Results 5,461-5,480 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (7 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: 6. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his meetings with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35190/14]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (7 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: 103. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the call by protestors in Hong Kong for full democratic freedoms to be implemented in Hong Kong. [37722/14]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (7 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: 138. To ask the Minister for Social Protection to set out the measures in place to financially assist undergraduate and postgraduate students with children; the measures she will implement to give assistance to such students where existing payments and assistance are insufficient to allow for continuation in study; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38153/14]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (7 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: 408. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on his discussions with other Heads of Government on the issue of Gaza and the other occupied Palestinian territories; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35192/14]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Support Schemes (7 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: 508. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who have left undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and to date in 2014 due to financial reasons; the measures she has in place to assist students with children keeping their places in university; the steps she will take to improve retention of students with children in undergraduate and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: 3. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on a reversal of the reductions in public sector pay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38320/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: I want to know when the Minister will reverse the savage cuts to the pay of middle and low income public sector workers in particular.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: The Minister continued the Fianna Fáil-Green Party policy of transferring billions from the public sector and from the income of middle and low income public sector workers to pay off the European financial markets, bondholders and bankers. The measures that he says were facilitated by the financial emergency measures in the public interest were of course measures that dragooned further...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: This year alone the Government will pay €8 billion in interest alone on the national debt. A significant portion of this is for the bad debts that were made good for speculators, bankers and bondholders.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: A significant other part is on the loans taken in as a result of the crash caused by the bankers and bondholders. In effect, a significant amount of this €8 billion payment is directly attributable to those who crashed the economy. The same bondholders speculating in property are again taking from the taxpayer. That is a direct transfer from working people - in this case low-paid...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pensions Levy (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: 5. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on a reversal of the pension levy for public sector workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38321/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pensions Levy (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: When will the Minister reverse the pension levy for middle and low-income public sector workers, as we now enter the sixth year of austerity?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pensions Levy (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: The Minister would get many billions if he introduced a progressive tax on super wealth and a financial transaction tax and if he made major corporations pay something approaching a fair rate of tax rather than allow them to bask in the type of tax shelter they have here. The will to do that is not there. We have had much talk of recovery and much propaganda from Government sources. In...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pensions Levy (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: One of the Minister's colleagues, Patricia King, was on the radio this morning outlining in a very articulate manner the nature of many of those jobs - low-paid, insecure and exploitative. The fact is that the Government has continued the policies of its predecessor, which was the decision that working people and the poor would pay for the price to ensure that the major bondholders and...

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: 12. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of temporary contracts in place for the public sector as a whole including State agencies and other public bodies (details supplied) under the remit of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38303/14]

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: I want to ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of temporary contracts in place for the public sector as a whole.

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: There has been a very debilitating tendency over recent years, accelerated during the period of austerity, for decent jobs with pay, pension and security for low-income and middle-income workers to be replaced with temporary, low-paid and insecure types of employment. If I understand the Minister, a quarter of his departmental staff are temporary, which is extraordinary. This is carried to...

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: It is extraordinary that some of the most powerful, wealthy and profitable companies operating in this country have the gall to advertise for JobBridge candidates. Tesco tried to get 200 people last year for its Christmas work under the guise of training. It is a scam designed to massage the official unemployment figures and is a gross abuse of young people and workers who are being...

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: Desperation.

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff (9 Oct 2014)

Joe Higgins: No.