Results 29,801-29,820 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: After it finished wrecking the banks and the construction industry, we are getting the story of what happened on different nights in dribs and drabs.
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: The particular contribution of the Department in which the Deputy had the honour to serve was to cut the minimum wage by €1 an hour. The previous Government cut social welfare by €16 or €17 a week.
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: We maintained the weekly rates and, as a consequence, the social welfare system in Ireland has had the largest reduction in poverty risk of almost any state in the European Union. For the information of the Deputy, our social welfare system is a strong system of support for people when they need it and helps people of working age get back to work. If the Deputy is suggesting that people...
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: The changes in debt reform are long overdue. Taking prison out of civil debt issues is a reform that has been required in the country since the foundation of the State and we will now introduce it. That is why so many organisations have welcomed that change. Fianna Fáil should welcome it. Were it true to the philosophy-----
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: It is my objective, as Minister for Social Protection, as I have told the Deputy, to get as many people as possible back into work and thereby significantly improve their income and that of their households and to improve the life chances of any children they may have. The social welfare system in this country is strong and is built on social solidarity and a social contract. A lot of...
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: Whether Deputy McDonald believes it or not, people find value in life by participating in the community and particularly by being able to get well-paid work and develop a well-paid career.
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: As regards this proposal in respect of civil debt, does Sinn Féin welcome the fact that when this legislation is enacted people will no longer be imprisoned for civil debt matters?
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: Deputies on all sides of the House have called for this basic reform over a very long period. Does Sinn Féin welcome it or not? It is a fundamental reform of how debt is dealt with. The second thing about debt in a modern society is that it affects people at all levels of society. As we know from the crash, it is not just people on a tight budget who find it difficult to manage -...
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: On the matter of debt, I cannot give the Deputy the kind of detail she is looking for because the legislation is being drafted as we speak. The Government made a principled decision yesterday evening to adopt broadly the reforms advocated by the Law Reform Commission in 2010 in respect of civil debt, particularly to distinguish between those who will not pay despite being on comfortable...
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: Earlier on in her tirade, Deputy McDonald asked me whether I would have a conversation with Deputy Michael Noonan. I ask her if she has ever had a conversation with her party leader about various issues concerning him, or is she a coward? Secondly, in respect of some of the people sitting in this Chamber who have the honour to represent people in this country, our salaries and conditions...
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: They are not suggesting they cannot pay but that someone on a very handsome salary should get the compliant pensioner to-----
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: We have over 1.2 million people-----
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: Really?
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: I could have a discussion with Deputy Crowe about disgracing one's self any day of the week if he is prepared to talk about things. The issue is somebody who is well off and refuses to pay.
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: Deputy McDonald has clearly had a chance to look at the Law Reform Commission report. The heart of that report is to distinguish between those who can pay but will not, and those who do not have the ability to pay.
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: The report sets out mechanisms and methods whereby people who cannot pay will be helped in dealing with debt issues. Allow me to say one thing I regret about the water campaign-----
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: The Deputy and her colleagues have an absolute right to campaign and march on the street at any stage. However, in the previous history of campaigns by ultra-left groups, the charges that ordinary people were subjected to have mounted up. When those groups left and went to join another campaign those ordinary people were left to face those charges.
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: This has happened in campaign after campaign.
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: Many people in the House know about helping families who unfortunately ended up with serious debts. What this legislation is attempting to do, and what the Department of Social Protection is doing-----
- Leaders' Questions (7 May 2015)
Joan Burton: We are spending as a country on behalf of all the citizens-----