Results 561-580 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: The amount spent by the Department on the use of taxis for the period in question is set out in the following table: Year Amount 2007 €25,590 2008 €23,425 2009 (to date) €7,365 Expenditure on taxis is kept under constant review in the Department and under the terms of the Department's Travel and Subsistence Expenses Policy, officials may only avail of taxis in circumstances where...

Written Answers — Sports Capital Programme: Sports Capital Programme (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: The organisation in question was provisionally allocated €175,000 under the Sports Capital Programme in 2006 for dressing rooms only. The guidelines, terms and conditions for the programme specify that the Department will pay grants in stages as an approved project proceeds by reimbursing the applicant's costs when they submit original, paid, valid invoices or certificates of payment. The...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: In June 2005, my Department outsourced its accounts payable function to the Financial Shared Services Centre of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform as part of the development of the Management Information Framework. As part of this transfer of functions, my Department proceeded to close all commercial and other bank accounts and therefore my Department has incurred no banking...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: The Department took occupancy of a new building in Killarney in December 2008 that utilises a filtered water system for staff, which eliminates the requirement for bottled water. Prior to that, the amount spent by the Department on bottled water across all our buildings is as follows: Year National Archives Use Departmental Offices Use Total Amount 2007 €4,663 €6,514 €11,177 2008...

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: It should put them forward.

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: That is fantasy.

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: The NewERA proposal is not well thought out or costed. It does nothing more than change the name plates on doors.

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: I very much welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate and vote confidence in the Government. Let us be clear why we are here. My party had an extremely bad day recently in the local elections. Neither was it a great day in terms of the European Parliament in that we lost our seat in Dublin. I offer my commiseration to a very good friend, Eoin Ryan, who was a great MEP and I...

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: Clearly, Deputy Kenny even wrong-footed his colleagues, so-called friends or potential partners in the Labour Party by doing so. It was an ill-judged move but one I welcomed. Earlier I listened to Deputy Coveney whose premise was that we should govern in good times but, because there are great challenges facing the country, we should cut and run. Of course the real challenge of any...

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: We have a mandate, constitutionally achieved only two years ago, to govern this country for five years. It has been an extraordinarily difficult two years but not one of us on this side of the House is fearful of the challenge before us or the mountains that must be climbed to deliver to this country socially, economically and politically the benefits that will accrue when the tide turns, as...

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: I smiled to myself immediately when he stated that because I saw instantaneously a continuation of the sort of rhetoric that Fine Gael has been putting across, not only in this House but throughout the length and breadth of the country.

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: While people are without doubt angry at the Government, and angry at Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, and we have paid a price for this, they have no sense-----

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: -----of the potential of the Opposition because not one substantive policy has been put forward for the resolution of the financial crisis that faces this country or, indeed, the banking crisis that faces this country at present.

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: There is no question but that many mistakes have been made across the system. Governments have made mistakes in the past and I have been a party to this Government where mistakes have been made as well-----

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: -----but it is wrong to promote this rhetoric, this cliché that is being used by the Opposition, that somehow our approach to stabilising the financial system in this country has to do with some relationship between the politicians in Government, bankers and developers. It is simply untrue, it is a falsehood and there is no basis to it, yet it has been perpetuated on the doorsteps over the...

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: All they have offered is a lie to the public about our efforts to stabilise the Irish banking system, with all its faults and flaws. Despite all of those who have wronged the financial system, who have, in my view, committed fraud within the financial system, that does not remove the duty upon Government to sustain a financial system in this country that can keep the economic situation...

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: It was about sustaining and protecting international deposits into the Irish banking system,------

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: -----which is utterly misunderstood by the Opposition.

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: The reality of the investment that we have put into Anglo Irish Bank, for instance, is that if we did not do so the catastrophic bill that would fall upon the taxpayer of this country would be enormous in comparison to anything that we have invested in the banking system. If the Deputies opposite do not want to take my word for it, I take great comfort in and great confidence from what has...

Confidence in Government: Motion (9 Jun 2009)

Martin Cullen: -----in terms of the message being sent internationally. Deputies Gilmore and Kenny are constantly doing this. They have helped those abroad who would seek to undermine the economy by fostering a message that, somehow, there-----