Results 9,941-9,960 of 21,499 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Written Answers — Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: National Monuments (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: 611. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for an update on requests to her office from Clondalkin Tidy Towns in Dublin 22 to have Mount Saint Joseph Cemetery on Monastery Road brought under national protection; and the additional options available to the local community, local government or central Government to assist in protecting and preserving this historic site. [39400/15]

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Of 22 amendments tabled, 14 have been ruled out of order as, I presume, they might constitute a charge on the Exchequer. It is hugely problematic for Deputies when their amendment is ruled out on that basis. It neuters the debate, especially when one is discussing legislation such as this which is all about pay rates and the restoration of pay and which, by definition, cannot be fully...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Can the Minister clarify that before we move on?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Please. I will try not to drift.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: We could debate forever the general economic picture. When the Minister compares the pay of low-paid public servants with pay in the private sector he will be aware that we now rank second only to the United States for low pay. He will be aware that people in the private sector work on zero-hours contracts and what amounts to poverty wages. He should not take any succour from this and...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: It will not because the amendments have been disallowed.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I reference that as further evidence of the big stick approach so beloved of this Administration. Nowhere in this legislation is full pay restoration benchmarked or signposted, milestone by milestone, for low income workers. What is being provided for is partial restoration, and only very partial restoration at that.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I did not mention the minimum wage.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I mentioned poverty wages-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----and zero hour contracts.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I move amendment No. 3:In page 6, to delete lines 3 to 29. This brings us back to our earlier conversation. In setting out the purpose of this Bill I stated that it provides for full pay restoration of cuts to higher portions of incomes. In other words, it provides for full pay restoration of cuts to incomes of between €65,000 and €110,000.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes, I am speaking about the third cut.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Bill provides for the restoration of that portion of the higher income in full-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----up to a benchmark of €110,000 in two phases in April 2017 and January 2018-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----and in excess of €110,000 in three tranches in April 2017, April 2018 and April 2019. The higher portion of the incomes of high earners is being restored in full. That is what this legislation provides for. Contrast this with earnings below the €65,000 per annum, which are being only partially restored. In this regard, the Minister has set out the figures of...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am misinterpreting nothing. I am setting out what the legislation provides for. It would have been a better day out had the Minister provided for the full and orderly unwinding and restoration of all pay cuts to earnings below the €65,000 benchmark. That would have been a more orderly and fair way of going about this. In terms of the higher earnings, there is, as I have stated...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister said that the people who took the biggest hit were those on the highest pay, which is undoubtedly true in terms of the third pay cut. However, the corollary of that argument is that those on the higher pay will enjoy the largest restoration. Leaving aside the issues in respect of-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is not my phone. The corollary of that argument is that those who will benefit from the highest level of restoration are those on the highest incomes. The Minister claims he seeks to achieve an orderly, equitable and fair unwinding of the financial emergency measures in the public interest legislation. The fair thing to do would be to start with workers with an income below the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister has again raised the issue of medics. The only way we will get medics, be they consultants, doctors or nurses, to enter and stay the course in the health system is by having a properly functioning health system.