarah. In short, Sarah is a victim of rape who was refused morning-after contraception and ended up having to go to Britain for a late abortion at great expense and trauma. In the context of a debate about unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks versus restrictions, I...

Centenary of Women's Suffrage: Statements (6 Feb 2018)

Ruth Coppinger: Obviously, this is a momentous day in that it is the centenary of some women being granted the right to vote before, four years later, in the case of Ireland, that was extended to all women on an equal basis with men. However, there are huge lessons to be learned for people engaged in social movements, in anti-austerity movements and in global feminist movements from the struggle that women...