Results 28,421-28,440 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: This was going to deliver the economic nirvana towards which we were heading. I am sure the Minister has the progress report for 2007 for his bed time reading, as it contains some very worthwhile things. The programme was to be delivered in full, on budget and on time. This was the great mantra that was repeated time and again on posters, on the back of buses and everywhere else. None of...

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: Perhaps the consequence is the empty Chamber today, as the rest have been banished. Are we meeting our targets at the Department of Defence? The sad truth is that if the NDP was to be the centre piece of the Government's strategy, then it had to do what it said at the outset of the strategy, namely, to manage current spending within the capacity of the economy to deliver. Instead, the...

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: What about the cutbacks?

Order of Business (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: Before we proceed to take anything without debate, I want to know why the Department of Finance's document, which we are told has been laid before RTE, has not been laid before the House.

Order of Business (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: I am proposing that we should not take motions without debate until we are clear that the business of the day will be conducted on the basis of sound information.

Order of Business (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: It appears the Government has something to hide. It is leaking information, the latest instalment of which has been to RTE. I searched in the Oireachtas Library and asked other media contacts but cannot find this document. It seems the Department of Finance wants us to conclude our business today and only then will this document will be revealed. That is no way to treat the House.

Order of Business (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: There is no explanation on the website.

Order of Business (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: They are running for cover.

Order of Business (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: No, it is definitely not agreed. More than anyone else, the Ceann Comhairle will be aware that we are presiding over a period of extraordinary economic uncertainty. Unemployment has risen faster in the past few months than in a whole generation. We see prices in our shops which, as the Tánaiste admits, are 31% higher than in Northern Ireland. We see the worst deterioration in the public...

Order of Business (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: What other economy? Is it Zambia's?

Order of Business (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: They will be rushing away with their buckets and spades.

Order of Business (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: Notwithstanding the announcement by the Minister of State that time will be allocated to discuss the Dublin Airport crisis, I must put on the record our alarm that yesterday 75 flights were cancelled and 20 diverted but there is no backup for a system which has had five failures in one month.

Order of Business (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: I appreciate that but I just want to put down the marker that we are appalled at the situation that has developed.

Order of Business (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: The pink list of the Government's legislative programme has 17 Bills that are to be produced. At this stage, ten of them have not even been published. That is an indictment of the Government's inability to manage its business. In the middle of 2008, it must be noted we have the worst record of legislation in the history of the State. It shows there is no one on the other side of the House...

Order of Business (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: The Bill I am referring to was included in the Fianna Fáil programme for Government and relates to consumer protection.

Order of Business (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: Is it correct the Government is not delivering this commitment contained in the Fianna Fáil programme for Government?

Order of Business (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: The Government's record to date is that it has not dealt with the legislative measures which were to be introduced this year. There is the employment protection Bill which was to be introduced in this session but still has not surfaced.

Order of Business (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: These high priorities do not seem to be getting much attention either.

Written Answers — Health and Safety Regulations: Health and Safety Regulations (9 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: Question 204: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if there is a licensing authority for persons who undertake ear piercing as a commercial business; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28122/08]

Written Answers — Adult Education: Adult Education (9 Jul 2008)

Richard Bruton: Question 293: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that adult literacy tutors receive no sick pay, holiday pay, pension scheme or increments in respect of experience or extra qualifications; and his plans to introduce a scheme that would recognise that it is an integral part of the qualifications framework here and that tutors should be...