Results 3,121-3,140 of 4,092 for speaker:Michael D Higgins
- Written Answers — Inter-Country Adoptions: Inter-Country Adoptions (4 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: Question 178: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding the ongoing crisis in the area of inter-country adoption; if she will report on a recent meeting (details supplied) held with Vietnamese officials at which it was believed the matter would be discussed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39461/09]
- Order of Business (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: It is about the timing.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: I welcome the fact that the Minister has accepted the principle of including social and economic development. Last evening we discussed the relevance of the word "sustainable". I will not delay too much on that except to say that as we finished our deliberations the definition of sustainable was not the usual one. The Minister was inclined to present it as something permanent. I do not...
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: I think the latter is amendment No. 72 so we will certainly not reach that.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: The Minister will appreciate that we saw it.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: No.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: If the Minister is suggesting that sustainability can be achieved in another way in the legislation, I look forward to that.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: I look forward to that. It is on that understanding I will not press the amendment. I want to just make one point because I did not speak previously on this matter.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: It seems that social and economic is being qualified within the context of the commercial. I am not splitting hairs in this respect. The argument is----
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: Yes. I want to make a small core point. If one says that the achievement of sustainability is an issue for the local authority and that responsibility for new large derelict sites - perhaps due to the collapse of commercial proposals - is a function of the local authority, this raises a resource issue for the local authority. This may appropriately be a matter for another discussion on the...
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: I will confine myself to amendment No. 9 because amendment No. 10, which is in the name of Deputy Morgan of Sinn Féin, is being taken with amendments Nos. 79 and 80, which are in the name of my colleague, Deputy Burton, and deal with related matters of liquidity to SMEs. I want to raise a point with regard to amendment No. 9, which suggests the addition of four additional paragraphs, with...
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: And the new conditions.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: Amendments Nos. 10, 79 and 80 are grouped together as they all deal with credit flow, so I presume we will be able to deal with the other amendments that deal with credit flow.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: Give us the child and we will give you the man.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: I will be brief because there are other groups of amendments that we have yet to discuss. It makes some sense to group related amendments and to be flexible about that to use the time to hit the most serious issues upon which there may be disagreement. This group deals with a few core elements connected with the Minister's strategy for re-funding the banks and the real economy. The banking...
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: It is quite usual.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: I have such a strong credit rating.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: The Jesuit effect was in the rhetoric.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: An unaccountable power.
- National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Nov 2009)
Michael D Higgins: He was the super optimist.