Results 6,001-6,020 of 7,404 for speaker:Mick Wallace

Topical Issues: Maternity Services (26 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: I can only hope that the issue will be addressed in a positive manner. We are all wondering what sort of scheme the Government can come up with and how it can save so much money yet still provide adequate care. Perhaps there are some surprises for us. It will be interesting when we see it. I note that the HSE national director of quality and patient safety, Dr. Philip Crowley, has said...

Topical Issues: Maternity Services (26 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: I understand the Health Service Executive was due to deliver a report to Government last night setting out is proposals for achieving the required saving of more than €660 million next year. I also understand that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of the Taoiseach will be involved in assessing those proposals. The plan comes in the wake of a recent...

Other Questions: State Examinations Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: The bonus points system for maths is an exercise in entrenching inequality in the education system. This year, 12,500 of the more than 50,000 who sat maths in the leaving certificate examinations got an extra 25 points. Many of them just got a grade D and they are getting into courses for which they might not necessarily be equipped. That only 7% of Irish ten-year olds are learning a...

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: I am inclined to agree with the Minister. Many small farmers in this country are in trouble and are finding it difficult to make ends meet. Sadly, the Irish Farmers Association has really only excelled in looking after bigger farmers. If the children of larger farmers who can well afford to pay for third level education are getting assistance, this must be happening at the expense of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (26 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: 114. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the deadline dates for appeals to decisions made by the National Council for Special Education during special needs assistants reviews preceded the date on which some schools were informed of SNA allocation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50298/13]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Tuition Scheme Administration (26 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: 118. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the qualification requirements for teachers providing home tuition for children with autism spectrum disorder were recently changed from specialist training in autism to a general primary school qualification; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50297/13]

Local Government (Town Centres) Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: I had not planned on speaking but this is a very interesting subject, so I thought I would. The general thrust of what Deputy Cowen said was positive. We need to be proactive about the problems in towns. The problems in the average town and those in Dublin city are very different. Sorting out Dublin city is a more long-term project. If one goes into the city at night, which I do, there...

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: How about mark I?

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: I accept that Fine Gael has more of an appetite for the private sector than for the public sector. I am not completely anti-private sector myself. I have done plenty of business in the private sector. However, the State sector does not have to be inefficient. In the area in which I worked, I saw many problems with what was being done in areas of the State sector but the problems were...

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: I do not profess to be an expert on the area of health. No doubt the Minister knows more about it than I do. I would like to understand it better. I am confused as to how the HSE works but, like most people, I see many problems. The Bill proposes changes to the risk equalisation credits and to stamp duty. Seemingly, stamp duty will be increased on advanced policies. Advanced policies...

Youth Employment: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (20 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: The position taken by the Government regarding young people is an unusual one for any state to take given one would think all governments would have an eye on the future. The manner in which young people are being dealt with in this State does not show the Government has an eye to the future. They are faced with unemployment, under employment and insecure employment. If anything else, the...

Government Decision on Exiting Programme of Financial Support: Motion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: The lack of control over our own seas is symbolic of our lack of sovereignty in all areas. We signed over control to the European Commission, an unelected body whose president said in 2010: "The member states have accepted - and I hope they understand it exactly - but they have accepted very important powers of the European institutions regarding surveillance, and a much stricter control of...

Government Decision on Exiting Programme of Financial Support: Motion (20 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: Of course it is good that we will be out of the bailout, but anyone who thinks we are regaining sovereignty and that we are in control of our own affairs is living in cloud cuckoo land. A range of measures has been brought in to copper-fasten the neoliberal agenda. This is not the first Government to behave in that manner. I found an article in The Guardian that was published the day after...

Other Questions: NAMA Property Rental (20 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: When NAMA was set up originally, the idea was that it would hold many of these properties-----

Other Questions: NAMA Property Rental (20 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: -----that were on the water for a period of time rather than flooding the market with fire-sale properties. Would that still be the plan or does NAMA intend selling them sooner rather than later?

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (20 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: 38. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason a fat and sugar tax was not introduced in the Finance Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49210/13]

Other Questions: Ministerial Meetings (19 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: I understand the Europeans told us we should cut medical cards for pensioners. It would be strange if they could not tell us how to handle our taxes. Does the Tánaiste agree that, with some healthy thinking in Europe, the Europeans are eventually going to realise low corporation tax rates represent a race to the bottom and are unsustainable in the long term?

Other Questions: Military Aircraft Landings (19 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: On Friday some 43 people died in clashes between militia in Libya; on Sunday some 22 people died in bomb attacks in Iraq and now in Helmand it is commonly expected that there will be a return to power of the Taliban. All of this is the result of uninvited military interventions to topple installed governments, all of which ended in disaster. Although Ireland claims to be a neutral country,...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: International Terrorism (19 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: 97. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he accepts the destabilising effect of the use of armed drones; and if Ireland will take an international position on campaigning to end the use of armed drones. [48970/13]

Local Government Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (14 Nov 2013)

Mick Wallace: Ireland signed up to the European Charter of Local Self-Government in November 1997 and ratified it in May 2002. The first monitoring visit by the Council of Europe was performed in 2001 and then again in October 2012. The recent draft report, Local Democracy in Ireland, which still is not generally available in the public domain for some strange reason, makes for illuminating reading. Its...