Results 8,341-8,360 of 21,498 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: The witness therefore would not regard an approach by a public representative on the basis of a complaint as lobbying per sefor the purposes of the Act.

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Of course. The worrying matter is that from the perspective of an individual who might have a complaint in respect of NAMA, there is no independent stream or system to arbitrate that. I accept that the witnesses receive the complaints, examine them and have the relationship manager investigate them. I do not gainsay that. However, is there not a disparity between the person making the...

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Do the witnesses think that is a good way to do their business? NAMA is a State body and Mr. McDonagh said his job is to protect the organisation, the taxpayer and the integrity of the organisation. However, is it not problematic that there is no independent form of arbitration for those who might have a complaint with NAMA, short of An Garda Síochána or recourse to lawyers? I...

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: What else does the NAMA relationship manager do? I presume it is a male.

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I presume the NAMA relationship manager has more tasks than investigating complaints.

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is it like a customer service thing?

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Ombudsman does not have oversight responsibility for NAMA.

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: That would be a very credible channel for complaints.

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is a policy issue. In any event, we take it as read, because it has been said here clearly that if complaints, issues or concerns come to any of us - some members have indicated that they have some worries about NAMA having an open door policy and that we can bring to it-----

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am sure there is but I would suggest a more robust mechanism. However, that is probably a matter for Government. Deputy Costello raised the issue of the docklands, as perhaps did others. This comes down to NAMA as an entity, the scale of it and obviously the scale of the plans conceived for the docklands and the reality that, in its former incarnation, the development of that part of...

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is excellent. I am familiar with the Grangegorman model and it is not a perfect one by any stretch. Mr. Daly will be aware there are new EU procurement rules. There is consultation underway at the moment which will allow enormous scope to create social clauses and local employment clauses that actually work and actually deliver. I welcome the fact NAMA has an open ear to that.

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Let me assure Mr. Daly that it could be vastly improved on. There is an arts event in Sheriff Street on, I think, 27 January and I am sure the local people would be more than delighted to see people from NAMA come along, but I will write to NAMA to inform it of the details. It will be a theatrical piece that sets out the history of parts of inner city Dublin which are very close to Sheriff...

Public Accounts Committee: National Asset Management Agency Financial Statements 2013 (18 Dec 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: They will specifically require that Mr. Daly does not sing.

Order of Business (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: When does the Government propose to hold a referendum on Article 41.2, the women in the home clause, of the Constitution, as recommended by the Constitutional Convention? When will the Government act on its commitments regarding the wider availability of adrenaline auto-injectors given by the Minister for Health to Caroline Sloan, the mother of Emma Sloan, who died as a result of...

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: My amendment, No. 17, harks back to an issue that we debated on Committee Stage. It revolves around a concern I had with the Bill's proposal to exclude lobbying by groups with ten or fewer employees. If memory serves me, on Committee Stage the Minister set out his concerns about having an onerous administrative burden on small businesses. By that as it may, I remain of the view that this...

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am advised that it is a scenario in which fake-----

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: It has nothing whatsoever to do with football, hurling or any other sporting endeavour. It is a scenario where fake grassroots entities emerge to lobby in a voluntary capacity on behalf of corporate or other interests. In fact, there have been some headline cases-----

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----for instance, in the United States. I raise it as a serious point because, although one does not want to penalise voluntary effort or smother people with administrative burdens, the objective is to create and codify a system whereby lobbying is fully transparent and regulated. Deputy Sean Fleming has given an unqualified welcome to amendment No. 18, but I have deep reservations about...

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I do not disagree with the Minister's concern to ensure he does not cause a logjam or a completely unreasonable set of burdens, particularly for voluntary organisations. I take his point about, for example, the IFA and the farmer who is a member of that organisation making a representation. I think that is fair enough. However, I hope the Minister recognises the counterpoint to that which...

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I move amendment No. 16:In page 6, between lines 36 and 37, to insert the following:“(2) Such a person under section 5(1)(b), where the employer has been issued a CHY number by the Revenue Commissioners, provided that the relevant communications relate to relevant matters that concern the advocacy or other advancement of the employer’s main charitable purpose, such activity...