Results 4,801-4,820 of 10,577 for speaker:Barry Cowen

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: This is a trait that has emerged from the Government over a period of time and the public are beginning to realise it - we certainly have. There have been three major issues in the lifetime of the Government which demonstrated procrastination on the part of the Government in withholding information. I and other spokespersons tabled many parliamentary questions at the time of the setting up...

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: The Minister claims that he will announce a scheme and the costs associated with it, that the grant system will come into play next January and that he will tell everyone all about it in the next few weeks, but he does not even know how many households there are.

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: When I told the senior official that this showed another example of there having been no proper preparation by anyone concerned with the debacle that is the Irish Water construct since the get-go, I was told that I was political and should not have said anything of the sort. I am a politician, for God's sake, who represents people in a constituency like many others and who is asked to relay...

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: It is the local authority's responsibility, but the authority cannot give someone a grant because he or she must get six numbers in the lotto just to be tested in the first instance.

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: Who used to look after all of this? The 34 local authorities around the country that the Taoiseach does down whenever a question is asked of him.

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: No evidence has been laid before the House showing that local authorities were doing anything untoward or were incapable of doing a job, that is, the provision of water, that they had been doing since the State's foundation.

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: Much to the Government's own annoyance, it has admitted this, given how it has put in place the quango of Irish Water with 700 staff as a tier above local authorities that are doing the same job that they had been doing anyway. Not a single euro more than what was being spent annually before this Government entered office is being spent on water infrastructure.

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: That is the bottom line. Less is being spent on water infrastructure because more is being spent on administration that is rotten to the core and cannot do its job efficiently or properly. There may be pollutant forces in the State, namely, septic tank systems that are unable to do the job for which they were designed. When people ask their local authorities whether they can avail of...

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: That is what the Government has done since day one. I commend Deputy Mattie McGrath on introducing this Bill and giving us the opportunity to make these comments. It would take me two days in the House to give an adequate reflection of this disaster. I could not do it in these ten minutes. Instead, I wished to highlight the freedom of information issue and give the public some of the...

Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: I thank the Acting Chairman for his forbearance and for allowing me an extra minute or two beyond what was provided, but it was to give the public much of the information that it does not get from parliamentary questions, which is a result of the Government's effort to withhold information from the public.

Direct Provision Report: Motion (12 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: I commend the Oireachtas joint committee on its work in the area, including extensive research and the manner in which it has sought to fully inform itself about a process that had been allowed to deteriorate in such a way that it necessitates immediate action. I pay tribute to all members of the committee and commend them on that work and the preparation of the report, which contains many...

Topical Issue Debate: Water Quality (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: Last week the Minister, Deputy Kelly, informed us that up to 200,000 houses were taking water through lead pipes and that the content of lead contaminating water is at a level that requires those pipes to be replaced. He assured the public that he had prepared and would shortly announce a programme of rectification which would be funded in part-grant form, similar to the septic tank grant...

Topical Issue Debate: Water Quality (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: I, too, thank the Minister of State for his response, on foot of which I have further question. In regard to the Minister's statement that the Government has approved a national strategy to deal with this issue on foot of the scale of the problem having been quantified by various Departments in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, will the...

Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Second Stage (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: While many elements of the Bill are welcome, we will oppose it unless amendments are accepted that protect and maintain Part V obligations at 20%. I urgently request sufficient time for a meaningful debate on housing in general. Inaction or poor action on the part of the Government has sleepwalked the State into a housing crisis that many would describe as a national scandal. Up to 100,000...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Staff Career Breaks (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: 143. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide in tabular form the number of staff in his Department currently on a sabbatical or on a career break broken down by zero to six months, six to 12 months, one to two years, two to three years, four to five years and five years or more; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23411/15]

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Expenditure (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: 144. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide in tabular form broken down by year the total photography costs for his Department since coming into office, inclusive of costs incurred from the use of the ministerial allowance; if he will provide the list of occasions for which photographers were booked; the photographers used; the breakdown of costs associated with each occasion that a...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Public Relations Contracts Expenditure (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: 145. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide in tabular form broken down by year the use of external public relations firms employed by his Department since coming into office; if he will provide the list of uses of the external public relations firms; and internal Department policy with regard to employing external groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23443/15]

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Consultancy Contracts Data (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: 146. To ask the Taoiseach the total amount spent on external information and technology consultants by his Department in the years 2010 to 2014 and in 2015 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23459/15]

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Consultancy Contracts Data (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: 149. To ask the Taoiseach if his Department has re-negotiated external information and technology consultancy contracts and costs since March 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23576/15]

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Appointments to State Boards (16 Jun 2015)

Barry Cowen: 150. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide in tabular form in respect of State boards under his Department's remit, the number of appointments to State boards; the number of vacancies in State boards; the number of vacancies in State boards publically advertised; and the number of appointments to State boards drawn directly from the public advertisement process in period March 2011 to 2015...