Results 2,861-2,880 of 11,500 for speaker:Gerry Adams

Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: I want to make a political comment and to ask the Taoiseach a question. The Minister for Health has closed down 296 public nursing home beds and he has an investment in a private nursing home. This raises a legitimate question and the Minister can come in and explain that, if he can, tomorrow. Another issue which should concern the Taoiseach is that one of the Minister's business partners...

Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: This Government said it would be transparent.

Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: Let me try again. I will abide by the Chair's ruling, but I think it is entirely appropriate for me to stand up here and ask the Taoiseach whether it is appropriate for a Minister who is closing down public nursing home beds to have an investment in a private nursing home.

Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: The Taoiseach should answer the question without mentioning rubbish.

Office of the Attorney General (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: Question 1: To ask the Taoiseach the number of staff currently employed in the Office of the Attorney General. [23755/12]

Office of the Attorney General (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: Question 2: To ask the Taoiseach if any assessments regarding staff numbers and efficiency has been held in relation to the Office of the Attorney General since he took office. [23756/12]

Office of the Attorney General (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: I have two specific reasons for asking this question about staffing. The Taoiseach may recall that last November, he agreed to meet Opposition leaders to discuss demands for an independent inquiry into sexual abuse allegations in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. At that time, the Taoiseach said he was taking advice from the Attorney General but that he would meet Opposition...

Office of the Attorney General (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: The point is fully relevant. I was told at the different times I raised these issues that the Government was waiting for advice from the Attorney General. Not having been advised otherwise, I was concerned that there may be pressures on that office. The Taoiseach also noted on a number of occasions that there are pressures on the Attorney General's office due to the demands of the EU-IMF...

Employment Rights (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: Question 3: To ask the Taoiseach the contact he has had with the social partners since the Easter recess. [23766/12]

Employment Rights (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: Some employers do not want to waste a good recession and many workers have been denied rights. The Taoiseach spoke eloquently about the Vita Cortex employees in Cork and said that what they wanted was respect. We saw similar situations in La Senza, Lagan Brick, Game, Vodafone, Irish Cement and Diageo. I understand that 25 workers currently occupy a call centre company, Éist agus Cuidiú...

Employment Rights (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: My question was about the social partners and the Taoiseach's engagement with them. Have the Government's plans to amalgamate the five employment rights bodies been discussed with the social partners? Will the change improve the entitlements of workers? I think we will see more of this. I sat with Members of the Taoiseach's party as we heard from the Lagan Brick folks, who have been on...

Departmental Staff (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: I did not hear the figure.

Departmental Staff (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: Is that to do constituency work on the Taoiseach's behalf?

Departmental Staff (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: Let me give the Taoiseach some figures, if I may, for him to cogitate on - these are from the Irish League of Credit Unions. Some 1.8 million citizens have less than €100 per month to live on, after bills are paid. Some 50% have had to borrow to pay household bills in the past, with 10% of them using moneylenders in the past 12 months. Some 17%, or over 600,000 citizens, have nothing...

Departmental Staff (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: Can I just finish my point, a Cheann Comhairle?

Departmental Staff (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: We also have a situation in the Department of the Taoiseach where a ceiling for special advisers is set at €92,000, yet some of the Taoiseach's special advisers, including one who was in the news recently, earn almost twice that.

Departmental Staff (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: I consciously did not name the persons involved, a Cheann Comhairle. If there are to be cuts - we are approaching a winter of cuts - they should start at the top. They should start in the Taoiseach's office with the man who is in charge of the Government and the staff he employs there. That is how we will get an end to the inequality that austerity is reinforcing, as well as a narrowing of...

Abolition of Seanad Éireann (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: Shakespeare also said: "There is a tide in the affairs of men." One thing I have learned from being here is that when the Taoiseach decides not to answer a question, he does not answer it. I was going to ask him when we could expect legislation on the future of the Seanad and when a referendum would be likely to be held. There is a seanfhocal in the North that states "Whatever you say, say...

Abolition of Seanad Éireann (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: Let me try another couple of questions. Sinn Féin's view is that the issue of the future of the Seanad should be part of the constitutional convention. If we are carrying out a thorough review of the Constitution, covering the electoral system, the political system, presidential terms and so on, it seems appropriate to put the Seanad into that also. Some of these other issues are also...

Abolition of Seanad Éireann (10 Jul 2012)

Gerry Adams: A reformed Seanad could find space for people such as the Traveller community, for people who are disenfranchised, for people from the diaspora and citizens living in the North. Will the electorate be presented with options on the future of the Seanad or will it simply be a choice between the status quo and abolition?