Results 6,241-6,260 of 21,440 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Leaders' Questions (3 Jul 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is incredible that the leaders of the government arrangement choose to focus their energies on these tiffs rather than the serious issues that need to be addressed, none of which are more serious than the issue I raise today with the Tánaiste. People do not want to see self-indulgent fisticuffs over who is the biggest boy in the schoolyard.

Leaders' Questions (3 Jul 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: People want solutions. The Taoiseach and Teachta Micheál Martin need to cop themselves on and focus attention on the 88 children who are desperately in need of surgery. What does the Tánaiste say to the children who await this surgery and their parents? When will those 88 children have their operations?

Pre-European Council: Statements (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: My comments will relate particularly to the Friday meeting in Article 50 format and the issue of Brexit. This Council meeting is crunch time, as I have said to the Taoiseach before. We need to see realistic and workable solutions from the British Government as to how it proposes to avoid a hard border, uphold the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts and ensure that citizens' rights in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Structured Dialogue Process (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: 4. To ask the Taoiseach if he has held recent meetings with representatives of churches and faith communities as part of the church-State structured dialogue process. [27579/18]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Structured Dialogue Process (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: I share the Taoiseach's view that these conversations are important not least because of the fact that now, as we move into the beginning of the endgame of separating church and State, there is a need to reassure people of faith that their freedom to practise and freedom of religious expression is unfettered and supported by the State and Government. In so doing, it should be reiterated that...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Papal Visit (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: 2. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the preparations for the visit of Pope Francis in August 2018. [27578/18]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Papal Visit (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is regrettable that the Pope will not visit the North during his stay in this country. I have raised this with the Taoiseach before and I know it is not our remit to set an agenda for the Pontiff. That is a matter for himself and the Vatican. There is a huge level of disappointment. Very many people, and not only Catholics, would have welcomed a visit by Pope Francis. Has there been...

Questions on Promised Legislation (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: Although we are in the middle of the summer, the perpetual trolley crisis continues. Dr. Emily O'Connor, the spokesperson for accident and emergency consultants, is quoted this morning as saying that extra beds were promised but that there is no sign of them. Since the Taoiseach took office, 106,694 people have spent one night or more on a hospital trolley. I am sure the Taoiseach will...

Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: I wonder should I click my heels and say: "There's no place like home."

Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: The process undertaken by the Policing Authority is now complete and Mr. Drew Harris is to be appointed as the new Commissioner of An Garda Síochána. It is significant that somebody from the North, a serving PSNI officer and former RUC officer, has been appointed to this position. I met Mr. Harris and the Chief Constable of the PSNI, Mr. George Hamilton, in Belfast two weeks ago....

Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: I acknowledge that Mr. Harris comes to this job with his own story of loss and pain from the conflict in the North. That cannot be minimised in any way; Mr. Harris lost his father. What also cannot be minimised or sidelined are the concerns raised by victims of British state collusion, such as those expressed by Stephen Travers of the Miami Showband on the radio this morning. Mr. Travers...

Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that in order to bring about that radical transformation of policing, the new Garda Commissioner must have public confidence and that is what I am asking the Taoiseach about. Yesterday I raised with him the case of Pat Finucane. Many times we have raised incidents, not least the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, where British state collusion was writ large....

Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: I want to know what he has to say to Stephen Travers and to the other families.

Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: I want to hear that from the Taoiseach, as Head of Government. It would also be appropriate for Mr. Harris to make a statement addressing those issues of confidence - those real and deep-seated concerns because we all know that reform of An Garda Síochána-----

Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----has to work. This has to succeed. For it to succeed, the incoming Commissioner must enjoy public confidence.

Leaders' Questions (27 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Garda Commissioner.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (26 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: 3. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent visit to Spain. [26615/18]

Order of Business (26 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: The programme for Government commits to supporting the establishment of a public inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane almost 30 years ago. Today Pat's wife, Geraldine, and the Finucane family are in the British Supreme Court in an attempt to compel the British Government to fulfil its obligation to hold a public inquiry, as agreed at Weston Park in 2001. The Taoiseach may recall that in...

Leaders' Questions (26 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am not asking the Taoiseach to do anything other than to engage in wise and prudent use of public moneys. If, however, it is his view that there is not a crisis in the recruitment and retention of medical staff, particularly nurses, I must inform him that there are lots of people working on the front line who would strongly disagree with him. I am putting the simple proposition to the...

Leaders' Questions (26 Jun 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: Cuirim fáilte roimh Mr. Robin Newton. I also give a special welcome to Mr. Paddy Agnew, a former Deputy for Louth, who is in the Public Gallery. He was elected to the Dáil 37 years ago on an anti H-Blocks ticket. This is the first time he has been in Leinster House. I am sure everybody will extend a warm welcome to him. We are delighted he is here. It took him a while but he...