Results 35,521-35,540 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: Is it not? I will tell the Tánaiste——

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: I will tell the Tánaiste how incompetent her Government is.

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: Yesterday the Tánaiste could not discuss the Exchequer figures because she was so unknowledgeable about the state of the public finances.

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: The Ceann Comhairle very nicely moved in to protect the Tánaiste then. He will probably do the same now.

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: Yesterday he protected the Tánaiste. She did not know the answer to a basic and very reasonable question.

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: This Government is intent on scapegoating the public sector.

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: I apologise deeply and humbly——

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: ——to the Chair if I misinterpreted his actions yesterday.

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: The Ceann Comhairle was every bit as nice to me as he was to the Tánaiste.

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: Thank you. This Government is scapegoating the public sector. Public sector reform, pay and pensions are certainly part of the solution but the public sector did not create the property crash. It did not create the tax breaks that the then Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Cowen, continued and expanded to keep the bubble growing. The public sector did not create the crash; Fianna Fáil...

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: When the Government wants to scapegoat the public sector, it should think again. In my own constituency, approximately a quarter of the population are immigrants. If it were not for our teachers, operating under quite difficult circumstances in my constituency and that of the Minister of State, Deputy Trevor Sargent, we would not have been able to deal with the integration of a significant...

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: The Government should not scapegoat the public sector, which is a very soft target in this case.

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: The sector needs reform, as well as the payments system. In terms of reform, what we need is a fresh Government and a fresh start for the country.

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: My contribution has been consistently informed by trying to find out the facts——

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: ——about our economic position. I am angry that the Government has nothing positive to offer the more than 300,000 people now on the dole, bar a very small expansion of training places. I noticed that earlier this morning the Tánaiste indicated she had solved the apprenticeship crisis.

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: She should come out to visit my constituency and that of the Minister. There are young boys, in particular, aged 17, 18 and 19 who were hoping to start an apprenticeship. The Tánaiste is talking about rescuing the poor guys becoming unemployed, which is good, but what about the army of kids who thought they would become apprentices later this year? Where are their opportunities? They are...

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed) (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: Not only that but we have 26,000 graduates coming out this year — the best and brightest that we have invested in. The Government's message is one of almost no hope for them. The Tánaiste is a disgrace.

Order of Business (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: When does the Government propose to publish expenditure profiles for 2009? I asked this question of the Tánaiste yesterday. It has always been the custom to have these published towards the end of January and it is very difficult for Opposition spokespersons to make informed comments on how the economy is going unless the profiles are published. The Taoiseach referred yesterday to pensions...

Order of Business (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: These are reasonable points. I am trying to be of assistance to the Taoiseach. It is difficult for those of us who take these issues seriously——

Order of Business (4 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: ——to make sense of them unless we are provided with the necessary information.