Results 8,361-8,380 of 21,498 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

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

Mary Lou McDonald: This set of amendments was submitted with the intention of permitting charitable organisations to participate and open their advocacy activities to scrutiny without unnecessary and unfair penalty. The Minister is aware that charitable organisations have been most anxious to be captured within this Bill. They see it not least as part of rebuilding public confidence in charitable...

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

Mary Lou McDonald: I move amendment No. 17:In page 7, to delete lines 1 and 2 and substitute the following:(a) the person has one or more full-time employees and the relevant communications are made primarily to represent the interests of the employer,”.

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

Mary Lou McDonald: I move amendment No. 19:In page 7, lines 15 and 16, to delete “apart from the individual’s principal private residence”.This is an issue I have raised with the Minister. It proposes to exclude an individual's principal private residence in respect of lobbying activities. We have had a discussion on this, but I am a bit like a dog with a bone on this particular issue,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: 66. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if there are circumstances where a person over the age of 55 who has been on community employment for three years can continue on this scheme or if there are other labour activation programmes available to such a person. [1245/15]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Remit (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: 191. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in view of his stated commitment to transparency and accountability in the spending of public moneys, his views that it is acceptable for a public body fully funded by the Exchequer to withhold from the public record details of public service pension arrangements on retirement for senior managers; and if he will legislate to require...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Sports Funding (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: 490. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the funding that is available from his Department to fund sports activities for young persons in disadvantaged areas. [49630/14]

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Family Support Services (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: 491. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if a decision been made by his Department of the provision of funding to a centre (details sullied) in County Dublin for 2015. [49650/14]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Long-Term Illness Scheme Eligibility (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: 604. To ask the Minister for Health the reason a person (details supplied) was refused a long-term illness scheme; if he will add Leukodystrophy 4H syndrome onto the long-term illness scheme in view of the seriousness of this syndrome and the fact that there is only one recorded diagnosis of this rare condition in the State. [1083/15]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Institutes of Technology (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: 798. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her view on whether it is appropriate for an educational institution (details supplied) to withhold a qualification from a student on the grounds that exam fees have not been paid. [1359/15]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Sports Funding (14 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: 991. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the financial supports or grants that are available to boxing clubs funded by his Department, directly or via other bodies. [49628/14]

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I move amendment No. 22:In page 7, to delete lines 26 and 27.This relates to a discussion we had on Committee Stage. Despite our discussion, I remain to be convinced that lobbying communications as defined in the proposed statute could pose a threat to personal safety or the security of the State and, if they did, that the public interest would be best served by keeping them secret. I do...

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am in agreement with Deputy Fleming on this matter. I am sure the Minister understands that we appreciate the legislation has to be operable. This has to be a scheme that works.

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: It has to be practical and cannot snarl up the work of public administration. The Minister has made that point and it is legitimate. However, these exemptions are cast, as Deputy Fleming said, very broadly. Given that the Minister has the power to accept communications in the public interest and has brought forward a provision in respect of simple communications to establish matters of...

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I move amendment No. 27:In page 8, to delete lines 8 to 11.This again relates to an exemption afforded to communications by or on behalf of a body corporate made to a Minister of the Government who holds shares in or has statutory functions in relation to the body corporate, or to designated public officials serving in the Minister's Department in the ordinary course of the business of the...

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I would like to clarify that because I do not think it is entirely clear in the legislation. It reads to me as far more all-embracing than that. It states: "communications by or on behalf of a body corporate made to a Minister of the Government who holds shares in, or has statutory functions in relation to, the body corporate, or to designated public officials serving in the...

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is he satisfied that it is sufficiently-----

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: If, for instance, a commercial semi-state was lobbying to extend its remit, for some commercial contract or something out of the ordinary, can the Minister assure us that would qualify as a lobbying activity under this legislation?

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Based on that assurance from the Minister, and in the knowledge that we will have a review of this legislation in 12 months' time, I will withdraw the amendment.

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I move amendment No. 31:In page 8, to delete lines 35 to 39.

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I move amendment No. 32:In page 9, to delete lines 4 and 5.Of all the amendments I have tabled, this is the one that is most important. I propose to delete the following words: "apart from any matter relating only to the implementation of any such policy, programme, enactment or award or of a technical nature." Any communication up to implementation point can be regarded as lobbying, but...