Results 1,981-2,000 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

Order of Business (12 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: It is hardly a good start to put 2,000 workers on the dole.

Order of Business (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: This morning the insurance companies are threatening major increases on unfortunate, hard-pressed householders who are already getting hammered with EU-IMF austerity and the policies of this Government. Can the Taoiseach point to legislation where he might require them to delve into the substantial profits they made in previous years rather than hitting people who cannot afford it?

Croke Park Agreement (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: Does the Taoiseach agree that public sector reform and the Croke Park agreement are really a crude cover for cutting thousands of jobs in the public sector? Does he agree that this will have severely damaging effects? The OECD stated just a few years ago that we had a small public sector compared with many other EU countries. How does he feel about this disgraceful blackmailing by Labour...

Departmental Correspondence (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: Can the Taoiseach elaborate on how many people work in the communications unit? Could he say exactly what they do in terms of keeping the Government informed as regards what is going on in the media? Is it the case that every Minister gets a file of coverage from the main newspapers every day in regard to his or her activities and that of the Government, and what exactly do they do? With...

Government Economic Management Council (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: I noticed Deputy Martin was very complimentary to Sir Humphrey this morning. I suppose that is because-----

Government Economic Management Council (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: Sir Humphrey had 14 years of good practice under Deputy Martin's party.

Government Economic Management Council (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: Did I understand the Taoiseach correctly to say that he would not give us the names of the members of the Economic Management Council, apart from those who are members of the Cabinet?

Government Economic Management Council (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: That is absurd. How are Irish citizens to know the quality of the membership and of the advice and decisions made by such a council if they do not know their identities? It is not as if this is a matter of significant national security. However, economic management is a massive issue for our people who are suffering the consequences of the current crisis of neoliberal capitalism. I put it...

Appointments to State Boards (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: Judging by the tenor of the friendly, loving conversation between the Taoiseach and Deputy Martin about appointments to the State boards, in which both of their parties have indulged, I do not believe they understand the huge cynicism among ordinary people about this blatant jobbery.

Appointments to State Boards (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: The replacement to the European Parliament-----

Appointments to State Boards (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: -----is provided for according to law. The Minister knows that well.

Appointments to State Boards (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: His party used the legal procedure, where five Deputies are announced before the election and their names published in Iris Oifigiúil and in polling stations.

Appointments to State Boards (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: The law which the Government made was adhered to in this respect to the letter.

Appointments to State Boards (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: That is the democratic process, limited and all as has been provided for by the Government. We are talking about disgraceful jobbery where 110 people were stuffed by Fianna Fáil on to State boards, just as Fine Gael did previously, and their only qualification, for the most part, is that they were hacks of the political parties concerned. When will we have an end to this kind of cynicism?

Communications Regulation (Postal Services) Bill 2010 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (13 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: This Bill enshrines the final steps towards full liberalisation of the postal services in Ireland. In doing that it represents the implementation of the baleful policy of the European Union which for decades now has been pushing the privatisation of all public services and enterprises within the European Union and for the handover, essentially, to European big business of key public services...

Order of Business (14 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: I want to ask about the Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 which seeks to amend the Education Act 1998 which provides for children with special needs, among other things. We hear there are to be no more teachers for special needs children because the European Union and the IMF demand it. We hear this morning from the enterprise Minister, promising in the legislation we have just heard about,...

Order of Business (14 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: That makes dummies out of all of you as well, by the way. All I hear is "his master's voice", and the EU-IMF dictates it. Is the legislation to restore the minimum wage, which the Government promised to introduce shortly, conditional on new attacks on low-paid workers to pay off more bad gambling debts for European banks?

Departmental Staff (19 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: Many staff in the Department of the Taoiseach are members of the Civil and Public Services Union, which organises the lowest-paid workers in the public service. Does the Taoiseach understand the anger of those members of his staff who at their conference rejected the Croke Park agreement because it simply consolidates savage pay cuts, slashes jobs in the public service and therefore worsens...

Departmental Staff (19 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: I heard noises offstage there, a Cheann Comhairle.

Departmental Staff (19 Apr 2011)

Joe Higgins: What is the Taoiseach's attitude to the Labour Party Ministers' bullying the lowest-paid and middle-paid public servants, including those in his Department, and threatening them with further pay cuts? I ask the Taoiseach to acknowledge that staff within his Department start out with extremely low annual wages in the low twenty thousands of euro. As a matter of interest, when the Taoiseach...