Results 16,721-16,740 of 21,499 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (29 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: 4. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Social Affairs and Equality will meet. [18476/20]

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (29 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: 6. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on economic recovery and investment will next meet. [17251/20]

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (29 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I wish to raise the absence of the arts from the July stimulus strategy with the Taoiseach. The Government's treatment of people in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment in recent times has been well voiced by all of us in opposition. The Government's decision yesterday evening to oppose the Sinn Féin amendment to the Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020, which...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: The sooner we have some sense of the shape and direction of this new unit, the better. The objective of working towards a shared Ireland and an Ireland in which we have agreement and consensus where that is possible - and we are not going to have consensus on all matters - is worthy. However, there is a need that must also be met in preparing for the reality and prospect of constitutional...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am glad to hear that news about the British-Irish Council. I am, however, disappointed that the Taoiseach is maintaining what I regard as a fairly passive stance towards the absolute necessity for an all-Ireland approach to human health. We have such an approach to animal health. Why on earth would we not have one for human health? The Taoiseach will recall from leaders' meetings before...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: The North-South Ministerial Council is the Taoiseach's opportunity to bring his critique of the Northern position on international travel to the table, to debate it with our colleagues and to press for a solution. We will support him in that because that is our view as to what must happen. We need a single island system of protection. That is the only way we will get ahead and stay ahead...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I was describing the Taoiseach's passive-----

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: No. This is about an all-island approach.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Departmental Offices (29 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I did not attack the Government.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is excellent and is, I am sure, met with joy universally. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his opening statement. There are many things I might have raised with the Taoiseach today as we return to session. I did not think I would be raising the issue of energy costs, but here we are. This morning, people woke to the news that some 1 million of them are to face higher electricity...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (2 Sep 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: The past six months were very difficult for people and the next six months will equally be difficult as we face into maybe the most difficult winter season in living memory. Big asks are being made of businesses, as the Taoiseach says, of workers and of families. In that context, any hike in energy costs or any utility cost is quite simply out of the question. We have had a hard time, but...

Nomination of Member of the Government: Motion (2 Sep 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I congratulate Deputy McConalogue on his appointment as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I extend my good wishes to him as he embarks on what is a very important job. There is no doubt that his appointment comes at a time of very great challenge and uncertainty for Ireland's agricultural and fishing communities. Our farmers and our fishermen deserve focus, energy and resolve...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Sep 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: This morning, the striking Debenhams workers occupied stores in Dublin and Cork. They did so after more than 150 days of campaigning for fair treatment from the company that has treated them in an appalling manner. The company, as the Taoiseach knows, simply shut up shop and left workers high and dry. Initially, they were left with only basic State supports and the prospect of statutory...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Sep 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is not right that these workers have had to stand on picket lines for months on end. The Taoiseach needs to act now. Will he lift the phone to KPMG?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Sep 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: Debenhams was not the first offender in using such tactical insolvencies and the loopholes the Taoiseach has described. Everyone will recall Clerys and its workers and will remember that at that time, the political class said it must never happen again. Guess what? It has happened again and will happen again, time after time, both the retail sector and elsewhere, unless those loopholes are...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Sep 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: Hear, hear.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Policy Functions (8 Sep 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: 1. To ask the Taoiseach the status of the work of the international division of his Department. [18477/20]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Policy Functions (8 Sep 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I thank the Taoiseach for his response. I wish to raise the issue of the intensification of attacks on Gaza by the Israeli army throughout last month. These attacks included the use of war planes with Israeli army offensives carried out almost daily from early August. In addition to the military attacks, Israel imposed further restrictions on the people of Gaza, which involved banning...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Policy Functions (8 Sep 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: As the Taoiseach noted, the threat of the further annexation of Palestinian land has been suspended but it has not been definitively taken off the table. As the Taoiseach is also aware, the state of Israel is additionally and in any event consistently in breach of international law. It is the essence of what we might call a rogue state. We want to get to a solution. I want Ireland to be...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Functions (8 Sep 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: Continuing on that theme, it is not only the representatives of the Sisters of Charity that the Taoiseach must speak to regarding these workers from St. Mary's, St. Monica's and the Caritas convalescent centre, but also the HSE. Many of these workers have given decades of service and worked right through the Covid-19 pandemic. They were front-line workers who were applauded, if the...