Results 2,441-2,460 of 4,092 for speaker:Michael D Higgins

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (18 Dec 2008)

Michael D Higgins: Question 262: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if a family resource centre was promised for the Ballinfoyle area of County Galway; if this remains the intention; and if it will be in the 2009 Estimates. [47475/08]

Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Bill 2009: Second Stage (20 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Hear, hear.

Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: What lies behind the purpose of this amendment would have the widest possible public support. People have seen a response that suggests the public is beyond understanding what has happened, that the public would not understand but more complicated people would understand. The public understands what happened very well. What the public is communicating to public representatives is that it...

Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: What would the inspector do? The inspector would draw the poison of a system that has damaged this country and create the clean conditions in which we could have an accountable culture of banking. It is not mysterious. There was one time people understood finance clearly. It is knowable, there is no mystery about it. The mystery came about when right-wing thinking suggested everybody...

Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Let us hope that other agencies of the State will do it. How is it that one can say to a board or, in preparation of documents required by company law, that one has borrowed X amount when one has transferred to oneself and moved on and off the balance sheet ten times that amount? When I think of the event earlier today, celebrating the First Dáil, and the kind of people who built Ireland,...

Middle East Peace Process. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Question 100: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the call made by a person (details supplied) and supported by Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon, for a full investigation in order to establish whether war crimes were committed in the recent military operations in Gaza. [2308/09]

Middle East Peace Process. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: I am grateful for the Minister's reply, and I note and welcome the distinction between the Irish position and the position of the European Union. Yesterday's meeting of the general affairs and external relations Ministers must be regarded as not only disappointing but as irresponsible in its failure to reach a conclusion to support international law. There are restrictions on what...

Middle East Peace Process. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Yes.

Middle East Peace Process. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Different dishonest relationships with the region.

Middle East Peace Process. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: I will make it brief. When Mr. John Ging stood alongside Ban Ki-moon in front of burning humanitarian aid in the UN compound, the UN Secretary General's request was that those responsible be brought to account. Nothing I have heard suggests that they will ever be brought to account. While I would welcome the Minister's strong position, an admission that the EU will not bring such people to...

Middle East Peace Process. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Yes, but it may be vetoed on the Security Council by the United States.

Middle East Peace Process. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: A tribunal would have to be agreed by the Security Council.

Middle East Peace Process. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Yes.

Human Rights Issues. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Yes.

EU Presidency. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: The platitudes.

Human Rights Issues. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Does the Minister consider that it would be useful, through the ambassador in New Delhi, to follow on the €1.1 million we spent through the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights by seeking opportunities there for assisting with the human rights mechanisms such as the Human Rights Commission, writing a constitution and bringing into existence institutions of civil society? Our...

EU Treaties. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Can we anticipate domestic legislation dealing with workers' rights and the social charter before its introduction into the general terms of what might be on offer to Ireland? Will workers' rights and the social charter be in domestic legislation before any referendum and will it be part of any referendum afterwards? If Ireland provides guarantees in domestic legislation it will then be in...

EU Treaties. (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: It is very important.

Written Answers — Foreign Conflicts: Foreign Conflicts (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Question 119: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his response to the recent statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that war crimes have been committed in Gaza and Israel in recent weeks. [1922/09]

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (27 Jan 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Question 940: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on the two year limit on illness benefit payable to people with 260 contributions as it impacts in general terms as well as in the specific case of a person (details supplied). [1116/09]