Results 15,001-15,020 of 16,395 for speaker:Peadar Tóibín

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received: P00029/12, P00033/12, P00038/12 and P00053/12 (17 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: Is that agreed? Agreed. The next petition is P00053/12 in the name of Mrs. Catherine Doran concerning eligibility criteria for the contributory State pension. This is an interesting petition in that it affects a significant number of older people in Ireland, and women in particular. This individual is clearly having difficulties and is not allowed under the current legislative arrangement...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received: P00029/12, P00033/12, P00038/12 and P00053/12 (17 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: We are here to discuss the decisions made on the petitions that have been formulated and sent to the committee. There have been 33 petitions sent. A great deal of work has been done in bringing the petitions to the necessary level that the committee can investigate them and the members of the committee have spent time deliberating and reading up on the petitions. The first petition for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received: P00029/12, P00033/12, P00038/12 and P00053/12 (17 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: Is the proposal by Senator O'Keeffe agreed? Agreed. The second petition is P00033/12 from Cearbhaill Ó Dalaigh concerning the transparency of the Central Bank. Mr. Ó Dalaigh is seeking to extend the powers of the Ombudsman and the Freedom of Information Acts to the Central Bank, and he also wants the committee to examine whether the co-operation agreement between the National...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received: P00029/12, P00033/12, P00038/12 and P00053/12 (17 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: Aontaím leat, a Sheanadóra. Ba cheart go mbéadh an chuid is mó den chóras poiblí trédhearcach, chomh fada agus a bhéadh sin oiriúnach don Stát. We should try to create a system within the State that is as transparent as possible. However, there would be a couple of issues. It is important for us to gain further information from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received: P00029/12, P00033/12, P00038/12 and P00053/12 (17 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: On the specific issue of the Central Bank coming under the remit of the Ombudsman, I propose that we request that we carry out an investigation on that and that we write to the Central Bank and the National Consumer Agency to ascertain their perspectives on how this should proceed, and write to the petitioner seeking further evidence with which to proceed.

Other Questions: Human Rights Issues (17 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide a report on the newly formed Ireland Saudi Arabia Business Council; and the expected economic benefits of this council; if he will be raising the issue of domestic human rights abuses with the Saudi Arabian Government. [44809/12]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Trade Mission Numbers (17 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if there are any trade missions planned to visit Russia in the near future, on the back of the trade mission he led to Russia in June. [44814/12]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ireland-US Economic Relations: Discussion with American Chamber of Commerce Ireland (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: Reference was made to comparative marginal tax rates between the United States and this country. What are the comparative effective tax rates between both countries? Am I correct in saying the Netherlands receives the greatest level of FDI as per the report? It has one of the highest marginal tax rates in the world. I wish to get a better understanding of the issue. We are having an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ireland-US Economic Relations: Discussion with American Chamber of Commerce Ireland (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: It would be good if we could all get our hands on it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ireland-US Economic Relations: Discussion with American Chamber of Commerce Ireland (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: The key issue is what comes out of one’s pocket.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Business of Joint Committee (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: I have a small request on a separate issue. At the previous meeting there may have been a perception among the representatives of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation that we were blaming them. I walked past them outside and one comment I overheard was that one would swear they were responsible for the situation. It might be useful for us to send a letter saying that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Business of Joint Committee (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: It was the views of those individuals that I was trying to get more than anything else.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ireland-US Economic Relations: Discussion with American Chamber of Commerce Ireland (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: How can we better integrate foreign direct investment with Irish suppliers?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ireland-US Economic Relations: Discussion with American Chamber of Commerce Ireland (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: Could the delegation respond to my question on exports?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ireland-US Economic Relations: Discussion with American Chamber of Commerce Ireland (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: Is that $2 billion reduction in exports representative of a trend and, if so, to what do we ascribe it?

Other Questions: Disability Allowance (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she is concerned by the rate of refusal of disability allowance at first application in view of the fact that 33% of appeals against these refusals are successful. [44561/12]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Ireland-US Economic Relations: Discussion with American Chamber of Commerce Ireland (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: Bhí an cur i láthair sin an-suimiúil. It goes without saying that the relationship between Ireland and the US is of great importance, as is the success of Ireland in attracting foreign direct investment and of US companies operating here. This relationship must be strengthened and developed. It is startling to note that 107,000 people are employed by US firms, while Irish...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals: COM (2011) 778 and COM (2011) 779 (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: What was in the 2006 directive and what is potentially in this directive that will prevent the mistakes made in auditing during the banking crisis?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals: COM (2011) 778 and COM (2011) 779 (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: I appreciate that and I understand what Mr. Houlihan has said, that legally, under the current framework, nobody can point to the fact, in a court of law, that these auditors were wrong. However, outside of the law, we know that they gave banks a clean bill of health for a year and six months later those banks were under a banking guarantee.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals: COM (2011) 778 and COM (2011) 779 (16 Oct 2012)

Peadar Tóibín: It is relevant though, because if this regulation does not deal with these issues then-----