Results 421-440 of 6,881 for speaker:Ruth Coppinger

Other Questions: Public Transport (4 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: Will the Minister comment on the recent increases in public transport fees? Leap card fares increased at the beginning of November and cash fares on Dublin Bus increased at the beginning of December. Dublin Bus caters for 50% of all public transport users.

Other Questions: Public Transport (4 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: It is convenient for the Minister to say he does not have a role in fare increases. It is like the HSE, Irish Water and the NTA. It is at a remove from Government. This might explain the Government parties plummeting in the polls. This is a significant increase in expenditure for ordinary working people. The cash fare to get to the city centre from Blanchardstown or Tallaght on Dublin...

Other Questions: Public Transport (4 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: People's wages and incomes have not increased by the same percentage and many people are in part-time and precarious work and they are working less.

Other Questions: Public Transport (4 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: It is costing an hour's labour to pay the bus fare.

Other Questions: Public Transport (4 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: We could try a wealth tax on anything over €1 million. That would bring in a huge amount of money, almost €3 billion. We could try a financial transactions tax. I dispute the Minister's figures in respect of subvention. The Government is deliberately allowing the public transport system to run down and to have to provide a service on less money so that the Government can...

Other Questions: Public Transport (4 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: As it is, Dublin Bus is trying to maintain services. How can it do so with less money? Since 2009, the public transport subvention has been cut by €55 million. The NTA aims to privatise 10% of all Dublin Bus routes. Can the Minister comment on that? Workers at those companies will be transferred to the private company under recent legislation, where they are supposed to be able to...

Other Questions: Public Transport (4 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: The Minister went over his time each time he replied.

Water Services Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: Next Wednesday, there will be a showdown between the Government and citizens. I have never heard so many people say they will take a day of their precious annual leave to get off work and converge on the capital as they deliver a message to the Government about water charges. The issue has gone beyond water charges, as people want the Government to go. I congratulate the Government, which...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Transport (4 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: 30. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his Department has conducted an impact analysis on the use of public transport and the recent increase in fares. [46331/14]

Confidence in Taoiseach and Government: Motion (9 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: That is not going to happen.

Confidence in Taoiseach and Government: Motion (9 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: On seeing the Taoiseach table a motion of confidence today, I have to compare him to Comical Ali claiming he was winning a war when the tanks were rolling into Baghdad. The speeches I heard today were utterly delusional. When the Taoiseach believes he has saved the taxpayers billions of euro, the rest of us see that he has bailed out bondholders he said he would burn during his election...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Commemorative Events (9 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: 89. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will report on funding for 1916 commemorations; the percentage of her Department's budget that was devoted to this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47010/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Commemorative Events (9 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: I wish to ask the Minister what percentage or proportion of funding for the arts budget is being devoted to the 1916 commemorations, compared to the rest of her departmental budget, and if she will make a statement on that.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Commemorative Events (9 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: The information seems to be that all of the increase in the arts budget is being devoted to the commemoration of the 1916 Rising. Artists throughout this country are really struggling. Most people working in the arts are earning less than €8,000 per annum. It is believed that an artist's average wage is about €14,676 per annum. It was hoped that austerity would have ended...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Commemorative Events (9 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: I was referring to the Department's budget. The Arts Council and the national cultural institutions have had their budgets cut by 40% to 50% between 2008 and 2015. The Department's budget is, as I said, the same but when one takes inflation into account all the increase is going on one event - the 1916 commemoration. I do not think 1916 is unimportant but there are questions over why the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Job Initiatives (9 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: 91. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the percentage of staff at cultural organisations in receipt of Arts Council or other such State funding who are on the JobBridge scheme or any other unpaid internship; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46867/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Job Initiatives (9 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: I wish to ask the Minister about the percentage of staff at cultural institutions in receipt of Arts Council or other such State funding who are on JobBridge schemes or any other unpaid internships. My information is that unpaid internships and labour are now becoming predominant schemes in the arts and cultural sector.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Job Initiatives (9 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: It is a common myth that people interested in a career in the arts, such as young people fresh from college, are going on arts internships. That is no longer the case. It is an open secret in the arts fraternity that free labour is being used to displace people in full-time labour. A quote in the Irish Journal of Arts Management and Cultural Policystates: "The reality is that the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Job Initiatives (9 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: We are all in favour of interns and people getting experience in the arts but my problem is that they are doing so without getting any money whatsoever. The €50 would basically pay one's travel expenses to and from one's job. If the Minister is that concerned, why does she not look at what they are doing in Britain, for example? The creative employment programme of the Arts Council...

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2014)

Ruth Coppinger: People will be surprised to hear that the Government is not serious about a plebiscite to keep Irish Water in public ownership and is refusing to accept the word "shall" instead of "may" or any compulsion to hold a plebiscite. I agree with the proposal that any vote should be taken in local authority areas - in municipalities rather than on a State-wide basis. I endorse what my colleague...