Results 11,421-11,440 of 21,499 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Questions on Proposed Legislation (19 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Hear, hear.

Questions on Proposed Legislation (19 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: That was a helpful observation.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Bodies (19 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: No, there is joint responsibility.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Citizens Assembly (19 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: We need to hear this.

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister's colleagues in government have consistently refused to tackle and put a stop to the outrageous proposed increases in politicians' pay. He will agree with me that we are all well paid. Deputies earn a basic salary of €87,258. It is a wage that many workers would envy. Indeed, it is a wage that the majority of workers will never earn. Of course, the Minister and his...

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: At a time when €5 is the best that the Minister can do for pensioners and many private sector workers, politicians cannot and must not get special treatment. We need to put a stop to this. That is what citizens wish to see. That is the fair thing to do. Will the Minister give a commitment that the Government will act properly and legislate to stop unjust pay increases for political...

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister might raise his concerns regarding welfare recipients in the North with the Tory Government. He might also raise the issue of partition. That would be a helpful thing if his concerns are genuine. I am fully conversant with the facts in this scenario. It is the Minister who turns his head away from the very simple fact that the proposed increases for Deputies, Ministers, the...

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: I know, and the Minister should know, that there is no public tolerance at this time, when a fiver is given to pensioners amidst great fanfare and €2.70 is afforded to young people out of work, for so-called political leaders having the brass iron neck to suggest our generous salaries and the Minister's generous salary should be hiked up again.

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: If the Government is not prepared to legislate on this matter, will the Minister, his ministerial colleagues and others, including on the Fianna Fáil and Labour Party benches, support the Sinn Féin motion?

Leaders' Questions (20 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister has not answered my question.

Questions on Proposed Legislation (20 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: I ask about the help to buy scheme, which is part of the finance Bill to be published today. The scheme, which will provide a rebate of income tax over the four previous years up to 5% of the purchase price of new build homes, is a deeply flawed and dangerous scheme. Before the Government pressed ahead with the launch of this scheme last week, the overwhelming majority of expert opinion...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: The matter merits separate consideration, not least because it is the first occasion on which we have had visibility of the issue. The Chairman has made the wise suggestion that we write to the HSE seeking further information. Somewhere on our programme of work we need to give a dedicated focus to this issue that has not been without public controversy.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: It means that the witnesses may have to return at some stage also.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: I welcome all of the witnesses. Unlike Deputy Catherine Connolly, I do, in fact, have the contemporaneous notes of the conversations in front of me. At a previous hearing of the committee, Mr. Alan Stewart's boss, Ms Aideen O'Reilly-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----informed the committee that contact had been made with NAMA by PIMCO in reporting concerns under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. As somebody who was party to some, although not all, of the telephone calls in question, did PIMCO seek the acquiescence of NAMA to the fee arrangement in question?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: I will come to that matter in due course. With no disrespect to Mr. Stewart, that is not what I asked. Would he be surprised if I were to say to him-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: One would be surprised then that the minutes of the board meetings on 13 March, which were signed off on by the NAMA board, state PIMCO had sought NAMA's acquiescence, namely, to the fee arrangement.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am trying to establish that, as somebody who was party to some of the telephone calls, this certainly was not part of Mr. Stewart's impression.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Board minutes of the meeting on 11 March, two days previously, recorded the following sentiment:PIMCO, ostensibly in the spirit of transparency, wish to advise NAMA about the success fee arrangement and sought NAMA's agreement that it was appropriate. The word "ostensibly" is used in minutes of the board meeting, which it seems is questioning the motivation of PIMCO which, it should be borne...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Stewart had been writing a record in his contemporaneous notes and I do not see any such doubt cast on the motives of PIMCO.