Results 1,521-1,540 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Order of Business. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: It is not possible to say at this stage.

Order of Business. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: It will be introduced this session.

Order of Business. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: I apologise, I will have somebody contact the Deputy.

Order of Business. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: In case there is any misunderstanding I will be going to Ljubliana and Sarajevo next week for two or three days and the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, is going to San Francisco this morning. The only diving I will be doing between now and Easter is diving into the Travers report and all its implications and implementing its excellent recommendations.

Order of Business. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: Notwithstanding the Deputy's invitation——

Order of Business. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: It will be open as soon as possible.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: This debate is about the Travers report, and the Travers report is about performance and accountability. Every person who draws a salary paid by taxpayers has a responsibility to the public.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: They are the boss. We have a sophisticated system of democratic Government and accountability. Sometimes it is cumbersome, sometimes it is very procedural but it is democratic and fair. Ultimately, no one can be exempt from answering for the level of responsibilities they are given, or have sought, in public service. I believe in political accountability and I am prepared to accept political...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: As I said in my remarks, Ministers are accountable through the Oireachtas for their Departments and they must accept this accountability. Secretaries General are accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts for their Department's Vote. There are, therefore, clear lines of accountability. I will ask the Department to make available the briefing notes received by the three Ministers. I have...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: I accept Ministers have enormous powers and resources, and I accept the principle of political accountability, as I said in my earlier comments.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: No, I only know what I was told, or what I was not told, and I will be accountable for myself. I was appointed on 29 September and I went to the Department on 30 September. I was briefed extensively and so on. This issue arose in the House, for which I have given credit to Deputies Perry and Kenny, and that is how I got to make inquiries of the Attorney General. I have acknowledged that many...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: There were no records apparently in my Department, according to Mr. Travers. He got these records from the Department of Finance. He got the two memoranda to Government. It is a fact that in the report that on 5 February the late John Boland took a memorandum to Government. A memorandum was put to John Boland, who was the caretaker Minister as the Labour Party had withdrawn from Government,...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: I will answer those questions in reverse order if that is agreeable to the Deputy. Special advisers are responsible to me to give me outside independent advice. They are not to supplement the advice I get from civil servants, they are to help me come forward with alternative views or perspectives. They are not a substitute for the Minister. It is not the case that it is appropriate that...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: It is about organising the money as well and having certain priorities. It is not always about getting more and more money. We all know the health budget increases by approximately 10% a year, and that is the case this year. On the cost of this measure — we know what the parameters of the cost could be — there is no sum of money sitting around that we can take and say, "there it is". I...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: No, I will deal with the issue. I dealt with it earlier. I asked for a report for the Government. It was incomplete, it was inaccurate, and that is not acceptable to me.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: The Deputy should ask the Minister, Deputy Martin, where he was. I do not know where he was——

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: ——but in the number of months since this issue arose I did not think of asking him "Where the hell were you and why weren't you there?"

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: In any Department a Minister is involved in thousands of meetings every year. Sometimes one goes to all the meetings, other times one attends part of a meeting. Decisions would never be made or actions taken if we were attending meetings all the time. That is not an issue. I wish to correct something I said earlier. I said Fine Gael voted against that legislation but it abstained. I want to...

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: I have no problem with accepting accountability for my actions in respect of this matter.

Report on Long-Stay Care Charges: Motion. (10 Mar 2005)

Mary Harney: I have made it clear that I will do that now and in the future. The Deputy should ask the Minister, Deputy Martin, about his accessibility. I think he is very accessible. Questions about the Minister should be directed to him, to be fair to all of us, including him, and to the House. I do not doubt that political responsibility has to be accepted when political errors are made.