Results 6,141-6,160 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Financial Institutions Support Scheme. (8 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: Is the Minister aware these are all the same firms?

Pension Provisions. (8 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: I ask the Minister to update the House on the number of public servants who have decided to take the Government's offer of early retirement and the number of public servants, including people such as principal teachers, who are retiring and in some cases have full service so they are not part of this special offer. Has the Minister examined whether he will proceed with the suggestion which...

Pension Provisions. (8 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: In respect of the institutions like the universities whose pension funds were taken over, the Minister took over the assets, basically giving an off-balance sheet benefit to the State in terms of assets, but he did not take on the liabilities. The universities have powers and apparently it is the practice among some of them to give added years of service when certain staff are retiring,...

Pension Provisions. (8 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: The Government has put in €3 billion into Anglo Irish Bank and recently promised another €1 billion. The bank has acknowledged that it is giving out almost no new lending. In fact, the figure for new lending for the first quarter was less than €35 million. Who is codding who? We are putting €4 billion into a bank which is not lending to any sector. It is simply minding developers...

Twenty-Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty of Lisbon) Bill 2009: Second Stage (8 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: Is that a BlackBerry or a mobile telephone?

Twenty-Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty of Lisbon) Bill 2009: Second Stage (8 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: The notice only refers to mobile telephones, not BlackBerrys.

(8 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: I wish to share my time with Deputy Gilmore.

(8 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: I listened last night with great disappointment to the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, rejecting, almost out of hand, the Labour Party's modest reform proposals set out in the Institutional Child Abuse Bill 2009 but I welcome the much more accommodating tone of the Minister of State, Deputy Andrews, here this evening. Perhaps overnight there has been some change of...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (8 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: Question 74: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide for the extension of the range of assets eligible for transfer to the National Asset Management Agency to include commercial debt, residential mortgages, or other consumer debt; if the NAMA legislation will include a ceiling on the value of assets eligible for transfer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27992/09]

Written Answers — House Repossessions: House Repossessions (8 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: Question 80: To ask the Minister for Finance the steps he will take to ensure that there is not a surge in home repossessions upon the expiration of the 12 month moratorium agreed with Allied Irish Banks and another bank (details supplied) as part of their recapitalisation schemes; his views on the level of mortgage arrears here and its evolution; and if he will make a statement on the...

Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Second Stage (9 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: The Labour Party welcomes this Bill. In our submissions before the budget we called for clear reductions, particularly in the situation where former Ministers receive pensions while still Members of the Dáil. It is a pity the Minister had neither the political guts nor the capacity to introduce the reforms he promised with such grand rhetorical flourishes on budget day. On that day, he...

Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Second Stage (9 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: Why is that? A former Taoiseach has a State car and some State protection.

Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Second Stage (9 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: All right. Why did the Minister not move to make a uniform arrangement? Also, why did the Minister not return to the qualifying age of 55? It is essential to have transitional arrangements. I know from experience that losing a seat is a traumatic event. Many Members nowadays are full-time politicians, although there are Members who have businesses and other commitments and other sources...

Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Second Stage (9 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: I suggest that if the arrangements are being reformed now, the arrangements entered into by the Fianna Fáil-Labour Government in 1992 were sensible and fair. The Rainbow Government did not change those arrangements, but the Minister has said they were changed in 2001. I suggest they were simple, fair arrangements. Taking up the business of politics is risky and people can lose their seat...

Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Second Stage (9 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: I am aware the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and the Ceann Comhairle made that sacrifice. I and Deputy Gilmore offered our ministerial pensions to the Minister also and he accepted. The point is that in a time of such national difficulty this sense of leadership is required in the Oireachtas. The issue of the salaries paid to other top people arose during and after the budget and the Minister...

Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Second Stage (9 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: That is not true.

Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Committee Stage and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: I support this amendment. Most members of the public would be quite surprised to learn that Independents receive an additional personal expense allowance of €41,000 that does not have to be vouched for in any way. In this regard, Independent Members of the Oireachtas have an enormous advantage over members of parties in their constituencies. If a Dáil lasts its full term, €41,000 per...

Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Committee Stage and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: Did the Minister read that chapter first?

Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Committee Stage and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: The last option is unvouched.

Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Committee Stage and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2009)

Joan Burton: The Minister should acknowledge that it was the commission which wrote to him on behalf of ordinary Members of the Oireachtas proposing that these matters should be addressed. In the public relations campaign and so on that was attendant on the last budget, the Minister managed to lose sight of the fact that it was the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission that had put forward a scheme for the...