Results 421-440 of 4,092 for speaker:Michael D Higgins
- Order of Business. (25 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: There are no other times.
- Order of Business. (25 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: I am not making a Second Stage speech. I have said why the first interim agreement is inappropriate. The second one deals with eastern Africa and the same thing applies. Let us be clear about what is appropriate and inappropriate. Ten out of 47 African countries have signed these agreements. This is the imposition of old, failed policies on African countries that can ill afford them.
- Order of Business. (25 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: I am not out of order. How am I out of order?
- Order of Business. (25 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: There are no other ways. What you would like is that they would drift off to a select committee with about three of us in attendance and hundreds of millions of people, for a decade, pay with their lives, their exports and their right to livelihood. It is a time for ending the hypocrisy of contradicting our aid and hunger policy by ramming through these agreements that are not properly...
- Order of Business. (25 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: I will finish now. They should be considered by plenary session in this Chamber. We should not compromise. The African countries are holding their meeting on 18 June. Today is Africa Day. Let us have a debate on these agreements. Then they can go to any select committee the House wishes. Let us not use the select committee as a cover for absence of transparency and morality in our...
- Order of Business. (25 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: They go much beyond the WTO requirements.
- Order of Business. (25 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: That would be entirely too late.
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (25 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: Question 62: To ask the Minister for Social Protection when he plans to amend the qualifying criteria for mortgage interest supplement. [21583/10]
- Written Answers — Human Rights Issues: Human Rights Issues (20 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: Question 23: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has raised with the Iranian ambassador the continuing incarceration, without charge, of members of the Baha'i community and the contravention involved of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20925/10]
- Written Answers — National Pensions Reserve Fund: National Pensions Reserve Fund (20 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: Question 78: To ask the Minister for Finance if it is his view that the National Pensions Reserve Fund should operate within the guidelines of ethical investment. [21211/10]
- EU Targets (20 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: Now that we have the new Department of Social Protection, it is appropriate to make the comparison between the total spend of GDP. I understand the average in the European Union is approximately 23.5% of GDP; in Ireland it is approximately 18%. We are well below the average. During our best times-----
- EU Targets (20 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: I can put it another way. At a time when we had the highest per capita income, during the highest rates of growth, we were second from bottom in regard to social protection. However one measures it, our budget expenditure on social protection is significantly less than the European average. Taking the European Union anti-poverty network and the text of the treaty, my understanding was that...
- EU Targets (20 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: We have very highly educated unemployed people.
- Election Monitoring (20 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I know the value of having observers as I was one with the EU group in Cambodia some years ago and it was very important. The Minister of State mentioned the enormous scale of the elections, which I accept. All Irish aid to Ethiopia, whether for the public works scheme or the scheme aimed at reducing malnutrition, is very valuable but with 47%...
- Election Monitoring (20 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: I am very disturbed by the implications of the Minister of State's reply. In regard to the 2005 elections, the announcement from Addis Ababa by the head of the EU observer mission on the basis of a partial count had consequences which can only be described as disastrous. After the 2005 elections, the announcement from Addis Ababa by the EU observer mission on the basis of a partial count had...
- Tax Policy (20 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: Irish Aid is of great assistance in these matters. I refer specifically to Tanzania where a new gold mine has been opened every year since 1998. A study funded by Christian Aid indicates that, between 2000 and 2008, â¬265.5 million in taxes were lost because of gross abuse by extractive industries. Putting this figure in context, Tanzania receives â¬470 million in aid in a full year....
- Tax Policy (20 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: Does the Minister of State agree it is a pity that the Irish Aid strategy paper for Tanzania did not refer specifically to abuses by mining companies?
- Tax Policy (20 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: Perhaps we should do so.
- Membership of International Organisations (20 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: I have no difficulty in accepting the sincerity of the Minister's position on Gaza. However, reports in the Israeli press suggest Ireland, with Switzerland and Norway, initially had reservations about voting for the acceptance of Israel into the OECD but that in the end, like what happened in respect of the United States-India nuclear non-proliferation agreement, they caved in. The...
- Membership of International Organisations (20 May 2010)
Michael D Higgins: It is my understanding a reservation was entered early on.