Results 5,081-5,100 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

Other Questions: Haddington Road Agreement Review (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: I ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to report on the implementation of the Haddington Road agreement and outline the real effects of that agreement.

Other Questions: Haddington Road Agreement Review (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: The effects of the Haddington Road agreement are now becoming obvious in the form of a deterioration of public services from the point of view of ordinary people and are destructive of public services. The recent Prime Time exposé of a crisis in the ambulance service shows that it is not possible to take thousands of workers from public services, including the health service, and still...

Other Questions: Haddington Road Agreement Review (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: The Minister raises fundamental issues when he states that without the Haddington Road agreement, we would not have had a budget. His argument is based on the acceptance of the troika programme of compelling Irish people to assume tens of billions of euro in debt that did not belong to them. The Government could have broken this cycle but decided instead to continue to sacrifice nurses,...

Other Questions: Regional Development (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: 8. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will report on his meeting with the delegation from the European Parliament's committee on regional development last month. [16814/14]

Other Questions: Regional Development (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: Could the Minister report on the meeting with a delegation from the European Parliament's committee on regional development?

Other Questions: Regional Development (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: Would the Minister agree that it is a tragedy and a shame to see the effect of the economic crisis and the baleful effects of austerity, particularly in regional areas and rural Ireland? This is iconically illustrated by the inability of local GAA clubs and possibly other sports to field teams because young people are forced out through lack of employment. Does the Minister agree that...

Other Questions: Regional Development (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: I put it to the Minister that the recovery is more apparent than real. Ordinary people do not feel the recovery in their daily lives, in their pockets and in the availability of enough jobs. I put it to the Minister that inner city Dublin needs attention but so too do the suburbs where there is very high unemployment, many problems and a huge housing crisis. A resolution of those problems...

Other Questions: Regional Development (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: A Cheann Comhairle, would you consider taking No. 22 with No. 10 as it is essentially the same subject?

Other Questions: Regional Development (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: Both questions deal with the same subject. Deputy Ó Cuív kindly told me he would not object.

Other Questions: Regional Development (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: Tá sé sin ceart go leor.

Other Questions: Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: 22. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will report on the implementation of the 20 year strategy for the Irish language by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16816/14]

Other Questions: Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: Is é seo an rud is bunúsaí. Nuair a theastaíonn ó mhuintir na Gaeltachta, nó lucht labhartha na Gaeilge in aon áit sa tír, a gcuid gnó a dhéanamh leis an tseirbhís phoiblí trí Ghaeilge, ba cheart go mbeadh duine éigin ann chun labhairt leo ar an bpointe. Ní chóir go mbeidís ag feitheamh le duine éigin...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministerial Meetings (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: 16. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will report on his visit to China and his meetings with Government officials and business leaders. [16815/14]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Civil Service Accountability (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: 21. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will report on the Civil Service accountability consultation process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16813/14]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Irish Language Issues (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: 22. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will report on the implementation of the 20 year strategy for the Irish language by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16816/14]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: In justifying the very hard line Bank of Ireland is taking with home owners who are in mortgage distress and in defending his own exorbitant annual income, Mr. Boucher keeps referring to the shareholders of the bank as justification for everything. As a major bank, does he feel it has any responsibility to Irish society more generally in respect of what Bank of Ireland and the other banks...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: The problem is that the unsustainable level of mortgage repayments means that far more money is going to the banks than should be going to them, money which would otherwise be going into services, employment creation, shops and so forth on a local basis. In fact, it is quite damaging to the economy. The 4.5 million taxpayers would be quite interested in having a global solution to this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: Unfortunately, the €6 billion goes straight into redeeming banker and bondholder debt in the European financial markets, for which the Irish people have no responsibility whatsoever. However, that is a more general question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: In conclusion, could Mr. Boucher put a value on the total amount of negative equity in the bank's owner-occupied mortgage book? Lastly, I have a question which I put to the representatives of all the banks. Does Mr. Boucher not see the common sense that ordinary people see, that rather than putting tens of thousands of people through the torture and distress there should be a global...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: (Resumed) Bank of Ireland (10 Apr 2014)

Joe Higgins: Some €1.9 billion.