Results 3,721-3,740 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Public Private Partnerships. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: What is the Minister's view of the provider walking away from the Dublin City Council PPPs and the fact the provider is the preferred bidder on Thornton Hall? What is the rationale of keeping the provider?

Public Private Partnerships. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: So four of the five are not legally binding? Why is the developer the preferred bidder on a prison project?

Government Pay Awards. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: We will receive more Exchequer figures this afternoon — the Minister probably knows them already — which may not be any better than those for the first five months of the year. In view of the state the economy is now drifting into and the current pandemic of uncertainty, and from the point of view of the moral authority of the Government, should it not bin these pay rises now?

Government Pay Awards. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: The process for determining Ministers' pay rises should be handed over to the system that governs the pay of TDs, so that they are within the public sector process. Does the Minister agree that in view of the culture of greed with regard to bonuses which has so infected the international private banking sector, determining Ministers' salaries by comparison with the private sector whose...

Government Pay Awards. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: Assistant principals.

Government Pay Awards. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: It sounds as if the Cabinet has gone in like a negotiating group with a shop steward at its shoulder and told people that Ministers should get a certain amount. The salary increases are unacceptable to most people. The increases would be difficult to justify at any time, but they are almost impossible to justify given the economy's difficult situation. Where is the Minister for Finance's...

Government Pay Awards. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: I will not.

Government Pay Awards. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: He is giving the impression that, somehow or other, the Cabinet has, as an adjunct to the pay talks, participated so that it can negotiate a bit for itself. This would not be acceptable, as the Government must show moral authority.

Government Pay Awards. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: Why will the Government not forgo the increases?

Government Pay Awards. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: Does the Minister believe the senior civil servants in question are entitled to those increases while people on the lowest rungs of the civil service are barely earning €400 gross a week? We live in the real world.

Decentralisation Programme. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: I wish to ask the Minister——

Decentralisation Programme. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: I remind the Minister that the word "quango" means a "quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation". From his answer, it appears that decentralisation will be decided upon by such a body. The implementation group is, effectively, a quango which will report back to the Minister. The Labour Party has asked, on an all-party basis — I believe Fine Gael has agreed — that there would be a...

Decentralisation Programme. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: I said that it should be reviewed.

Decentralisation Programme. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: The Minister should not put words in my mouth.

Decentralisation Programme. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: The Minister told the House the whingers would have to cut back on the cost. He spoke about value for money and I reiterate his point. He said that costs must be examined. Is he now saying this is not necessary?

Decentralisation Programme. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: The cost does not matter then.

Fiscal Policy. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: The Minister for Finance said in response to the earlier question on PPPs and Dublin City Council and McNamara Construction's pulling out of several projects, that only one of those was the subject of a tight legal framework. I understood that at least two of those projects had been subject to contractual commitments——

Fiscal Policy. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: It is important that the Minister for Finance clarify this matter.

Fiscal Policy. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: Is the Minister saying——

Public Service Reform. (4 Jun 2008)

Joan Burton: The OECD report puts forward the view that our tax take will fall substantially, perhaps to as low as 38% in volume terms and that there must therefore be reform within the Civil Service to obtain better value for money. The necessary changes relate not only to the agencies to which the Minister referred. There is another difficulty in that Departments do not know the numbers of staff in...