Results 4,241-4,260 of 4,787 for speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Managing Back to School Costs: Discussion (8 May 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: It is an honest question. I do not know how they feel we could-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Managing Back to School Costs: Discussion (8 May 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The issue of competition between schools is a driving factor in many of the unnecessary burdens that are placed on parents. Although the central issues here are voluntary contributions, books and uniforms, there is a legislative way we could go down in terms of changing the relationship we have with patron bodies. Patron bodies guard their independence as sacred and the responsibility of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Managing Back to School Costs: Discussion (8 May 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I thank the guests for being here. I have been working on this report for some time and we have heard presentations from the patron bodies, which were interesting as well. Submissions have been received from various bodies and they have been well received. There are two issues. The first is the costs themselves but the second is the capacity of a parent to pay them. We need to consider...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Education and Skills: Further Education and Training Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 May 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I understand the Minister's concerns. If the only way for me to advance this is to withdraw the amendment, I will do so and discuss it before Report Stage. If we do not prescribe functions in legislation, however, then they just do not happen. There was much good work done by FÁS and decent people doing a good job on the ground, but there were other services and undertakings that the...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Education and Skills: Further Education and Training Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 May 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: We have a way forward, which I accept. While symbolism is important, these amendments are not about symbolism. The wording of the amendment states “to prepare and submit to the Minister a strategy to raise adult literacy and numeracy levels.” That is not symbolic. That is a statement of intent and a reasonable objective. There have been plenty of tokenistic symbolic...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Education and Skills: Further Education and Training Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 May 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Amendments No. 34 and 37 are similar to the ones we moved in the previous section about bodies representative of adult learners and community and voluntary bodies, so hopefully their spirit will be accepted and we will return to it on Report Stage as needs be. On amendment No. 30, which I have jointly submitted with Deputy McConalogue, the service would have to "prepare and submit to the...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Education and Skills: Further Education and Training Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 May 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I am happy to withdraw my amendment on the proviso that we return to the issue before Report Stage. As Deputy O'Brien has said, I do not see why adult learners should be passive anywhere throughout the Bill. They have to be consulted and have to be an integral part of it. If we are mentioning employers in the Bill, that would imply employer organisations, adult learners and those who speak...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Education and Skills: Further Education and Training Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 May 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The amendment speaks for itself. It proposes to insert the words "adult learners" in subsection (1)(b) on line 15. Paragraph (b) would read "to consult with the Minister for Social Protection, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, adult learners and employers from time to time for the purpose of determining which, or which classes of, further education and training programmes...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Inter-Country Adoptions (30 Apr 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: 503. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will confirm the latest update with regard to the negotiation of a bilateral agreement with relevant authorities in Russia; and if a trip to Dublin is scheduled for April 2013 as previously advised. [20097/13]

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Inter-Country Adoptions (30 Apr 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: 504. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will advise on the current situation with regard to the registration by the Adoption Authority of Ireland of adoptions from Russia. [20098/13]

Topical Issue Debate: Mortgage Interest Rates (25 Apr 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I thank the Minister for his reply. He states in his reply: "It would not be fair for 2.1 million taxpayers to subsidise 138,000 owner occupier mortgages, especially when the vast majority of these mortgage holders can afford to pay their mortgages." It is unfair that variable rate mortgage holders are asked to subsidise those on tracker mortgages. Those on tracker mortgages are protected...

Topical Issue Debate: Mortgage Interest Rates (25 Apr 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I thank the Minister for being here in person to discuss this issue with me. As he will be well aware, Allied Irish Banks is 100% in State ownership. Yesterday it announced it was adding 0.4 percentage points to its standard variable mortgage rate and raising variable rates at EBS by 0.25 percentage points. As the Minister will know, this move by AIB will adversely affect 70,000 AIB...

Order of Business (25 Apr 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: After 20 years.

Leaders' Questions (24 Apr 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The Deputy is an embarrassment.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 16 - Valuation Office (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - Shared Services (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised) (23 Apr 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I am disappointed with the proceedings today, they have been pathetic. What normally happens is that there is a level of political grandstanding. That takes place on the political scene and everyone understands that there is an element of drama and theatrics. However, normally when one comes into these chambers the jackets are taken off, the sleeves are rolled up and we dig deep into the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Care of the Elderly (23 Apr 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: 661. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the closure of a centre for the elderly (details supplied) in Dublin 3; if he will indicate if a new location has been found; the timeframe for same; and when the service will recommence [19088/13]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Care of the Elderly (23 Apr 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: 661. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the closure of a centre for the elderly (details supplied) in Dublin 3; if he will indicate if a new location has been found; the timeframe for same; and when the service will recommence [19088/13]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products Availability (18 Apr 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: To ask the Minister for Health the reason National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics has refused to fund the drug Pirfenidone on financial grounds in view of the fact that Pirfenidone is the only drug available to treat patients with idiopathic lung fibrosis, a progressive terminal lung disease of no known origin, and is therefore a vital life giving medication; and if he will make a statement on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recognition of Traveller Ethnicity: Discussion (17 Apr 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I thank the Chairman for allowing me to contribute to the meeting given that I am not a member of the joint committee. I know the witnesses before the joint committee as I am a member of the education committee of Pavee Point. If that restricts me from making a statement or amounts to a conflict of interest, I ask the Chairman to alert me.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recognition of Traveller Ethnicity: Discussion (17 Apr 2013)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: It is in the nature of Irish politics that it tends to represent the more powerful. If one considers the composition of the Dáil, it is 87% male, almost exclusively white, does not include anyone from a Traveller background, as far as we are aware, and has few Members from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual, LGBT, community. Unfortunately, therefore, when one seeks to run for...