Results 3,941-3,960 of 14,388 for speaker:Clare Daly

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Staff (12 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: 168. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if it has been brought to his attention that eight full-time staff in Sligo County Council engaged in the Cranmore regeneration project are 100% externally funded by his Department; if he will provide in tabular form the number of local authority staff who are 100% externally funded by his Department in each regeneration...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Overseas Missions (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: 3. To ask the Minister for Defence if he will re-examine the effectiveness of the Irish Defence Forces in overseas missions and, to that end, limit involvement to fully-fledged UN missions, avoiding those that have been running for decades without creating peace and ending participation in EU and NATO-controlled missions. [43328/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Overseas Missions (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: The issue I am raising was raised by my colleague, Deputy Mick Wallace, on the last occasion on which the Minister for Defence took Question Time. It relates to the effectiveness of our overseas missions. Currently, we operate under a number of different banners and on a fairly ad hocbasis. Does the Minister intend to stand back and review the effectiveness of our overseas missions? Would...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Overseas Missions (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: The point I am making is not that we should stop participating in overseas missions but rather that we should take a step back and consider where and how we engage in such missions. The Minister referred to "effective peacekeeping" and that is precisely what I am talking about. Our current policy has been described as a type of scattergun approach which sends Irish soldiers as unarmed...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Overseas Missions (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: We are not asking the Minister to slavishly follow any international organisation but to stand back, as Minister for Defence, and look at the effectiveness of our troops abroad. The reality is that countries like the Congo have been exploited and abused by western powers and colonialism for decades. No one is interested in them but French interests are being advanced in Chad and that gets...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: 5. To ask the Minister for Defence his views regarding reports of over 20% of enlisted personnel experiencing poverty; if he will take urgent action to address this problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43329/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: This is essentially the same issue as that raised by Deputy Ó Fearghaíl. I note the Minister acknowledged there is a problem with pay in the Defence Forces but his defence is that he did not know about it or is now looking at it. The facts speak for themselves. The level of pay in the Defence Forces does not meet a threshold of decency in a large number of cases and has to be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: It is not a case of broad sweeping conclusions. The criteria operated by the Department of Social Protection provide that if an individual's income falls below a certain level, social welfare steps in to bring it to a level of decency. One need only look at the pay rates in the Defence Forces to know why this support is particularly necessary in this context. Irish Defence Forces personnel...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: Pay does not solely comprise basic pay. While basic pay may not have been cut under Haddington Road, it is none the less a fact that the payments to and average earnings of soldiers have deteriorated by 20% since 2009 because of the cuts in allowances which form an essential part of their pay packets. These issues have to be addressed. I note that the Minister is not in favour of giving...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Contracts (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: 9. To ask the Minister for Defence the assurances he will provide that the Defence Forces public procurement policy excludes companies which have been linked to violations of international law, in view of previous contracts with a company (details supplied). [41265/14]

Other Questions: Defence Forces Contracts (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: In the lifetime of this Government, although not under the Minister's watch, just short of €3 million of taxpayers' money was spent on security contracts with the Israeli company, Elbit Systems, which has been found guilty of violating international law. Now that the Minister is Minister for Defence, will he give us an assurance that the public procurement policy of the Defence Forces...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Contracts (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: The Minister outlined previously what was bought, what it was used for and under what procurement policies it was bought but that was not really the question he was asked to deal with, as I am aware of all of those things. The question being posed here is that when companies engage in unlawful practices and we do business with them, then we are facilitating that. While there might be...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Contracts (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: The Minister spoke about unilateral actions and said that he had a problem with-----

Other Questions: Defence Forces Contracts (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: The point I was making was that the Minister supported an embargo in regard to Russia but is not, in any way, advocating a similar action be taken against Israel. The question did not relate to all Israeli companies but specifically to those which violated international law and those involved in illegal Israeli settlements, which is a slightly different thing. The Norwegian Government took...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Contracts (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: It is not and I am not radically quoting anything unfounded.

Other Questions: Defence Forces Contracts (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: I am quoting from a Trócaire document, which is a public one.

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: I note Deputy McGuinness asked, "Would a republican dip his or her hand into the pockets of citizens"? If that republican was a member of Fianna Fáil, then he or she certainly would. I am not a republican; I am an international socialist. My criticism of the Government is that it continued the policies of Fianna Fáil in taking money out of the pockets of citizens in order to pay...

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: -----and the 15,000 members of the scheme, some of them active contributors and others who have left their employment whose pension is deferred and others still who are already in receipt of a pension payment. We would all probably agree there is a crisis in funding pension schemes. However, what is not agreed is how one deals with the crisis and who is responsible for it. The Government...

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: One of the major contributory factors is the appalling investment decisions made by the trustees of the pension scheme, whom the Government is seeking to further empower. To put it as mildly and politely as I can, some of the decisions made by those trustees were at best ill-judged, ill-timed and very peculiar. They sold off €1.4 billion of assets as part of a freeze and de-risk...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces Deployment (13 Nov 2014)

Clare Daly: 19. To ask the Minister for Defence the number of occasions that members of the Defence Forces have been called to undertake aid to the civil power ATCP duties at Dublin, Cork, and Shannon airports, respectively, in the past 12 months; and the way these operations are funded. [41264/14]