Results 10,241-10,260 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: I apologise that I did not hear the debate because I have only now returned to Leinster House. I suspect I know the song very well, however.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: I am glad to see that Deputy Tóibín is back with us.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: I am sorry I missed Deputy McDonald, in particular, but I think I know the text very well.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: Sinn Féin clearly had a number of eager little beavers with social science degrees working away on scripts over the last two days for this parliamentary farce that they know very well is going nowhere.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: Sinn Féin knows what it is about, I know what it is about and it knows that I know what it is about.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: It is exploiting the circumstances for any advantage it can garner. This has nothing to do with governance, bringing forward solutions, putting people back to work or protecting sections of the community. It produces endless rhetoric without a single policy to be found. There is a soundbite for everything and a policy for nothing.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: The policies it has published have more holes than a colander.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: I watched Deputy McDonald on television with the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Brian Hayes, when she could not account for the missing €750 million. It does not matter that her party cannot produce an alternative budget, however, because its aim is to exploit the mood of the people for electoral advantage.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: It tried to do the same thing with the fiscal treaty so that it could get 50% of the coverage. It learned a lesson from the experience.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: At the end of the process it was exposed as not having a single positive proposal to offer the Irish people. If the people had followed Sinn Féin's example on the fiscal treaty, where would we be now?

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: We would be in worse circumstances than the unfortunate people of Greece. That is the fundamental division in this House. In the current economic climate, Sinn Féin has embarked on creating as much mayhem as it can in the hope it will get some support for that. I do not believe it will.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: The fact of the matter is that everybody with a titter of wit knows the state of the economy we inherited. They know the dysfunctional circumstances into which the country was plunged.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: They know now that stability has been restored to the governance of this country. They know that the reputation of this country has been restored. We have a thriving export sector.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: We have the healthiest IDA pipeline we have ever had. Last year, we had the best year we have had for ten years in terms of foreign direct investment. We have difficulties in the consumer economy, but it is not difficult to understand why that should be the case. We are addressing these issues, and against all the odds have managed to bring home a budget under constraints. This is the...

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: We now have the real prospect, if stability returns to the eurozone, of faster growth in this economy than in similar economies elsewhere. Sinn Féin is playing parliamentary games and one-upmanship in the context of whether this motion would create more damage than would the continuation of the budget debate or the debate on the X case. If creating mayhem with a motion of no confidence...

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: I want to welcome Deputy Doherty back. He was kept under wraps for three or four months. I have never been able to find out why. He is a very energetic young man and I do not know why he has been kept under wraps. With the bleating from him and his colleagues-----

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: -----one would think they were keeping the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in business.

Confidence in the Government: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: I greatly regret that, because I was only getting started.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Departmental Contracts (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: It has not been possible to compile the information sought by the Deputy in the time available. I will write to him with the information he has sought as a matter of urgency.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Postal Services (12 Dec 2012)

Pat Rabbitte: The procurement process for a national postcode system is currently under way. This process is being managed by my Department on a ring fenced basis. The pre-qualification questionnaire issued on the e-tenders website on 17 January 2011 for the appointment of a postcode management licence holder. This offered the opportunity for all potential suppliers at that time to apply for the...