Results 3,061-3,080 of 4,092 for speaker:Michael D Higgins

Order of Business (14 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: That is it.

Proposed Legislation. (14 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Question 156: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will bring legislation before the Houses of the Oireachtas in autumn 2009 to provide for directly elected mayors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35822/09]

Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (14 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Question 133: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if the market value of a house acquired under the leasing initiative increases substantially in value over the course of the lease period benefit will accrue to the local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35821/09]

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: It is mushroom week.

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Hear, hear.

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: I do not intend to delay the House but I am here a long time and the Tánaiste referred to the document as a business plan. She did not refer to it as a draft business plan and there is a crucial difference. With respect to the Ceann Comhairle and his comment, as ordinary Members of the House we need to know the status of the document. On its first page, it states-----

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: I want to finish my point. I challenge the status of this document. In its first lines it states the Government will "not be in a position to verify the integrity of the data until it carries out its own due diligence on each of the loans". Is this a reference or draft document for the information and assistance of all Deputies and to be placed in the Library? It is not a finished...

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: I would also like to have seen a declaration on conflicts of interest, particularly for the people who have put together the tentative valuations in this document. All of this is not something that can be raised------

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: -----when we have waved the document on to the finance committee.

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: We should not be waving the document on to the finance committee. It is just a speculative piece in which the people have put it together have not declared their interests such as firms of solicitors, auditors, auctioneers, valuers and so on.

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: I would not accept this document from a first-year university student.

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: No, it is not on the Order Paper.

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: The committee will have to allow room for all the solicitors' firms and accountancy firms and the banks who will want to squeeze in.

Written Answers — Farm Inspections: Farm Inspections (15 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Question 63: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when unannounced inspections commenced in 2009; when they will be concluded. [36209/09]

Written Answers — Farm Inspections: Farm Inspections (15 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Question 89: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the number of inspections to be carried out under the single payment scheme in 2009; the number carried out to date in 2009; and the number of penalties imposed. [36208/09]

Written Answers — Schools Amalgamation: Schools Amalgamation (20 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Question 126: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his plans to encourage or propose voluntary clustering of rural primary schools having regard to the fact that 75% of the network of the 3,200 primary schools cater for nearly 25% of the 500,000 primary school population; if his attention has been drawn to the positive outcome this would create in terms of resources and an efficient...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (20 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Question 142: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the implications for primary school forward planning in view of recent data from the Central Statistics Office which indicated that the birth rate here is the highest in Europe and the highest birth rate since 1896; the arrangements that have been and will be put in place to ensure that there are adequate primary school places in...

Written Answers — International Agreements: International Agreements (20 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Question 230: To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to a non-paper forwarded by the UK Government to the European Commission in 2009 in respect of customs checks on goods from illegal Israeli settlements; the measures which customs officials take to ascertain that goods imported from Israel have not been produced in illegal settlements; and if he will make a...

Written Answers — International Agreements: International Agreements (20 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Question 231: To ask the Minister for Finance the measures that have been established to make it possible to distinguish between Israeli and settlement goods that the Minister for Foreign Affairs referred to in Parliamentary Question No. 755 of 6 October 2009; and if he has adopted these measures. [37043/09]

Written Answers — Inter-Country Adoptions: Inter-Country Adoptions (20 Oct 2009)

Michael D Higgins: Question 294: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her plans to hold a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam, who, it is reported is visiting Ireland in October 2009; and if, at such a meeting, it is planned that she will discuss the recommencement of inter-country adoptions between Ireland and Vietnam. [37248/09]