Results 20,241-20,260 of 21,525 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald
- Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (6 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: Question 114: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the former Ministers and taoisigh in receipt of ministerial and Oireachtas pensions; the names of the recipients; and the amount they receive from the pensions on an annual basis less the public service pension reduction, including the 20% reduction to be applied on pension income of more than â¬100,000 in tabular form....
- Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (6 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: Question 115: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the former public servants in receipt of public sector pensions of more than â¬100,000 per year; the recipients' names; the final position they held in the public service on retirement, the gross pension amount they receive before the public sector pension reduction is applied and also the pension figure after the PSPR is...
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: I am conscious that people watching this debate at home will have listened to the Minister's words and that many of them will be as disappointed as am I with what they have heard. At the outset, I note that although this budget is a dismal affair, in the past, the people passed their verdict on the last Government that pursued the same strategy as the current Administration. I remind the...
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: Is ionann straitéis eacnamaÃochta an Rialtais seo agus an straitéis a bhà ag Fianna Fáil agus na Glasaigh. Tá sibh go léir ag dul sa treo céanna â an bóther mÃcheart do mhuintir na hÃireann. Tar éis an olltoghcháin bhà an pobal ag súil le athrú, ach rinne sibh feall orthu. Tá gach gealltanas caite ar leataobh agaibh. Little wonder that people are cynical about politics...
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: The truth is that the Labour, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil parties are committed to the same failed policies that have increased unemployment, poverty and emigration.
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: The Government parties have taken the baton from the last Government and have continued its disastrous course and no amount of rhetoric can disguise that fact.
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: Today is a sad day for this State. It is a sad day for those families who waited anxiously to hear what the Minister had to say and who will be obliged to cope with the realities of it. It is a sad day for the economy. The Government has chosen to compound a crisis by following a policy set down by its predecessors in Fianna Fáil, a policy that has failed. It is also a sad day for the...
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: Today, the Labour Party is exposed. It is exposed as a party which will state and do anything to get into and stay in power.
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: Let me remind its members of some of its promises to the people before the last general election. On child benefit, it stated: "[We believe] children should not be made to pay for the current economic crisis. Labour will not cut child benefit." Bravo. On welfare cuts, it stated: "Fianna Fáil is making the poorest in our society pay for its disastrous mismanagement of the economy. It...
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: On education, it stated it "is committed to universal education from pre-school to third level because we believe that everyone - regardless of their background or their family's income - should have an equal chance ...".
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: I could go on. The Labour Party made these statements knowing full well the state of the public finances. There was no great revelation when its members walked into Government Buildings; the only revelation was for the public when it became clear that they were ripping up all of their pre-election promises and continuing the Fianna Fáil Party policies they had derided. It was out with "no...
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: The unemployment figures, the haemorrhage of emigration, the collapsed domestic economy and the misery facing struggling families all stand as testimony to a failed policy, a damning indictment of the "bailout for the banks and cuts for the people" policy the Labour Party now so warmly embraces. The burden of private bank debt must be lifted from the shoulders of citizens. It is not our...
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: The budget deficit must be reduced, which is a given. There is no easy way out of this crisis. There are no soft options available-----
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: -----but there are choices to be made. The Labour Party persists with the brazen lie that it has no option-----
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: -----but to target low and middle income families and cut back on vital public services. The truth is it does have choices but it has chosen to ruthlessly target men, women and children across the State who are already struggling following years of cuts.
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: It has betrayed every single one of them. The eagerness with which the party is pursuing its new cuts agenda is deeply shocking. So proud is the Minister, Deputy Howlin, of the pain and misery he is to impose on citizens that he has abandoned budget tradition and demanded a day all to himself in order that he can set out over â¬2 billion worth of cuts. What is he thinking? It beggars...
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: There is a revolutionary thought. It can come about by way of the elimination of waste in spending-----
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: -----and, most importantly, by way of growth.
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: We cannot fix the public finances until we tackle unemployment, as the Minister has acknowledged. However, he is not striking the right balance with this budget. There is no easy way out of the crisis, but there is a fair way, which is to tax wealth.
- Statements on Expenditure (5 Dec 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: It is not fair to cut welfare payments, as the Minister has done today; to make education the preserve of the elite, as he is on course to do with his announcement today; to attack family living standards or to make health care a privilege.