Results 20,861-20,880 of 21,307 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald
- Order of Business (19 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: Yes.
- Requests to move Adjournment of Dáil under Standing Order 32 (19 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 32 to discuss the following matter of urgent importance, namely, the Government's decision to cut the current fuel and household allowance rates for the elderly and carers. Following the Minister for Social Protection's announcement last week, an elderly woman came into my constituency office in Cabra distraught. The combined cut to...
- Written Answers — State Agencies: State Agencies (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: Question 50: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, following his recent announcement of his intent to cap the pay of CEOs of semi-State commercial companies at â¬250,000, if he intends to extend the review of the current performance bonus schemes for CEOs in commercial semi-State companies to all levels of senior management; and if he will make a statement on the matter....
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: You should not be facile. It would be done through a debt resolution mechanism.
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: I concur with Deputy Fleming and welcome the Minister's openness to suggestions. We should return to this matter when business resumes in September. I hope the Minister will make a commitment that if realisable proposals are put to him-----
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: Yes. If such proposals can accommodate a tighter arrangement for the 2012 budget and Estimates, I hope the Minister will facilitate them.
- Fiscal Policy (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: Question 2: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will publish in full the Comprehensive Spending Review of all Government Departments in a single document; and if so, when he will do so. [20521/11]
- Fiscal Policy (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: We are pleased the Minister is in the Chamber to take our questions. The broad smile on his face suggests he is equally pleased to be here. The Minister has made much of the promised spending review which, by definition, will be a comprehensive process. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, has made clear that not alone will the Government seek to reach the target of â¬3.6...
- Fiscal Policy (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: The Government has indicated that in seeking to reach its target of â¬4 billion in cutbacks, income tax rates and social welfare payments will not be touched. This raises the question of where the reductions will be targeted, if the money is not coming from those sources. It is unacceptable for the Minister to say that the process of analysing expenditure should not be available to people...
- Fiscal Policy (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: It could be presented in that format.
- Croke Park Agreement (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: I thank the Minister for that answer. This question is interesting because not long ago the Secretary General of the Minister's Department wrote a letter or a memorandum to heads of Departments urging them to do things that "go beyond the Croke Park agreement". Those of us here have not had sight of that correspondence although it is clear Martin Wall from The Irish Times had. I do not...
- Croke Park Agreement (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister has dodged the issue. I do not doubt his commitment to recovery but we understand the most senior official in the Minister's newly established Department has written to line Ministers-----
- Croke Park Agreement (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: -----suggesting that they cook up different proposals beyond the Croke Park agreement. Does the Minister not find that alarming, because I do? Would the Minister publish that memorandum or letter?
- NewERA Proposal (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: That answer is astonishing in respect of the NewERA proposal. The Minister said that matters are at an advanced stage. The Taoiseach told me recently in this House that neither he nor the Cabinet had had sight of the Cahill report with which I am sure the Minister is familiar. It deals with the proposal to strip the ESB of its transmission assets and move them-----
- NewERA Proposal (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: As the Minister is well aware, the Cahill report suggested that would be a costly and perilous venture.
- NewERA Proposal (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: How could the Minister's propositions around NewERA be at such an advanced state if it is the case, as the Taoiseach told me in this House, that neither he nor the Cabinet had seen the Cahill report? Will the Minister urge his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, or take the initiative himself, to publish the Cahill report and put that information into the public domain?
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: I understand from the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, that up to â¬1.5 billion of the â¬3.6 billion, or perhaps â¬4 billion, in savings will be achieved through "revenue-raising measures" and that the remainder will be achieved through expenditure cuts. As the person responsible for public expenditure, the Minister needs to give us a much more concrete sense of how he...
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: The difficulty with the Minister's argument is that all the evidence to date suggests this bailout arrangement is not the route back to economic sovereignty. If we take the three months since the Troika was last here and examine what has happened since, the domestic economy is still in crisis, unemployment has increased and Irish debt has been relegated to junk status. If the game plan was...
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: We cannot borrow as things stand.
- Departmental Expenditure (14 Jul 2011)
Mary Lou McDonald: Not on the markets.