Results 34,041-34,060 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: I asked whether the Government will provide a mechanism to debate the document which does not feature in the Bill or in the amendments.

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: How does the Ceann Comhairle know that? Was he told that?

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: While we all wish Deputy Kirk the best in his new role, the NAMA legislation is the most important financial decision in the history of the State with an obligation of €54 billion to be imposed on taxpayers. Opposition Members would be failing in their duty if we did not ask who the author of this business plan is and what is its provenance. If this document were issued by a private...

Order of Business (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: It does not say that.

Labour Services (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: I want to discuss corporate governance in State bodies and what we know about its successes and failures. There was an attempt from the early 1950s to create structures with the involvement of employers, trade unions and workers that would lead to the further development and education of workers. FÁS as we know it, for good or bad, developed in an extraordinary way during the period of the...

Labour Services (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: We expect to be in government. However, we must find a way of fixing a model that is broken. In reducing the numbers on the board, the Minister is on the right track. It might be asked whether even 11 people are needed on the board. I do not know too much about the internal affairs of FÁS and will not comment on them. What the Minister must not do is continue the notion of crony...

Labour Services (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: This is the general experience.

Labour Services (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: They are none the less present for-----

Labour Services (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: Perhaps the Minister of State would just consider the matter. If we want a quality public service, we should either do as the Scandinavian countries did more than 100 years ago - allow public servants to declare their political affiliation - or maintain our old tradition of a non-political public service. We have the worst of both worlds. The upper echelons of the public service are, in...

Labour Services (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: -----was perceived to have particular affiliations, but the problem is that they have done grave damage to the service of the public interest and the majority of employees in State and other public bodies who are themselves not politically partisan, except that they vote or do not vote in general elections in proportion with the rest of the population. The Tánaiste must take responsibility...

Labour Services (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: If she can do this, she will have salvaged some of her reputation.

Written Answers — Sheep Production: Sheep Production (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: Question 70: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the investigations his Department is currently conducting in respect of sheep movements and sheep imports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36205/09]

Written Answers — Sugar Industry: Sugar Industry (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: Question 74: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the amount of money which was sanctioned by the European Union to upskill and retrain workers in the Mallow and Carlow areas in view of the overhaul of the EU sugar regime; the funding which made available; if that fund was drawn down from the EU; if so, the amount of that fund that has been spent; and if he will make a...

Written Answers — Public Transport: Public Transport (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: Question 174: To ask the Minister for Transport the position with respect to the use of the Dublin Port tunnel by the 41X Dublin Bus service; the applications currently under consideration by him in this respect; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36541/09]

Written Answers — Public Transport: Public Transport (15 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: Question 175: To ask the Minister for Transport the position with respect to the re-location of the 37 bus terminus to the Blanchardstown Town Centre or elsewhere; the applications currently under consideration by him in this respect; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36542/09]

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (14 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: Does the Minister not understand?

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (14 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: The Minister is very challenged if he cannot understand that.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (14 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: How shocking?

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (14 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: Who wants to be-----

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (14 Oct 2009)

Joan Burton: Why did the Minister not refer to the minutes of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service?