Results 35,481-35,500 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: 302. To ask the Minister for Finance if he has asked the Central Bank to procure an independent assessment of the arrears and negative equity loan books of the banks, as per the recent programme for Government commitment; when this process will begin and conclude; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1677/17]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Public Interest Directors (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: 303. To ask the Minister for Finance if he has ceased appointing new public interest directors to the banks; the reform of the procedures for the appointment of bank directors by the State currently being considered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1678/17]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: 305. To ask the Minister for Finance when he expects a new tax on sugar drinks will be introduced; the estimated annual yield from such a tax; the rate at which he expects the new tax should be set and the types of drinks included within its scope; the preparation currently being undertaken by his Department in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1680/17]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Central Bank of Ireland (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: 306. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the recent comments by the Governor of the Central Bank, Philip Lane, that technological innovation may alter the role of central banks in managing the money supply and acting as a lender of last resort in the context of widespread adoption of private sector digital currencies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1681/17]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: 307. To ask the Minister for Finance if he has reviewed the most recent quarterly bank watch study from ISME on the ability of small and medium firms to get loan approval and access to credit; his views on the refusal rate of 35% for requests for credit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1682/17]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: 309. To ask the Minister for Finance the status of his Department’s work with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in the investigation of the establishment of a public banking system here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1684/17]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: State Aid (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: 311. To ask the Minister for Finance the contact he has had with EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. [39938/16]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: European Central Bank (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: 312. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide an update on the publication by the European Central Bank (ECB) of its December 2016 purchase of Irish Government debt revealing a decline in its bond purchases month on month and the expected tapering of ECB bond purchases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1650/17]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Rate Application (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: 320. To ask the Minister for Finance when the 23% VAT on the national car test was introduced; his plans to review it; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1843/17]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Staff Remuneration (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: 740. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his Department paid any of the special advisers, personal assistants or personal secretaries and other unestablished civil servants, whose contracts of employment ceased on 6 May 2016 on the election of a new Government, two weeks pay in lieu of notice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1623/17]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: 1057. To ask the Minister for Health the number of children currently on the waiting list for operations in relation to scoliosis in Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin; the number of these procedures that took place in 2016; if he will provide a timeframe for a person (details supplied) who is waiting for this procedure to be carried out in Our Lady's Children's Hospital; and if he will...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Revised): Discussion (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: I welcome the Minister and thank him for his initial contribution. I have a few questions. To return to the issue of Garda pay, I am glad that an agreement was reached. It would have been incredibly unfortunate for the country if there had been a Garda strike, so it is welcome that an agreement was reached. However, in the material I saw about the agreement and how the €50 million...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Revised): Discussion (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: It is not the Minister or me and certainly not some other people in this room but, based on reading the newspapers-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Revised): Discussion (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: One could base it on reading the newspapers. If the Department is going to outsource, I must bring it to the Minister's attention that what is happening with outsourcing is a drift down to minimum wage employment and relatively poor conditions of employment. The Department of Social Protection, in which I worked, has a huge amount of employment distributed throughout the country. There are...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Revised): Discussion (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: I have a brief supplementary question. To refer again to the urban-rural situation, there are a couple of reports in the Irish Independent today that a house restoration grant is to be made available for young couples in rural towns and villages. In the areas the Minister and I represent, the cheapest option for many young couples in terms of getting their first house will be a second-hand...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Revised): Discussion (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: Very briefly on that, the Minister is being rather short-sighted, and I am a little surprised. In urban areas, in big cities and towns, investors are beating local young people to purchasing second-hand houses. If the Minister is now going to provide a set of cash incentives, which he has more or less confirmed, to people buying second-hand homes, "doer-uppers", in rural areas, with which I...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Revised): Discussion (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: What I do not understand is why the Minister would consciously discriminate against young people in cities and big towns.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Revised): Discussion (17 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: The Minister said there will be an announcement.

Questions on Promised Legislation (18 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: Some time ago the Taoiseach made a commitment that people who had been adopted would have a right, as they have had in most other countries for the past 40 to 50 years, to get information about their birth families when they came of age at 18. There is no mention of it in this legislative programme, however, so has it fallen off the legislative shelf? The Minister for Children and Youth...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Offices (18 Jan 2017)

Joan Burton: I could not hear the Taoiseach.