Results 21,061-21,080 of 21,499 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Fiscal Policy (14 Jul 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Government has indicated that in seeking to reach its target of €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 €1.5 billion of the €3.6 billion, or perhaps €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.

Residential Institutions Redress (Amendment) Bill, 2011: Second Stage (14 Jul 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: No matter how often the issue of abuse in institutions, including religious institutions, is discussed, it is almost impossible not to be shocked and horrified all over again by the kind of nihilistic viciousness that was visited on so many innocent children, whose only crime was to be born poor, to a single parent or to be orphans. After so many years of dealing with the tragic aftermath of...

Order of Business (14 Jul 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am sure the Tánaiste will agree the Cloyne report represents another chapter in the sordid story of the violation of children and sheltering of perpetrators of abuse by the Catholic Church. It needs to be recognised in this House that, to date, the State has failed children. It has failed in its duty to protect children from abuse, vindicate the rights of abuse victims and subject...

Written Answers — Human Rights Issues: Human Rights Issues (13 Jul 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: Question 22: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he intends to lobby the Sri Lankan Government to lift the Prevention of Terrorism Act; if he intends to press the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission to inform relatives when a citizen is arrested; if he will urge the Sri Lankan Government to adhere to a 2006 presidential directive by registering detainees,...

Written Answers — Foreign Conflicts: Foreign Conflicts (13 Jul 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: Question 30: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on whether the Israeli authorities' permission for an average of only 715 truckloads of construction material per month for the rebuilding of Gaza is insufficient when a report by 25 non-governmental organisations, including Amnesty International, and based on UN data, requires 670,000 truckloads of...

Written Answers — Rights of the Child: Rights of the Child (12 Jul 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: Question 40: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to increase children's ability to have their voices heard in matters concerning them; if she will increase the number of guardians [i]ad litem[/i] in the State; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19894/11]

Written Answers — Youth Services: Youth Services (12 Jul 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: Question 56: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the date on which she will publish a new policy framework for youth work and youth service provision. [19893/11]

Written Answers — Community Welfare Service: Community Welfare Service (12 Jul 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: Question 271: To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to move the delivery of community welfare services to local social protection offices from local Health Service Executive offices throughout the State and if so, the date of same. [20054/11]

Written Answers — Magdalene Laundries: Magdalene Laundries (12 Jul 2011)

Mary Lou McDonald: Question 326: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will immediately publish the Magdalene Laundries inter-departmental committee terms of reference; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19791/11]