Results 4,801-4,820 of 21,404 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Nomination of Member of Government: Motion (15 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I did.

Nomination of Member of Government: Motion (15 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I extend my sincere congratulations to Deputies Calleary, Chambers and Fleming, respectively. The appointment of a new Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine happens at a crucial time for the agriculture sector on our island. Family farms face an uncertain future and the threat of Brexit remains real. It is an important job and I wish Deputy Calleary very well in his role. ...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: No, I am not.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: Which the Taoiseach prevented.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I raise the issue of the sacking of the former Minister, Deputy Cowen. Many were left scratching their heads as to what changed between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. yesterday. The Taoiseach moved very swiftly from fully backing his man to sacking him. People wonder whether the Taoiseach learned something new and whether there is another twist in the tale or another piece of information. The truth,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (15 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I have the record of what the Taoiseach said yesterday. He made clear that he was fully aware of all aspects of the story regarding Deputy Cowen from the beginning. That is not an assertion of mine; it has been clarified by the Taoiseach. He said: I spoke to the Minister, Deputy Cowen, the weekend before last and he adamantly denied any suggestion or implication that he would have evaded...

Maternity Leave Benefit Extension: Motion [Private Members] (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I commend Deputy Kerrane for bringing forward this important motion at this time. On 11 June, the National Women's Council of Ireland, NWCI, submitted a petition signed by more than 28,000 people to the then Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, calling for an extension of 12 weeks to maternity leave and pay. He said he would give full and meaningful consideration to this request. However, after...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Economic Growth (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: Was the Government co-ordination committee convened to deal with the issues regarding the Minister, Deputy Cowen? Is that the mechanism the Taoiseach uses to brief his partners in Government on all of the serious issues arising, including the contested Garda PULSE records that suggest the Minister sought to evade a Garda checkpoint? The Taoiseach has said the co-ordination committee...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Economic Growth (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: If I have heard the Taoiseach correctly, he will have housing, health, education, Europe, Brexit and the North, the Green Party will have environment and climate change, social affairs and equality, and the Tánaiste and Fine Gael have economic recovery and investment.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Economic Growth (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I mean by way of chairing. We are discussing the Chairs of the committee. That is implicit. That is a strange tripartite division of labour. It seems that Fine Gael will have its fingerprints all over the economic strategy and approach of this Government. That is not something I welcome. That certainly is not something that working people across this State will welcome because they...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Taoiseach is reaching.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Economic Growth (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: 4. To ask the Taoiseach his plans for a high-level review of the economy to be led by his Department. [15760/20]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Economic Growth (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Taoiseach might set out for us the arrangements for chairing each of the Cabinet committees. If I understand it correctly, there will be a rotation between the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the leader of the Green Party. Will the Taoiseach set that out, and the basis upon which these committees were allocated to each of them? I refer to the high-level review of the economy. This...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I seek clarity on that point. The Tánaiste having, in addition to his departmental advisers, five or six additional advisers in order that he can fulfil his duties as Tánaiste strikes me as absolutely extraordinary. For the leader of the Green Party to have four or five additional advisers, as the Taoiseach said, is similarly extraordinary. Nobody is against bringing expertise to...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Regeneration Projects (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I welcome that the Taoiseach is open to a review. I am keen to acknowledge the substantial amount of work done by the board and I commend those involved on it. Nevertheless, this review has to be about the community. It has to be about the people who live in the kind of atrocious housing conditions that the Taoiseach has himself witnessed. Should the Taoiseach go into any of these blocks...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Regeneration Projects (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Greek Street flats are in the north-west inner city. They are not captured by the catchment area. I am not saying this to catch out the Taoiseach at all. I am simply raising it to reiterate the point about the catchment area for the north-east and north-west inner city. A line was arbitrarily drawn. I hope that as part of the review which I hope will be commissioned, those...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: 2. To ask the Taoiseach to set out the number of staff in the policy and programme implementation unit of his Department. [15759/20]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I applaud the Taoiseach's commitment to coherence and openness across the Government. However, I would caution that too many cooks can spoil the broth, as they say. It strikes me that this is a most irregular arrangement. Not alone will the Tánaiste have an office within the Department of An Taoiseach, but we will now have an office of the leader of the Green Party within the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Regeneration Projects (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: 1. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the role of his Department in the north east inner city initiative. [15758/20]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Regeneration Projects (14 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: In addition to everything the Taoiseach has recalled regarding the setting up of this inner city initiative, it should also be recalled that the north-east inner city was caught in the grip of what was referred to as a "gangland feud" at the time. He will recall that lives had been lost, the community, including children, was traumatised by the incidents they had been witnessed and at the...