Results 21,241-21,260 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: In order to write down the value of mortgages on that scale, as these are losses that are not provided for, someone would have to provide capital for the banks to do that. This could run to many billions and, indeed, probably €40 billion or €50 billion would have to be provided in additional capital to do that. The taxpayer has already put €64 billion into the banks and...
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: Of course, I acknowledge there have been changes to deal with a number of areas of the legislation in regard to people in difficulties. There has been a suite of legislation, as I said, which includes the introduction of new personal insolvency arrangements to allow for work on this. There was a court case on which the Government acted as a result of the earlier court decisions in regard to...
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: We have to work within the system we have put in place. As I said, it is delivering an increased number of work-outs, restructurings and split mortgages. In the case we have seen, there has been write-downs and warehousing of certain mortgages. There are mortgage-to-rent schemes and an increasing number of options are being developed. That is the way we need to work through these...
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: The only issue on which the Deputy's party in my belief for largely political reasons seeks to focus is the question as to whether-----
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: No, that is not the case. The only issue, on which the Deputy's party seeks to focus, was a discussion as to whether there was co-operation between the O'Mahoney investigation and the whistleblowers. We know as a matter of fact that there was no such co-operation; there was not any interaction between the two bodies.
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: As the Taoiseach said yesterday, different opinions can be formed as to what went wrong in that case. Clearly it did not happen on either side the way one would want such an investigation to be conducted. As far as the Minister for Justice and Equality is concerned-----
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: Fianna Fáil needs to look to its own record given that much of this happened under its watch. There were reports going back over many years which called for the codification of the process of cancellation of points-----
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: ----- and Fianna Fáil did not act on those recommendations. Fianna Fáil Members need to acknowledge that we are proceeding immediately to fix this system that has been broken for well-nigh ten years. They cannot pretend they are not party to that failure.
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: As I have already acknowledged, the whistleblowers have had a vital role in getting us to this point. As the Deputy said, the report exposes many very serious failings. With so-called "send-backs", 65% were not returned. As the Deputy has acknowledged there was huge variation in the treatment in different districts with some refusing every application for cancellation and others accepting...
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: There is an attempt to seek to politicise this by going back repeatedly to this issue, which the Minister dealt with at great length, as to whether there was co-operation between the O'Mahoney investigation and the whistleblowers. We know as a point of fact that there was not engagement between them. That is very clear and it has been acknowledged that different people have different...
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: I understand the Commissioner yesterday clarified the context in which he used the word "disgusting" in respect of the incidents that occurred. I will not repeat his clarification. He made that clarification over the context in which he made that remark. On the question as to whether the Commissioner has failed, it is very clear the Commissioner introduced new measures and procedures as a...
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: Níl Gaeilge shách mhaith agam chun ceisteanna a fhreagairt as Gaeilge. Mar sin, tá orm caint as Béarla. I would not like to mislead the House by answering the questions inaccurately in any way. I share Deputy Calleary's welcoming of the report. As he indicated, it reveals very severe weaknesses in the process that existed. This has been the subject of reports over...
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: He has delivered a report to the Dáil and acted on it, and we are fixing a system that clearly has been malfunctioning over a long period.
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: It is simply not true that the Minister for Justice and Equality committed any serious wrong; that is not the case. He acted absolutely correctly in respect of the handling of complaints that came this way. Deputy Calleary's party had an opportunity last week to debate this. We spent all day debating precisely this issue. The Minister for Justice and Equality set out his position and...
- Leaders' Questions (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: He has acknowledged that value.
- Other Questions: Regional Development (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: Waterford certainly has not been excluded. I have held two Action Plan for Jobs meetings there and intend to have more. In the first phase of the support for business pilot initiative, just one meeting is being held in Dublin. We will look at Waterford in the next phase. I see the merit of that. There is no region I have visited more often in an effort to understand the needs of...
- Other Questions: Regional Development (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: The point I was making to Deputy Tóibín was that we cannot look to the capacity of the IDA to provide for every town and village. The IDA cannot fill that gap and never will. A large region like the south east with a significant educational asset in the Waterford Institute of Technology and its established company base in food, pharmaceuticals and other sectors is a cluster we...
- Other Questions: Employment Rights Issues (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: Zero hours contracts are covered by contract law and must be entered into freely by the employer and the employee. They cannot be forced upon an employee. Zero hours contracts are normally found in sectors such as retail, health care and hospitality. I am very conscious that in certain circumstances they may be of great benefit to both employers and employees. They allow greater...
- Other Questions: Employment Rights Issues (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: Clearly, part-time work does not provide a full-time income support, which will always be the case. There has been a pattern in the recovery whereby there was an initial growth in part-time work whereas now 90% of increased employment relates to full-time positions, which is encouraging. Part-time workers are protected by employment law and must get the same terms and conditions as...
- Other Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (13 Mar 2014)
Richard Bruton: Since Action Plan for Jobs was introduced in 2012, the Government has implemented over 500 actions to support job creation across all Government Departments and a significant number of State agencies. The aim of the action plan is to create a supportive operating environment for businesses in order to allow employment to grow across all sectors. The 2012 action plan contained 270 actions...