Results 6,821-6,840 of 21,149 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: HIQA: Governance and Management of Conflict of Interest Issues (19 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Boycott was discussed.

Public Accounts Committee: HIQA: Governance and Management of Conflict of Interest Issues (19 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Boycott was discussed and an investigation is now under way. Whatever the witness might say about the distinctions between HIQA and the NTPF, we all understand that architecture. However, for the witness to suggest that it was in any way tolerable for the chairman of the board of HIQA to attend and speak and give advice, insights or experience at a meeting whose subject was the boycott of...

Public Accounts Committee: HIQA: Governance and Management of Conflict of Interest Issues (19 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: The discussion took place at the meeting.

Public Accounts Committee: HIQA: Governance and Management of Conflict of Interest Issues (19 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I do not accept that.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I too would like a sense of the costs associated with the Taoiseach's political staff and advisers. The Taoiseach might provide that to us. Nick Millar is a communications person. Is that correct? There are two press secretaries. What are they doing? What relationship do they have, if any, with the strategic communications unit? Where is the division of labour? I want the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Seanad Reform (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: The abolition of the Seanad is a well-trodden path which then turned into the reform of Seanad but none of the above has happened. I do not detect any great political appetite or urgency for dealing with the issue. My questions, much like the previous speaker, are around when all of this will be actioned and who will chair the implementation group. There have been 12 separate reports...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I do not believe an M50-type solution to the Border is a serious proposition at all and I do not believe it demonstrates any kind of political nous or understanding of the job that needs to be done. It is a very significant challenge to ensure that not only the economic life of the island but also the political life and the Good Friday Agreement infrastructure are not completely undermined....

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Although the Revenue Commissioners carried out the exercise, I do not believe the exercise was necessary to put what I describe up in lights. The Taoiseach gave the reasons the Cabinet sub-committee is not meeting as regularly as would be optimal. Given this, he needs to ask himself the purpose of the sub-committee and the effectiveness of its work. May I ask the Taoiseach about the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I do not think that is helpful or appropriate.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is the job of the Taoiseach to protect the interests of the country and the island as a whole and it is absolutely and resolutely squarely in the region of having no border. The Taoiseach might answer my question about the sub-committee and my proposition to him that he has a Brexit sub-committee that is in session and meeting all the time, not monthly.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: On the Cabinet sub-committees, does the Taoiseach believe it is wise or appropriate for Brexit to be put alongside European issues? I understood that international affairs also featured in that sub-committee. Will the Taoiseach clarify this point? Brexit issues require a singular focus and effort. When we last spoke on these on 3 October, the Taoiseach told us that the previous...

Order of Business (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I want to return to the national mitigation plan, which was published in July by the Minister, Deputy Naughten. The Taoiseach said that the consultation on the national adaptation framework will conclude on 27 October. Will the framework and the proposals be available by 10 December, which I understand is the target date? Is the Taoiseach on track for that? Thereafter, how long will it...

Order of Business (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is in our prebudget speech.

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is a separate issue.

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I fully accept that pensioner poverty is an issue that affects men as well as women, but it is also a fact that the changes made in 2012 disproportionately affect women. That is why it is an issue of such concern for organisations such as the Irish Countrywomen's Association. As complex as pensions are and the rules and regulations concerning them, it is not complicated to understand that a...

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I thought the Taoiseach read our pre-budget submission.

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: It has now tabled a Dáil motion, which I welcome and which sets out to achieve the very thing it opposed last December.

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Therefore, there is more brass on the necks of the Fianna Fáil leadership that one would expect in a marching band. Can we welcome Fianna Fáil to the corner of these women, no matter how late, cynical or self-serving its arrival might be? Here is the rub: the Taoiseach will lose the vote on the motion tomorrow night as I believe the Dáil will vote in support of the women....

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I join with the Taoiseach and all of the House in our expressions of sympathy to and solidarity with the families and loved ones of Clare O'Neill, Michael Pyke and Fintan Goss. I also recognise the enormous efforts of our emergency services, our first responders, those organisations that deal with the homeless, ESB crews, public transport teams, people working in the health services and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation Provision (17 Oct 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: 178. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the construction of a permanent school building for a school (details supplied) will commence; when the temporary accommodation for two of the school's classes will be in place enabling the classes temporarily located in a school (details supplied) to move back to the Rathborne, Dublin 15, site; and if he will make a statement on the...