Results 15,901-15,920 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I will try to go through the various points made. Deputy Fleming spoke about this not being about a collective agreement and this point was made by a number of other people. Unlike Deputy Fleming's party I set out to fully inform the trade union movement and representatives of workers in the public sector of the exact financial parameters in which the State was operating to see whether they...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The fact they are democratically elected trade union leaders means nothing to the people on the other side of the House.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The problem with some of the Deputies opposite is that they are so pure that their voices are the only ones to be heard in the Parliament and any voice which disagrees with them is to be shouted down.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Let me clear about this. I respect the right of trade unions to come to their own independent decisions now, but I have set out fairly what the Government has to do. It is in the full light of all those facts that individual trade unionists - who have a stake not only as public servants but also as people dependent on public services, and as taxpayers and citizens - will come to their own...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Let me deal with the other points made by Deputy Fleming. This section is a contingency in the event of non-agreement. That is what it is about. It is also a useful, positive thing to have because powers exist to do these things, as I have said. I want to put it beyond doubt, however, because there will be circumstances where the rights and conditions of workers have to be reaffirmed by...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: No, it is not. I have said clearly that it is a contingency in the event of non-agreement. I have made no bones about this. Where people, by their own democratic rights, determine that they do not want to be part of the Haddington Road agreement, we have to make savings. We are not going to exempt people from making a contribution when others have signed up to do it.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That would not be fair, reasonable or logical. Deputy Fleming mentioned the letters issue. There is a difference between the clarifications that were sought by some unions, and that is the content of the letters that we issued. There were fewer than happened in previous agreements and it has never been the practice in agreements negotiated by Deputy Fleming's own government, going back to...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Some of the Deputies opposite want the threshold of pay cuts to begin at €100,000 but nobody in the country thinks that people on €95,000 or €98,000 should be exempt from making a contribution.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It was tabled by the Deputies opposite; they want to exempt Members of the House. How would it go down with the public if Deputy Joan Collins was to exempt herself from a pay cut? It would look ridiculous.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I think this is the third lecture we have received from Deputy Boyd Barrett in the course of this debate alone. I am used to it, both in committee and in the House.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I will answer the questions as they were put. There is a view among some Deputies opposite that if one says something often enough, no matter how absurd it is, it is the truth. That is the view.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Deputy Boyd Barrett goes on again about low-income public servants, and he wants to exempt people on €100,000.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: So anything below €100,000 is low income in Deputy Boyd Barrett-land.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That is the new socialist revolution.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: A person is on a low income if they earn less than €100,000. It is so ludicrous.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I think a contribution from people earning over €65,000 is a reasonable ask. This is a reasonable set of measures. Deputy Donnelly talked about waste but in all honesty the whole notion that we will not have to cut anybody's wages is a cop-out. He says he agrees with the ask and reducing the wage bill, but we should start by tackling waste. There is always something nebulous over there.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: They do not want to do anything hard because there is waste to be found.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: If Deputy Donnelly or any other Deputies want to bring forward suggestions about identifying waste, they will have a ready ear in my Department. I have set up a reform and delivery office. We have set out a radical waste elimination process to amalgamate, eliminate waste and have shared services. We are driving that agenda. I would be happy to give the Deputy chapter and verse on it. The...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is a terrible strain, I know. Deputy Donnelly is probably preparing his Sunday Independent article and it is very difficult for him to listen to another discordant voice from his perch of authority.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 May 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That is all right. I would rather have had more time to debate these issues and go through every section, particularly the issues concerning pensions. I have not had an opportunity to do so, but over time we will have an opportunity to do all that.