Results 5,421-5,440 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Leaders' Questions (18 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: The tracker mortgage scandal has now affected 13,000 customers, with that number expected to rise. A total of 102 houses and apartments were repossessed as a fallout from the scandal. A total of 23 of these were family homes and a further 79 were buy to let properties. Put simply, 23 families were put out of their homes as a result of what can only reasonably be described as malpractice on...
- Leaders' Questions (18 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: More than two years have now passed since the courts found that PTSB had mismanaged a mortgage. More than two years have passed since the Central Bank began its enforcement investigation, yet only a quarter of those affected have received any redress. I do not think that is acceptable and I do not think the House believes it is acceptable. I do not understand why the two banks concerned...
- Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: EU Agreements (18 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: 207. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on the proposed Interinstitutional Proclamation on the European Pillar of Social Rights, COM/2017/251 final, that is due to be agreed by the European Parliament, the EU Council and the EU Commission at the Gothenburg Social Summit on 17 November 2017; the issues she has raised during the discussions on this...
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: It was six by our count.
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: 4. To ask the Taoiseach to set out the number of political staff and advisors he has employed; and the role of each. [41631/17]
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: I have actually lost count of the number. Does the Taoiseach now have eight special advisers? Is that right?
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: How many actually work to the Taoiseach? I want to get this correct in my head. He has the chief of staff, Brian Murphy, Nick Miller, Angela Flanagan, Professor Patrick Geoghegan, John Carroll, Philip O'Callaghan, the former Senator, Jim D’Arcy, who is an advisor on the Border and Brexit, and Sarah Meade. Is that right? Are they all the Taoiseach's staff?
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: That is eight. Is that correct? Is Feargal Purcell still in place? That is another one. On top of that, we have the strategic communications unit. How many staff are in that unit?
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: Is that six more?
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: Normally, the Taoiseach would answer questions in the House on the staff. We have done it always over the years. There is a formidable volume of additional special advisers and staff over and above that employed by the Taoiseach's predecessor. Do we have a running cost? I would exclude civilian drivers obviously. How much are the political staff going to cost?
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: Let us take the first question and see how far we get.
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Seanad Reform (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: My first question is in regard to intent. I know the programme for Government and I have the reply to a question by me on 4 October, which I expect is exactly what the Taoiseach has just told the House now, namely, that the programme for Government is committed to implement the Manning report. I am looking at the executive summary and recommendations of the Manning report. Does the...
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Seanad Reform (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: Why has the Taoiseach committed to it?
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: This House voted by majority to have special economic status for Northern Ireland and to maintain the customs union on the island of Ireland. The Government voted against it. I have done everything I can to explain the consequences of not having both parts of the island in the same customs union, certainly to my colleagues in the British Labour Party. We need reports such as the one...
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: That is a fact. All of us in this House have to face up to this. In the words of Mr. Michel Barnier, the clock is ticking. If we continue as we are, with Britain saying there will be a soft or seamless border and us saying there will be no border, what will happen when, suddenly in March 2019, we will be in different customs unions? What will physically happen then? Rather than talking...
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: The Taoiseach will recall that in the Government of which both he and I were members there were ten Cabinet sub-committees which were very effective at pursuing the reform agenda in each area of operation, with direct accountability to the Taoiseach, which was good. If there was any criticism of them, it was probably that there were too many people attending each of them, but that was a...
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: We need to have real debate about these issues now.
- Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: I would not start to train the dogs just yet.
- Order of Business (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: Tomorrow, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission are due to agree the Interinstitutional Proclamation on the European Pillar of Social Rights. This is an important development, another move to codify social rights at the heart of the European project. I am concerned at some of what I have been hearing regarding Ireland's role in this process. I have been told from European...
- Order of Business (17 Oct 2017)
Brendan Howlin: Is there somebody briefing the Taoiseach on it?