Results 4,841-4,860 of 21,404 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I know that the Government will not do anything.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: Today, I want to raise the issue of the Debenhams workers. I was alarmed and disappointed with the Taoiseach's response yesterday when these matters were raised. His response was lacklustre and it was not the type of response that I believe is required from Government. As the Taoiseach will know, the Debenhams workers have been in dispute with their employer for some months now. At the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: Here is the problem. The State and the Government have not intervened in the appropriate way to protect these workers. I remind the Taoiseach that since 2015 he has been saying that there needs to be a review and a change to the legislation. In regard to the Clerys situation he said, "The most effective intervention is legislative". At that time, he challenged for a review of the law to...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is because there are precedents that I am raising the issue. I am well aware of the precedents. There is also a precedent for the number of Ministers of State appointed. We need to know not only the structure and rationale for any of the appointments or expansions but also the cost, because the taxpayer is picking up the bill. It is also important to state that there is one...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: I do not dispute, nor does anybody else, that the three relationships the Taoiseach set out are absolutely key. That is at the core of the Good Friday Agreement. That matter is settled. Neither do I believe that anything I have said is partisan. It is a clear enunciation of my long-held and well-known beliefs. Far from excluding the other tradition, we supported Ian Marshall when he...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: The resourcing for the unit-----

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----and the nature of the work programme that will emerge. All these matters need to be clarified. I have not conjured up out of thin air the idea for a referendum on Irish unity.

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is an explicit provision of the Good Friday Agreement and that did not happen today or yesterday. It happened in 1998. There are people now at work and voting who have lived their whole lives in a post-Good Friday Agreement Ireland - thank God - and that is a great credit to all concerned. The idea that we are moving with excessive haste, frankly, does not stack up at all. I turn...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: No, I adopt a Good Friday Agreement approach.

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is fine. I understand that. What about the question on the Tánaiste?

Estimates for Public Services 2020 (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: In the 15 minutes allocated to me, I have some remarks to make and some issues I would like to tease out with the Taoiseach. If we could engage in an interactive format and the Taoiseach could respond, that would be very helpful. Today is the first occasion on which Deputy Martin, as Taoiseach, presented himself for Leaders' Questions and also the Revised Estimates. In building for the...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: The programme for Government commits to reducing the waiting time for assessment of need under the Disability Act 2005. The Taoiseach is aware that parents of children with additional needs are currently before the courts in a bid to obtain this assessment of need for their children within the legally set timeframe, which, as he is also aware, is three months. I will not comment on...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: In that case, we are of one mind. We all recognise that those women and couples who have had children in this period have faced very considerable difficulties and stress without all of the normal supports that new parents generally enjoy when they bring home their newborn. This is a very straightforward request. The Taoiseach should not hide behind a veil of complexity. The simple...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: This morning, the National Women's Council of Ireland and a group of parents, mostly mothers, held a demonstration outside Leinster House in support of the call for an extension to maternity leave and pay. During the Covid-19 crisis, many women have called for a 12-week extension because the emergency has fundamentally impacted on and changed the nature of the important time that they have...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Development Initiatives (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: 544. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the breakdown of the full year budget allocation of her Department for the Dublin north-east inner city initiative as of 1 January 2020. [14433/20]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Courts Service (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: 612. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her attention been drawn to the significant delays in the court system; if priority is being given to the scheduling of violent and sexual assault cases; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13880/20]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Maternity Benefit (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: 644. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will advance her support for the campaign to temporarily extend maternity leave and maternity benefit by three months for those whose maternity leave has or will expire during the public health restrictions. [14434/20]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: National Advocacy Service (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: 645. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 400 of 16 June 2020, if the National Advocacy Service has been contacted by her officials to assist residents of a nursing home (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14444/20]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Operations (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: 646. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the implementation of the An Garda Síochána drug-related intimidation reporting programme; and the number of persons by county who have availed of the programme each year since it was launched. [14445/20]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Addiction Treatment Services (7 Jul 2020)

Mary Lou McDonald: 848. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the Dublin north-east inner city initiative addiction unit and associated staff hires. [14432/20]