Results 22,521-22,540 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments (11 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: 42. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of judicial vacancies that exist currently in each of the courts; the timescale envisaged to fill these vacancies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29782/16]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Private Partnerships (11 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: 310. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the current position regarding the revised Manual on Government Deficit and Debt, MGDD, published by EUROSTAT on 4 March 2016; the implications of these guidelines for the treatment of existing and future public-private partnerships, PPPs; the implications for future profit sharing between the State and PPPs; if he has had any...

Leaders' Questions (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: It is reported in The Irish Times this morning that the date on which social welfare increases will come into effect next year has not yet been agreed. Understandably, this has been the subject of considerable debate on national and local radio this morning. In recent months, the Labour Party argued for social welfare payments to be at least indexed. I welcome the fact that indexation has...

Leaders' Questions (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: I am afraid that is not a satisfactory position. The Taoiseach and I worked together for five years and even in the worst of times, we did not publish a budget document without knowing the precise figures. The Government has published tables that will be debated in the House. There is a cost involved for every week a payment is made. Will all the increases in social welfare benefits be...

Leaders' Questions (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: Are the documents outlining the costings accurate?

Leaders' Questions (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: The Government must make a decision because that is what Governments do.

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: Nothing.

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: Get to the point.

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: I will allow a Fianna Fáil exit. I was going to mention it in patches.

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: Earlier this week in a newspaper article I wrote I made two predictions about the budget. My first guess was that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, would wear a blue or a purple tie. My second was that the budget would not be regarded as fair, progressive or even sensible. I take no joy in being right on both fronts. For the first time in six years, I...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: It starts in September, but why not earlier? If this is the real issue it has been identified as being, why wait three quarters of the year before providing the support that is needed? We support the Minister's overall approach. However, to imagine that a sum of €32 million will deliver anything like universal coverage is obviously misguided. It will be quite complicated to deliver...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: I have said from the outset of my leadership of the Labour Party that we will give credit to and support the implementation of any measures in this House that are positive and progressive. I also made it clear that we will not support measures we regard as negative or backward moving, which is why we will not support this budget. The budget in the round cannot be regarded as having achieved...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: -----but Wexford Creamery milk is €1.32. That is roughly the equivalent of the difference of this budget to a household on the minimum wage. It is hard, seeing that reality, to agree with the Tánaiste that this budget is making work worthwhile. What is maddening about this is that it would not have cost much to make it different. A simple change to the terms of reference of...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: He must rank as the one of the least effective Ministers the House has ever seen. From arch-critic of Government spending to internal Government commentator and critic of the Taoiseach, he has certainly moved seamlessly from one role to another. Yesterday proved, however, that he has a long way to go to complete the transition to becoming a competent Minister. He did not propose a single...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: The Minister of State is not ten seconds in the door and only five minutes in the job.

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: In the worst of times, we managed quietly to defend and increase the budget for overseas development aid. The tragedy is that the Government has made such a choice while every household must continue to watch terrible events unfold in Syria. When Ruadhán Mac Cormaic reports that the city of Aleppo is dying while the world watches, every Irish citizen feels a reaction. When we see the...

Leaders' Questions (18 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: Fionnan Sheahan says it has.

Leaders' Questions (18 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: The Taoiseach's spokesman contradicted that.

Leaders' Questions (18 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: The decision of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, AGSI, to withdraw from working on four days during November means we are now facing a full Garda strike in all but name. The deployment of reservists who do not have the power of arrest will hardly reassure vulnerable people or communities about how public safety will be preserved during these days. The decision of the...

Leaders' Questions (18 Oct 2016)

Brendan Howlin: The Taoiseach will be aware that all public sector unions, not just those that are formally in dispute, are watching very closely what is happening here. Does the Taoiseach agree that what is now required is a whole of public service approach? Striking bilateral deals with any single union is not the way forward and there needs to be a clear pathway to full income recovery and the full...