Results 11,221-11,240 of 21,499 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Chairman, I must intervene. The recommendation of Mr. Cushnahan did not go through the Northern Executive. For the purposes of clarity, it was a unilateral suggestion from the then Northern Ireland Minister for Finance and Personnel, Mr. Sammy Wilson MP, and the Minister, Deputy Noonan, should know that.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: My questions are for the Chairman, not the Minister. I appreciate it has been a long afternoon. Can we ask the Minister to appear again, if the committee so requires?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: There are issues. We are at an early stage of this process and, therefore, we will need the assistance of the Minister.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: I acknowledge the officials will appear again. The Minister stated that to intervene or to direct a cessation of the Project Eagle sale would be beyond his remit and he went so far as to say that it would be illegal. We need advice and clarity.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (6 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: We need a legal opinion on that.

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Budget Statement 2017 (11 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Government time is now up.

Leaders' Questions (12 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: What about child benefit?

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: In his remarks today the Taoiseach commended in a self-flattering and self-serving manner his Government as a different type of Government which combines its members' different talents to build a strong economy and a fair society. Not alone is there very little talent in evidence in the budget, it lacks a defined roadmap to build strong economic fundamentals or, certainly, to deliver a fair...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: I thank the Deputy. It now seems that the Government wishes to recreate itself as saviours of the struggling classes. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are coming to the rescue to save unfortunate welfare recipients in their hour of need. For that reason people outside the House now refer to this budget as the "fiver budget". There are budget fivers all around. We are still not clear when...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: The squeezed middle are still left with a tax on their family homes. It has been acknowledged in the course of this debate that property prices are rising, and in all likelihood that will continue. That is a big deal for the squeezed middle and the families who are faced with a charge which will only escalate. There is nothing for the squeezed middle in respect of student registration...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----it would have occurred to him that the figure of €15 million to deal with waiting lists was a bad joke. Much has been made of the Government's child care initiative. I am glad to say we can all now finally agree that there should be a publicly-funded universal child care service. It is a public service, not a babysitting service. It is part and parcel of the early childhood...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Tick that box. We are on that page.

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: The money to be assigned to the child care scheme from September, however, is a mere €32 million. We will receive the full details of how the figures crunch, but €32 million is a very low figure. In our alternative budget we proposed a child care package that came in at a figure of over €250 million.

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes, it looked to have a subsidised universal scheme and was in part geared towards the meetings the means of parents, but it also sought to lengthen the pre-school year by a further five weeks. The Government should really have done this. Having a 38 week pre-school year causes a problem for parents, as well as for those who work in the sector. I am coming to the end of my allocated...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: For a worker on a salary of €20,000, the USC cut that has been so lauded actually only amounts to €1.92. Perhaps those who will receive a fiver at some indeterminate date in March are the lucky ones after all, but that says very little for the Government's vision and ambition for the country.

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: After all the pronouncements about the universal social charge in Tuesday's budget package agreed by the Government and Fianna Fáil, a worker on €20,000 a year will benefit to the tune of €1.92 per week, while those on €30,000 a year can look forward to an increase of €2.88 per week and a person earning €45,000 a year can expect a whopping increase of...

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Nobody with an ounce of common sense could claim fairness for a scenario where pensioners, older citizens and carers who save the State a fortune are meant to be thankful for being given an extra fiver a week, while, at the same time, those who hold the highest office in the land are in line for a bonanza in a pay increase. I hear the Minister's response that Ministers are voluntarily...

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: What about Deputies?

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Deputy Martin did not say that

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: It would be very important, even if it is in the new year, that we would afford time in our work programme to study carefully and inquire into the report that the Comptroller and Auditor General is completing.