Results 14,121-14,140 of 21,499 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is fine.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: There is a difficulty in linking matters like this to performance and numbers. We saw that with the breathalyser numbers. People were pressurised to produce results. I would also like to focus on the logic of this. The idea underpinning the spending of this money is that it is preventative. Its success is not measured in massive returns to the coffers of the State. It is probably a...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I do not know whether Deputy MacSharry wants to elaborate on the matter.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Cashel is not in Clonmel, Chairman.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Obviously, this person feels very aggrieved. I do not see how, on any level, this committee can assist him in getting answers or the succour or comfort he seeks. I suggest that we write to the Minister for Justice and Equality and forward this correspondence to him. We must establish what the correct mechanism is, if there is one, for this person to make his case or to be heard. What...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am very sympathetic to his feeling that he was neglected or let down. We have to find the right mechanism for that to be dealt with, but I do not believe it is this committee.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Write to the two of them.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: There is always somebody to pay.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is that the vehicle then for us to-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: As a starting point, we can certainly have the Secretary General of the Department in and take him through all of that and establish it for ourselves. I would be curious to know because Deputy MacSharry says they are getting four reports a year-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Okay. I think we could usefully explore as a starting point what is behind that and go through all of that. I would like to know whether we can pursue, and I think we should, the idea of having the Minister in on this issue as well. The Deputy has set out the quantum of moneys. It is massive.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: We will start with the Accounting Officer.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am delighted that the section 38 and section 39 organisations are on the agenda. That is a very important piece of work that we have to do. However, I wish to again raise the issue of nursing homes and the charges relating thereto. I raised this matter months ago and I am raising it again. I am very concerned at the manner and behaviour of elements in this sector. There is a role for...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----we had agreed that this was a matter of public concern. While we have been in recess the public discourse on this sector has certainly continued and I think public concerns have remained. In fact, they might be even more heightened now and I think there is a role for us in examining that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: The fair deal scheme.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I know we cannot do everything and I do not disagree with anything on the list but, rather than just making a general commitment that it is important and we will come to it, I would like the committee to start tying down a date.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (21 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: We will go straight.

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: The forthcoming budget represents a genuine opportunity to deliver for those who are struggling to make ends meet. The Taoiseach says he represents those who get up early in the morning. I can tell him that nobody gets up earlier in the morning than those who are raising young children. While Fine Gael and their friends in Fianna Fáil engage in a sham fight over tax cuts, and hammer...

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I have raised one.

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: For the record of the Dáil, I am actually raising two young children. While I regard that as something of a personal endeavour, it also puts me, like so many others, in a position to understand that all of the cant and empty rhetoric about balancing the books is not worth a fig to struggling families. To couples at work or individuals on their own who have to provide care for their...