Results 20,701-20,720 of 21,499 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Sale of State Assets: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: In his own mind, the Minister is working from a position of vulnerability and pressure. He has conceded that point. First, we have heard no compelling case for partial privatisation of the assets. Second, the Minister has conceded that he is taking this option from a position of weakness. Third, his colleagues on the Government back benches believe the Government has sealed a deal with...

Sale of State Assets: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: I ask the Minister to revisit all of that. Can the Minister also address the issue of the potential private shareholding in the ESB and explain to the House why he believes it would not fundamentally alter the nature of the company, the way in which it operates and its commitment to the long-term needs and strategic interests of the State and its citizens?

Sale of State Assets: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: Given that the Government has not sealed that deal, the Minister needs to tell his backbenchers that it is not a done deal. They are under the impression that it is. The record of the House shows that.

Sale of State Assets: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister has been very clear. I merely urge him to clarify matters with his party colleagues.

Sale of State Assets: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: Whatever about the generalised understanding, was it not very unwise to make a concrete commitment for the sum of €2 billion before, at a very minimum, securing that understanding with the troika? I am opposed to what the Government is proposing to do. I think it is crazy. In the medium and long term it does not add up. However, even accepting the Government's rationale, the Minister...

Sale of State Assets: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister's statement of reluctance to sell off State assets or parts thereof was genuine. I urge him to listen to his instinct. I urge his colleagues in government to do likewise. This proposal is a classic case of short-term thinking. Deputy Ó Cuív was right, in that the McCarthy report, if it did nothing else, shone a light on the commercial success of the semi-State sector in...

Sale of State Assets: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: In the course of the Minister's commentary he did not address the impact of a private stake in any of these entities. Those who would choose to invest and become shareholders have a legitimate expectation of a return on their investment. This is how it works and the Minister and I know it. For the Minister to pretend this private profit-making interest would have no influence in the...

Sale of State Assets: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: Therefore, it makes no sense on this basis to countenance selling off any portion of the company. The Minister states the merit of his proposal is that the Government will still have a majority stake. This seems to be the Minister's view. I put it to him that the moment he introduces private shareholders into the equation the fundamental thrust of the organisation in terms of meeting the...

Sale of State Assets: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: As the Minister steps down this path he opens up the prospect of a similar experience for the other commercial semi-State bodies. The Minister is very unwise to have conceded to the troika that he would even consider the sale - and it would be a fire sale in these market conditions - of valuable State assets. He pointed the finger at Fianna Fáil and I accept that Deputy Ó Cuív was...

Sale of State Assets: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----I am working on the assumption that the valuation of these assets is with an eye to taking a decision on whether to dispose of them in whole or in part. Let us return to first principles and remind ourselves why the likes of the Minister, the Labour Party and many others and successive Administrations have put such a value and emphasis on the commercial semi-State bodies. It is because...

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister, Deputy Howlin, told the House the advice from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council is independent and will be weighed up. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, has already accepted at least one piece of its independent advice, namely that the extent of the cuts should be ratcheted up to €4 billion in the forthcoming budget. As the Minister weighs up this matter, do the social costs of...

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister's colleagues in Government have relentlessly attacked so-called lifestyle choices of people who live on €187 a week.

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister's colleagues in Government-----

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister's colleagues-----

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----have supported a strategy of big pay-offs for Anglo Irish Bank bankers, NAMA developers and ministerial advisors.

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister, Deputy Howlin has been clear on these matters but he cannot tell us definitively as a Minister and member of the Labour Party if he will resist even more savage austerity and if he will stand up for those who are suffering or if he will continue to be the cheerleader for Fine Gael policy.

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: I welcome Deputy Howlin's recently found interest in the North of Ireland and its budgetary circumstances. If he examined what has happened just up the road, he would discover that despite a cut to the block grant, the Executive has worked to ring-fence services and to create new income streams for the most socially disadvantaged. The Minister says he will not pretend. The great pretence is...

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: I put it to the Minister again.

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: Will the Government, with the Labour Party in it, pursue even greater austerity? Are we looking at €4 billion in cuts and tax rises?

Leaders' Questions (13 Oct 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is the commitment to protect the social welfare budget still intact or has the Labour Party capitulated to its partners in Government and the EU-IMF troika, whose presence in our country all of us lament?