Results 3,261-3,280 of 21,440 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: We only have ten minutes and I do not want the clock run down because I have several questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: My question was not specifically aimed at medics.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I pose my question in general terms. I want a "Yes" or "No" answer from the Minister. He has been very clear that he will be looking at the working week, premium pay, weekend working and so on. Is the issue of looking at - in whatever fashion - those on salaries of in excess of €100,000 on the agenda? I want a "Yes" or "No" answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is of course a debatable point and we do not have the scope for that debate here. I am taking it that the Minister's answer is a clear "No" and that he will not be looking at the issue of very high pay in the Civil Service and public service. That is the answer I ascertain.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Can the Minister confirm that he will? The Minister and I have spent recent months debating the review mechanism within the Croke Park agreement and his failure to use it to address this issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister is now moving to Croke Park nua and has a new opportunity. If I am wrong then I want the Minister to tell me that the issue of pay over and above €100,000 is on the table. I want him to confirm or deny that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: A Chathaoirligh, the Minister is deliberately running down the clock and misrepresenting my position to boot.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: What the Minister will be at the heart of is going back to low and middle-income workers, some of whom work in these Houses of the Oireachtas, and telling them they need to work more hours, their premium pay will be reviewed as will all their related arrangements but the gross pay inequity in the system will not be addressed. It is not the medics, as the Minister well knows.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Notwithstanding the cuts, all the people he listed are all grossly overpaid. Staff in his Department at the most senior levels are grossly overpaid. There is an issue here of fundamental equity and fairness. The Minister is wrongly using the alibi of the old Croke Park agreement to hide behind. He is now moving into the successor to the Croke Park agreement a new agreement with the public...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: As the Minister correctly stated, the Committee of Public Accounts will today publish its report on allowances. A number of issues arose from that very useful examination, which will be evident to people who read the report. What was clear and accepted on a cross-party basis was the extent to which the phenomenon of low pay looms large within our public services. If the Oireachtas is to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is not the point we made.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Government will not do that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Service Reform Plan: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (22 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: That was Oireachtas allowances and I stand over those comments.

Other Questions: Sports Capital Programme (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in view of the fact that he has received applications to the sports capital programme totalling €369 million and his budget is €30 million, if he plans to request additional funding to make up the shortfall; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52687/12]

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The list of calamities around the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, continues to grow. At the weekend hundreds of people took to the streets of Castlebar, in the Taoiseach's constituency, to protest against the Minister's decision to cut home help hours. The Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, is on record as saying these cuts are not right. She made those remarks in response...

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----the evening before the announcement was made. For the past 18 months, the Minister has had a track record of unmitigated disaster. He closed public nursing homes while being up to his neck in the private nursing sector. He promised he would make savings in the areas of consultant contracts and generic drugs, and would recoup costs for private beds in public hospitals. Worse, he has...

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: He mishandled the demands of the family of Savita Halappanavar in regard to an inquiry.

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am addressing the track record of the Minister.

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Allow me to put my question.

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister's explanations in regard to the primary care centres are ludicrous and do not stand up to any scrutiny. Everybody knows that the position of the Minister, Deputy Reilly, is untenable. The dogs on the street know this. When will the Taoiseach come to this realisation and relieve Deputy Reilly from his position as Minister for Health?