Results 16,821-16,840 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I thank Deputy Calleary for his acknowledgement of the success of the initiative taken by the Government. We made the decision to reduce the VAT rate in this area within 100 days of coming to office, when were facing an extraordinary financial situation with no flexibility at all. We determined that we would put together a €500 million stimulus package. As we did not want to...

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Not only did they denounce the jobs stimulus plan that was announced before this Government had been in place for 100 days, but they also denounced the funding mechanism. Deputies will recall that it was funded by means of a levy on pension funds. One cannot welcome the result while denying the means.

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I presume Deputy Calleary is belatedly acknowledging that the decision taken by the Government within 100 days of coming to office to focus on a sectoral job creation effort that has demonstrably created at least 15,000 additional jobs, as the Deputy has admitted, was the correct policy decision at that time. Obviously everything is on the agenda in the context of the forthcoming budget. We...

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I thank Deputy Calleary for praising us more forcefully and convincingly than we could. He underscored the success of this Government's sectoral strategy, which he denounced early on in our term of office.

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: We are pursuing the creation and maintenance of jobs as the first priority of the Government, the first priority of the forthcoming budget-----

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: -----and the first priority in all the decisions we will make for the remaining two and a half years of our term.

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: We will focus on that as we have done. The success that Deputy Calleary has outlined, in relation to the tourism sector, will be continued. While I appreciate that the Deputy does not want to take lectures, the unavoidable truth is that the last two years of his party's term of office saw the collapse of 250,000 private sector jobs. We are now creating 3,000 new private sector jobs net per...

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The previous Government's strategy, which it pushed through this House, of cutting the minimum wage was the wrong one. Our strategy is not to have a low wage economy, to rush to the bottom and to think we can create jobs by pushing down people's basic wage. In the most difficult of economic times, we undid the damaging economic decision the previous Government took.

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: In thanking the Deputy for his belated acknowledgment of the successful strategy being pursued by this Government, I can assure him that in the next budget we will continue to ensure that jobs continue to be created.

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy first raised the issue of mortgage arrears in the context of the discussion that took place yesterday between Professor Honohan and the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform. Before I go on to the second question, I want to say that the issue of mortgage arrears is an absolute focus of Government because it is one of the deepest scars of the legacy of the...

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Deputy O'Dea has a brass neck.

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I will not be distracted because the issue of mortgage arrears is too important and central to the lives of too many people for Deputy O'Dea to be making silly comments about it. He should be ashamed of his part in it. The Government has put in place a comprehensive programme of action to assist mortgage holders. The Personal Insolvency Act was signed into law last December. The...

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The people of Ireland are hurting and are rightly angry. They want an accounting not some denunciation from the benches here. They want a real accounting. Those who committed criminal offences should be held to account under the law. We changed the law shortly after coming into Government to give additional powers to the prosecution authorities. I am confident that every shred of...

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy asked a series of questions and I will try to go through them as best I can. First, she prefaced her comments with reference to the ESB pension scheme. This scheme is sound; we should acknowledge that. Changes were introduced in the scheme last year, by agreement with the workers. The new funding standards that have been set for all pension schemes have been set by the...

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I have no views on ruling the world but I thought the Deputy opposite was a traditional Wobbly, uniting the workers of the world. From the years I spent listening to her on the administrative council of the Labour Party, I know her good Trot view of that. Unfortunately, being caught in the time warp of the Sixties is of no value to us in terms of interpreting the economic crisis we now...

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: In terms of pension provision, we could take the line the Deputy advocates, ensure that nobody puts any private money into a pension fund and have entire dependence on the State.

Leaders' Questions (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That is entirely unaffordable in the short term. What we are doing, for the first time, is putting a cap on the pension that can accrue with State support. I hoped, and would have thought, the Deputy might welcome that but of course she is always too busy attacking the Labour Party and the left rather than looking to attack the right and its views on what is happening.

Order of Business (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is proposed to take No. 3, Fines (Payment and Recovery) Bill 2013 - Second Stage (resumed).

Order of Business (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Bill will be published this session.

Order of Business (26 Sep 2013)

Brendan Howlin: To answer the question on Dáil reform, it is important that we arrive at a consensus as much as possible within the elected membership, and then the reforms and how they impact on the staff and the running of the House will obviously require negotiation subsequently.