Results 28,181-28,200 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Legislative Programme (14 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: The Government approved an expansion and reinforcement of the arrangements for pre-legislative scrutiny in September 2013. A number of new Standing Orders were adopted by the Dáil on 17 October 2013 in order to underpin these new arrangements and these Standing Orders came into effect on 5 November 2013. In order to clarify the operation of these new Standing Orders, an Agreed Protocol...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Legislative Programme (14 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: I have initiated six Bills since September 2013, five of which have been enacted. The details requested by the Deputy are set out in the following table. Bills Initiated by Minister for Social Protection since September 2013 Title of Bill as initiated Date Initiated Status Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013 (No. 101 of 2013) 21th October 2013 Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2013 (No....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Staff Data (14 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 118 to 120, inclusive, together. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform circular 3/2013 governs the staff exchange scheme between the civil service and the private sector. I can confirm that there have been no secondments into the Department from any external private firm or any secondment from the Department to an external private firm in the years...

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: I begin by wishing everybody a happy new year. It is a bit disappointing to see that Deputy Cowen must not have had a break over Christmas to read up on Irish Water. As he rightly acknowledges, the new charging structure will see a gross charge of €160 for an individual living alone, less the water conservation grant of €100 that the Department of Social Protection will pay....

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: His concern ought to be with clean water for the public, and sufficient water to provide for the country's industrial, economic, tourism and agricultural needs. As his party's spokesperson on environmental issues, I am sure Deputy Cowen is aware that the greater Dublin area is living on the edge as regards water supplies. We know what happened some years ago in County Galway and Galway city...

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: -----clean and safe water to drink. If those in Fianna Fáil are happy to bring people in Ireland back to that era - if that is their objective as we start out in 2015 - they have moved very far from what the party once stood for.

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: It is ironic that those in Fianna Fáil would have the nerve to come in here on a morning when the Governor of the Central Bank is downstairs retelling the sad story of how Fianna Fáil chose to expend €34 billion on two failed financial entities, Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide.

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: It was €34 billion. If the Deputy is going to throw figures around, let us look at the big figures.

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: Let me come back to the main point the Deputy is asking about. He is concerned that over their lifetime there will be some replacement of water meters. The purpose of the meters is to do what the Deputy, and everybody across the House, has called for on successive occasions - that is, to stop the situation whereby up to 40% of expensive, treated water in this country goes to waste through leaks.

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: For decades, people on all sides of this House, including the Labour Party and Fine Gael, have asked that the fixing of leaks should be prioritised. It is not possible to find and fix the leaks unless we have a structure to identify them.

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: Second, water meters will provide the mechanism for people to control their use of water and conserve water, which we need to do as a country. The cost of fixing these meters when they come up for renewal - and they are expected to last a minimum of 15 years - will be roughly €5 million per year.

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: They will take five minutes to fix and will cost up to €50 per unit. That is in line with the best international figures on these matters.

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: In the budget 2015 statement, the Government committed a significant amount of capital financing to a new housing programme, which is one of the biggest ever launched in the history of this country. The Deputy is correct in saying that it is not possible to plan, design, build, fit out and hand keys over for houses within a short period. Anybody with experience of house building will know...

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: No.

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: The Deputy is fantasising.

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: Let me repeat for the Deputy the answer I just gave her. I said that in the budget, which was the first part of implementing the strategy, the Government made the largest allocation of Government funding for capital and current purposes to provide families with homes. That is step one. Step two is actually to provide that finance. The Deputy, but not I, quibbled that all the finance was...

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: One must put the finance in place and then one must do the planning.

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: The Deputy seems slightly irritated over the fact that the Minister has met the county managers-----

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: -----and that he meets them on a weekly basis. That is to the Minister's credit. The Deputy asked what part of the country the problem is in.

Leaders' Questions (15 Jan 2015)

Joan Burton: The problem is at its most acute in the Dublin area, as she might have known having the honour to represent a Dublin constituency, because the population in the Dublin area is growing because there is so much employment being created there.