Results 34,821-34,840 of 74,100 for speaker:Bernard Durkan

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water and Sewerage Schemes Funding (23 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: 175. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which his Department has adequate resources available to meet the requirements of the various local authorities under the small or group sewerage or water schemes; the degree to which he expects to be in a position to provide such funding in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter....

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water and Sewerage Schemes Funding (23 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: 176. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which his Department has adequate resources available to meet the requirements of Kildare County Council under the small or group sewerage or water schemes; the degree to which he expects to be in a position to provide such funding in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45321/13]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Home Help Service Applications (23 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: 214. To ask the Minister for Health if home help will be granted in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45022/13]

Other Questions: Telecommunications Services Provision (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: 11. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent to which the telecommunications sector in this jurisdiction, including broadband, mobile telephony or satellite communications, has evolved to a sufficient degree to ensure the availability of state-of-the-art telecommunications throughout the country; the extent to which it has been found possible to augment...

Other Questions: Telecommunications Services Provision (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply and for outlining the provisions and objectives he has read out. I am sure he, I and everybody else in this House has had experiences in various parts of the country where one moves around the house or upstairs and sometimes out into the backyard or up the road to get an adequate mobile telephone service. This is not happening in other...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: I am glad to have an opportunity to speak on this Bill. One's credulity is stretched when one hears the submissions made to the House in the climate we have lived in for the last several years. The Government has been accused of being arrogant and impervious to the needs of the people. I begin to wonder whether we have all been living in the same country. I readily accept that the...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: Deputy Catherine Murphy has done that from time to time.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: Deputy Mattie will remember that -----

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: ----- from his previous incarnation

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: I fully recognise that they are, to varying degrees, denying the situation in which we find ourselves. Their only solution is escapism. They are pretending it never happened and calling for more money to be spent. Deputy Mattie McGrath even had to leave Fianna Fáil on that basis, having been totally irresponsible.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: This is the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: This is about expenditure and the need to meet certain targets in the current climate.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: We did not bring that climate upon ourselves but we are facing up to it. I acknowledge the sacrifices that the people of this country have made. It is a difficult time. Where are we now?

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: We have pushed that snowball up the hill. Deputy Mattie McGrath left the snowball behind him after failing to face his responsibilities when he was in Government. The people of this country have moved that terrible burden up that incline with great sacrifice. They have succeeded and, while our hearts go out to them, we also congratulate them for what they have achieved. We have one more...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: I know Deputy Boyd Barrett is sincere but he is also tragically naive. The people have suffered so long that it would be a terrible tragedy were they to follow the lunatic policies put forward by some people on the opposite side of the House. Some of the Members opposite know that in their heart of hearts. They know that when it comes to the crunch, the people of this country expect the...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: The Minister for Social Protection must take up the slack when people become unemployed. The blame for the numbers who have become unemployed rests with people like Deputy Mattie McGrath, who abdicated his responsibility. Unfortunately, the people of this country have been punished as a result of his negligence and the negligence of the Government of which he was a part. He saw the train...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: There is no need to pretend it did not happen. Others in the Opposition have similarly failed to face up to their responsibilities. I congratulate the Minister for Social Protection for doing an extraordinarily difficult job. She will be the first to accept that people have been hurt. She has been in this House for a good number of years. It is an appalling situation. I ask those on the...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: They pluck out of the air a figure that they received by submitting a parliamentary question. I presume they know that, once one interferes, there is a change. Nothing remains constant, as many of the Deputies across the way know. When there is change, projections go astray. Sadly, this has often happened. I do not want to go into the story of the 10% of people who pay a considerable...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: The mutterings coming from Deputy Mattie McGrath and others on that side of the House sound shallow to those who ask what Deputy Mattie McGrath did while on this side of the House. He could only say, "Let there be more spending". That is what the critics on that side of the House are now saying. Does the House realise where this country would be if that were to happen and the budgetary...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Bernard Durkan: We have heard it in recent times. We have heard it every single day from that quarter.