Results 5,461-5,480 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (25 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: Question 165: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he or his Department has given authorisation to county councils to receive applications under the green energy scheme which he has announced; if he or his officials advised county councils as to the standard form of application; if a budget line has been made available to the county councils in respect of...

Order of Business (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: While I sympathise with the Taoiseach and his family, the public has noticed that it took the Garda six months to go into Anglo Irish Bank.

Order of Business (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: That is all I will say on that. Yesterday we welcomed the opening of the talks with the trade unions. I do not know if the Tánaiste is aware but there are proposals for a serious bus strike in Dublin starting on Monday.

Order of Business (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: Will the Tánaiste exercise her powers under the Industrial Relations Acts——

Order of Business (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: ——to refer this very important matter to the Labour Court?

Order of Business (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: On St. Patrick's Day the Minister for Finance did an interview with the Financial Times in which he promised to restrict crony directorship practices through the immediate introduction of legislation. He referred to the many incestuous relationships in Irish banking and how it had brought down the banks in this country. He said the matter would be before the Cabinet as a matter of urgency....

Order of Business (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: She referred to all of them.

Order of Business (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: What about legislation?

Order of Business (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: The gardaí are very busy.

Order of Business (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: The gardaí are rushed off their feet running into radio stations.

Fiscal Policy. (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: Question 2: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will set out and explain the economic priorities he identified to a newspaper (details supplied) including his proposal to clamp down on crony capitalism as reported on 17 March 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12684/09]

Fiscal Policy. (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: I thank the Minister for his reply. A front-page article in the international edition of the Financial Times on St. Patrick's Day — exactly a year after the St. Patrick's Day massacre in regard to Anglo Irish Bank shares — stated that Ireland is planning to introduce tough legislation to clamp down on "crony capitalism and excess bank lending" in the wake of the property bubble that has...

Fiscal Policy. (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: Does the Minister not agree that the best way to break up an incestuous relationship is to get rid of some of the parties to the relationship? Does the Minister accept that he has shown himself to be extraordinarily slow in bringing about change in the bank boards and that such change is a critical measure in terms of showing international bond holders that we are serious about bank reform?...

Fiscal Policy. (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: There has been no change in the largest institution.

Financial Services Regulation. (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: In the context of savings in the credit union movement, which total approximately €14 billion, has the Minister given any consideration to a proposal by a number of people in the credit unions that credit unions be permitted to hold a national community savings bond via the National Treasury Management Agency? This would offer an alternative and safe savings mechanism for the credit unions...

Departmental Surveys. (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: Does the Minister, as a distinguished senior counsel, know much about the psychology of shopping? I will tell him a little about what happens when one looks at the prices of jackets and dresses in the British multiples on Grafton Street. Although sterling and the euro are very close, one can pay up to 40% more because the differences in sterling are not being passed on, particularly by the...

Departmental Surveys. (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: I thought he said it was a disaster.

Departmental Surveys. (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: Will the Minister go shopping?

Financial Services Regulation. (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: Would the Minister ask the director of consumer affairs in the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority to undertake an investigation of this? Like the previous question on shopping, what we are looking for is positive signals where a consumer is in a fixed-rate mortgage. The Minister must remember he told me yesterday that at the end of December last there were €147 billion in house...

Departmental Expenditure. (26 Mar 2009)

Joan Burton: In terms of some of the information we have received and information in the public domain, I am concerned about the operation of the group on the capital programme. In general, it has been indicated that the 2009 capital programme is approximately €8 billion and that €6 billion of that is committed or contracted for in some formal way. We have had some breakdowns in the information...