Results 7,061-7,080 of 12,596 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: If they did what we have done, they would not have these measures.

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: It is illegal.

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: It is not making much of an impression.

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Unemployment is rising.

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: It was faint praise.

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: The talk is all one way.

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: They will be paid the dole.

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: They will get €200.

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Unemployment is rising.

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: With the permission of the House I wish to share time with Deputies Timmy Dooley, Brendan Smith and Michael Healy-Rae. I congratulate my colleague, Deputy Michael McGrath, on his initiative in bringing forward this urgent and necessary legislation and on the energy, time and effort he has undoubtedly put into it. In so far as I can I will approach the matter in an non-partisan way but I am...

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Lo and behold what happened last weekend? The Keane report was published. I contacted all the constituents who had been in touch with me. I have a large file on the matter which is growing every week, the Government will be pleased to hear. I informed them about what was in the Keane report. Their reactions ranged from shock, dismay, disbelief and despair that eight months down the road...

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: I do not understand the point of the Keane report but I know what the Government's reaction will involve: the setting up of another committee to kick the can further down the road and make people suffer more. This time it will be a 165 person committee; I presume the Ceann Comhairle is excluded. Now, the 165 man committee consisting of the Dáil is supposed to examine the report and come up...

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: There have been three reports after eight months. Deputy Lynch was a good person to stand up for the working class people who were struggling to pay their mortgages and to get by from week to week. She has forgotten her base. She went into Government like the rest of the Labour Party.

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: One word I have heard Ministers use consistently with regard to this problem is "urgent". The word "urgent" is defined in any dictionary as compelling or requiring immediate action or attention. Apparently, that is not in the Government's dictionary. All one finds in the Government's dictionary is "interdepartmental committee" or "no definitive timeline". The Government's dictionary...

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Given that is clear the Government must act, why put hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children through unnecessary suffering? Even if Deputy McGrath's Bill was accepted by the Government and passed immediately, it would require the establishment of major infrastructure, as would the enactment of a Government Bill. In that case and based on the Government's timetable, it will...

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: If Deputy Lynch is so concerned about the urgency of addressing the issue, why does he not recommend to his colleagues in government that they accept the Bill in order that we can at least begin the process now, rather than in 12, 14 or 15 months?

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Do two wrongs make a right? That is what the Deputy appears to be arguing. The Government does not have a case. It is standing naked before the people it promised to assist. I can show Government Deputies my constituency files which note people's remarks to me during the general election campaign that they would not vote for me but would vote for Fine Gael or the Labour Party because...

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Unfortunately, all the indications are that people will remain disappointed and mortgages will not be the only issue they will be disappointed about in the next three or four years.

Job Losses (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: As has been noted, the catastrophe that occurred in Aviva Insurance today had been well flagged, including, for example, in September when the company announced a review. The tone and content of that statement left us in no doubt as to what was on the way. What has the Government been doing in the meantime? What precise action has taken place to avert, or at least mitigate, this...

Job Losses (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: I am glad to hear about the meetings the Minister, Deputy Bruton, attended. To what extent did the Minister and the State agencies engage? The impression I get from the Minister of State's speech, and more particularly from the Taoiseach's replies today, is that the Government and the State agencies appear to be passive recipients of information from Aviva rather than actively engaging with...