Results 2,921-2,940 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Order of Business. (8 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: Will the Ceann Comhairle ask the Minister if he is willing to——

Order of Business. (8 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: As Deputies are aware, significant changes have been made to the arrangements for the forthcoming budget. The Minister for Finance intends to publish the Estimates at the same time as the Budget Statement. Opposition Deputies, including finance spokespersons, do not receive a copy of the Budget Statement until the Minister rises to deliver it in the House. It used to be the case that...

Order of Business. (8 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: It is not a surprise.

Order of Business. (8 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: That is the kind of trite answer that has got the Minister into hot water regarding Shannon.

Order of Business. (8 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: Our difficulty this year is that the Estimates process will be absorbed into the budget. We have no problem with that in principle and the Minister, Deputy Dempsey, correctly mentioned that we were in favour of that reform, but the difficulty is that the Estimates will not be announced until they are revealed with the Budget Statement. We need advance notice of the intentions of the Estimates.

Order of Business. (8 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: In the past, every line Minister held a press conference in his or her Department to outline the details of the Estimate proposals. That is all gone this year. We understand the reform. We are not as intellectually challenged as the Minister for Transport seems to think we are. We are seeking arrangements which will facilitate Deputies and the media as we try to develop a comprehensive...

Pupil-Teacher Ratio. (13 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: Question 52: To ask the Minister for Education and Science further to her reply to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 125, 150 and 158 of 2 October 2007 the reason for the discrepancy in the promise in the programme for Government to reduce the primary pupil-teacher ratio to one primary teacher for every 24 primary pupils by 2010 when she herself asserts that the primary pupil teacher ratio...

Schools Building Projects. (13 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: In spring during the run-up to the teacher unions' conferences and the general election, the Minister for Education and Science announced to a media fanfare that a primary school, under the patronage of the VEC, would be built for Diswellstown, Castleknock, Dublin 15. The Minister's decision was seen as an overdue response to the large number of children seeking primary school places, a...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (13 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: Question 81: To ask the Minister for Education and Science, further to Parliamentary Question No. 116 of 2 October 2007, if the student maintenance grant has increased in line with the increases in the student charge levied by the third level institutes, which now stands at €825; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28457/07]

Leaders' Questions (14 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: I will move to a different issue. I congratulate the Taoiseach and his Ministers on arriving to work in the Dáil today clean and dry at a time when thousands of Dubliners are out there walking through the rain to work. Some years ago, at the beginning of November 2005, there was an extraordinary Government media blitz when the Taoiseach and an array of Ministers set out the plan for...

Leaders' Questions (14 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: Those people were to come home and find, in the space of five or six years from 2005, public transport transformed in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. Here we are in November 2007, it is a rainy day out there and many women like me are having a bad hair day because there is no public transport.

Leaders' Questions (14 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: Most people out there are not interested in a jet or a yacht, they would just like to see buses and trains and more Luas trams. What has happened to the plan? The Minister for Transport announced the extension of the Tallaght Luas line to Citywest is to be put back. The Connolly to the Docklands Luas extension is essential to connect up the new Docklands station. I was there when the...

Leaders' Questions (14 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: Where is the Government on the public transport issue?

Leaders' Questions (14 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: My question concerned public transport. I would be the first to acknowledge the National Roads Authority seems to have finally got its act together. The changes by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, regarding funding procedures have helped. Not everyone wants to or can drive a car into Dublin city centre, Limerick, Cork or Galway. If we want to do our business as a modern economy,...

Leaders' Questions (14 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: They are walking.

Leaders' Questions (14 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: It is also the smallest in Europe.

Northern Ireland Issues. (14 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: On behalf of the Labour Party, I join the Taoiseach in expressing our condolences to those families bereaved by the fire in Omagh, as well as to the town itself, which has suffered many different atrocities down the years. I acknowledge the work of the Taoiseach and Tony Blair in respect of the time, effort and commitment they have given to ensure the successful restoration of the Executive...

Order of Business (14 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: During the last Government the Taoiseach professed himself many times to be committed to regulating and legislating for management companies and agents of apartment blocks and housing developments. We are in a declining property market where many new housing developments and apartment blocks in west Dublin are subject to management companies. Despite the issue being debated here several...

Order of Business (14 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: We have a promise from the Taoiseach.

Order of Business (14 Nov 2007)

Joan Burton: The property services regulatory authority legislation is on the list of Bills, but we are getting nowhere with it. What is the Taoiseach's view at this stage? When is his Government going to address this issue? There is no regulation and young people buying homes are at the mercy of rogue developers who will not put management companies on a proper footing.