Results 16,841-16,860 of 36,764 for speaker:Enda Kenny

Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: The Deputy and I know the benefit of these discussions and I hope they will be concluded. As the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, pointed out, these are matters in the medium term in any event. They are technical and very complex issues. However, from Ireland's perspective, the troika recognises that Ireland's economic position could be eased somewhat by having lower interest rates...

Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: I hate to disappoint the Deputy again.

Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: I did not see all the details of Deputy Ross's survey in the newspaper. I do not know whether he gave Deputy Higgins the details as to whom he is referring. This is a difficult and challenging year for a great number of people.

Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: I recall being a member of a local authority back in the 1970s when everybody paid rates in respect of services provided. We moved away from all of that in the intervening 30 years and it is very difficult to get people to understand the necessity of spreading the burden as equitably and as fairly as possible. Changes were made to the taxation system in the budget. As the Deputy will be...

Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: The Minister for Finance introduced changes here in respect of the higher paid and wealthy people. Changes were also introduced in respect of those who deem themselves to be tax exiles, which is a relatively small number. I made the point about repatriation. The point was made to me by one such person in that category who has put substantial funding back into the country. I will not...

Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: When one hears the Minister for Education and Skills announce a €1.5 billion programme for the construction of more than 250 new schools, which will provide employment and opportunities for substantial numbers of people and places for children-----

Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: He would not even recognise that. I would say something else to the Deputy.

Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: He should look beyond the shores of the country sometimes.

Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: Deputy Higgins should look beyond the shores of the country sometimes because the Warren Buffetts - I could never claim to be at his level - of the world and economists, business and politics internationally now look at this country as being in a very different position than it was 12 months. There is confidence with deposits coming back into the banks and investment in our country. In some...

Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: -----decision is in the area of the indigenous economy in small and medium enterprises. We have deliberately and consciously set out to protect the lower paid in this area with exemptions, the removal from the universal social charge, the restoration of the minimum wage and by giving facilities and incentives to employers to take on new employees and to make it easier for them to do their...

Cabinet Sub-committee Meetings (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, together. The Cabinet sub-committee on health has met on three occasions to date in 2012 - on Thursday, 2 February, Tuesday, 14 February, and Thursday, 8 March. The next meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on social policy is scheduled for Thursday, 24 May. It has met three times since its establishment last year - on Thursday, 9 June,...

Cabinet Sub-committee Meetings (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: I can say for Deputy Adams's information that there is a slight difference between a meeting of the economic management council and a meeting between the economic management council and the banks. He is aware of the difference there. As he is aware, the pillar banks and Ulster Bank were before the economic management council on two occasions. The people who are entitled to attend the...

Cabinet Sub-committee Meetings (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: The value of the Cabinet sub-committee, whether in health or any other area, is to be able to draw the relevant personnel together in order to focus on the decisions that need to be made. The Deputy raised a fundamental and important point. As so many people have left the health service of their own accord because of the redundancy package, I am happy to tell the Deputy this matter was the...

Cabinet Sub-committee Meetings (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: The next meeting of that committee is on 24 May. It has met three times: Thursday, 9 June, Wednesday, 21 September and Thursday, 24 November. I do not at all agree with the Deputy-----

Cabinet Sub-committee Meetings (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: No, not since the budget. I do not agree with the Deputy that the process of Cabinet sub-committees is not effective. It is probably the most effective process I have seen in my time in the House in that it brings under the imprimatur of the Department of the Taoiseach the requirement for decisions to be made and timelined. This is very important within the whole process of setting up...

Cabinet Sub-committee Meetings (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: I did not meet with the special delivery unit or have the discussion Deputy Adams had the opportunity to have at the committee meeting. I do not have the details of the evidence given to the Deputy at that meeting. Suffice it to say, the Minister for Health indicated that last week, for the first time ever, there was no count of those waiting for trolleys in Galway, which is an...

Cabinet Sub-committee Meetings (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: Serious numbers left the health service of their own accord because of the redundancy package. I pay compliment to those who remain, who have changed rosters, moved location and travelled distances, worked longer hours and, with clinical and medical teams and nursing staff, have sat down to determine how to provide the best care for patients in the hospital given that they will not have the...

Cabinet Sub-committee Meetings (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: I have told the Deputy that the committee met three times. The reason the carers' strategy has been taken on by the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, is that for years no Minister, Department or collection of Departments would deal with it. We are now dealing with it, and the Minister of State is putting together all of that strategy-----

Cabinet Sub-committee Meetings (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: -----to have a carers strategy that will set out policy.

Cabinet Sub-committee Meetings (13 Mar 2012)

Enda Kenny: Action is exactly the point because for donkey's years-----