Results 6,601-6,620 of 21,440 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: 11. To ask the Taoiseach when Cabinet committee D (infrastructure) last met; and when it is scheduled to meet again. [11220/18]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government Implementation (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: 8. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the status of commitments in A Programme for a Partnership Government in respect of political reform. [11221/18]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government Implementation (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: On that note, the programme for Government contains an important commitment on local government. The programme states:As part of the next wave of local government reform the relevant Minister, having consulted widely with all relevant stakeholders, will prepare a report for Government, and for the Oireachtas, by mid-2017 on potential measures to boost local government leadership and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: EU Meetings (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: On the additional seats in the European Parliament, is the Taoiseach open to the idea of people from the North of Ireland being afforded a seat and an opportunity for representation in the parliament given that everyone born on the island is entitled to Irish citizenship and, by extension, European citizenship? I commend that idea to him. I met Michel Barnier yesterday to discuss the...

Order of Business (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is good news from the Taoiseach. He has thought to hold a sitting on Friday and I am sure people will co-operate with that. I share the concern that we are on a very tight timeline in any event. We cannot afford any slippage. That is probably a concern across the House. If I understand the Order Paper correctly, however, the Taoiseach is asking us to vote for an order on Thursday...

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: I was very clear in my use of figures. I said it was a third of the additional moneys allocated for mental health.

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: So five by three is 15. Those were the additional moneys. That is a very clear demonstration of the Taoiseach's political priorities. This unit, by his choice and by design, resides within his Department. It is simply not an explanation for him to say that agencies at an arm's length are the accountable ones in terms of the use or misuse of public moneys. It does not work that way. The...

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: In the midst of all of this has been a very clear tactic on the Taoiseach's part, or officials or agencies on his behalf, to exploit the financial situation of regional media. That is not lost on people either.

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: The approach has been cynical. It has been underhand. The Taoiseach needs to stand this unit down and answer also the issue I raised with him on the Secretary General of his party - or of his Department, a Freudian slip perhaps - actually carrying out this independent review.

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is certainly not independent in that regard.

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: Martin Fraser, as I said earlier, is a person I know well and for whom I have great respect. Let me say this.

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is not me who has acted to compromise the position of a senior civil servant. That has been the action of the Government and the Taoiseach himself.

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----but about promoting the Taoiseach's party. It was not about news, but about propaganda. It was not done to benefit the people, but to benefit Fine Gael. The Taoiseach now says he has ordered a review of the unit-----

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----and has asked Martin Fraser, a person for whom I have the utmost regard, to carry out that review. However, the Taoiseach can hardly ask any of us to treat this as a credible proposition because, while I mean no disrespect to Mr. Fraser, was he not the person responsible for the oversight of the Taoiseach's spin unit in the first place-----

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----and central to its establishment? In no way could he be considered an independent assessor. It is, therefore, now time-----

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----for the Taoiseach to wind down his strategic communications unit and I would go further-----

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes. The rules must be applied or misapplied in an even-handed manner, I am sure the Ceann Comhairle will agree.

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: If the Ceann Comhairle does not mind, I will further put it to the Taoiseach that not alone should this unit be stood down, but he and any other relevant officials should go before the Committee of Public Accounts to give a full account-----

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----of what was spent and how. These were, after all, public moneys and not Fine Gael moneys.

Leaders' Questions (6 Mar 2018)

Mary Lou McDonald: I believe that the Taoiseach doth protest too much on this matter. I am not entirely clear what is his assertion of his own personal conspiracy theory. I am not entirely impressed with the Taoiseach's political priorities. In budget 2018 the strategic communications unit was allocated €5 million. I will put this in context. This is one third of the additional money that was...