Results 7,121-7,140 of 12,646 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Lo and behold what happened last weekend? The Keane report was published. I contacted all the constituents who had been in touch with me. I have a large file on the matter which is growing every week, the Government will be pleased to hear. I informed them about what was in the Keane report. Their reactions ranged from shock, dismay, disbelief and despair that eight months down the road...

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: I do not understand the point of the Keane report but I know what the Government's reaction will involve: the setting up of another committee to kick the can further down the road and make people suffer more. This time it will be a 165 person committee; I presume the Ceann Comhairle is excluded. Now, the 165 man committee consisting of the Dáil is supposed to examine the report and come up...

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: There have been three reports after eight months. Deputy Lynch was a good person to stand up for the working class people who were struggling to pay their mortgages and to get by from week to week. She has forgotten her base. She went into Government like the rest of the Labour Party.

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: One word I have heard Ministers use consistently with regard to this problem is "urgent". The word "urgent" is defined in any dictionary as compelling or requiring immediate action or attention. Apparently, that is not in the Government's dictionary. All one finds in the Government's dictionary is "interdepartmental committee" or "no definitive timeline". The Government's dictionary...

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Given that is clear the Government must act, why put hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children through unnecessary suffering? Even if Deputy McGrath's Bill was accepted by the Government and passed immediately, it would require the establishment of major infrastructure, as would the enactment of a Government Bill. In that case and based on the Government's timetable, it will...

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: If Deputy Lynch is so concerned about the urgency of addressing the issue, why does he not recommend to his colleagues in government that they accept the Bill in order that we can at least begin the process now, rather than in 12, 14 or 15 months?

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Do two wrongs make a right? That is what the Deputy appears to be arguing. The Government does not have a case. It is standing naked before the people it promised to assist. I can show Government Deputies my constituency files which note people's remarks to me during the general election campaign that they would not vote for me but would vote for Fine Gael or the Labour Party because...

Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Unfortunately, all the indications are that people will remain disappointed and mortgages will not be the only issue they will be disappointed about in the next three or four years.

Job Losses (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: As has been noted, the catastrophe that occurred in Aviva Insurance today had been well flagged, including, for example, in September when the company announced a review. The tone and content of that statement left us in no doubt as to what was on the way. What has the Government been doing in the meantime? What precise action has taken place to avert, or at least mitigate, this...

Job Losses (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: I am glad to hear about the meetings the Minister, Deputy Bruton, attended. To what extent did the Minister and the State agencies engage? The impression I get from the Minister of State's speech, and more particularly from the Taoiseach's replies today, is that the Government and the State agencies appear to be passive recipients of information from Aviva rather than actively engaging with...

Order of Business (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: The Deputy has been active since the change of Government.

Order of Business (19 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: I wish to raise two legislative items. First, the Government has stated the personal insolvency Bill is central to solving the problems of distressed mortgage payers. When exactly will it be published, as their situation is worsening on a daily basis? Second, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation yesterday announced a major overhaul of competition and consumer law. When will...

Cruthú Fostaíochta (18 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Question 52: To ask the an Aire Ealaíon; Oidhreachta agus Gaeltachta an ndéanfaidh sé scrúdú ar an laghdú ar phoist sa Ghaeltacht; cad iad na pleananna agus na cruinnithe atá i gceist aige chun an scéal a fheabhsú; agus an ndéanfaidh sé ráiteas ina thaobh. [29852/11]

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Question 14: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the numbers of appeals outstanding for jobseeker's allowance and family income support schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29159/11]

Written Answers — Export Markets: Export Markets (12 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Question 80: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the measures available to small and medium enterprises who wish to break into emerging economy export markets; the new assistance measures he will provide to such SMEs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28953/11]

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (12 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: Question 113: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the steps she is taking to address flaws in the JobBridge programme with respect to the specification of internships permissible under the programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28845/11]

Ministerial Travel (12 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: I thank the Minister for his reply and I am sure he works very hard. The cost of these trade missions should be kept to a minimum but I must question why no official from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade accompanied the Minister. As he said in a response to an earlier question, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is central to trade promotion. Is this a form of branding...

Ministerial Travel (12 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: I have never been in favour of big entourages. I asked the Minister how many officials have been seconded to his Department from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to deal with trade. The Government made a specific commitment that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would be centrally involved in the promotion of foreign trade. How is this reflected in the deployment of...

Job Creation (12 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: I deduce from the Minister of State's response that the most extraordinary situation now exists and that something which is central to the Government's job creation programme will only involve the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in a peripheral way. He will be a member of the Cabinet sub-committee which will discuss these issues in a general way and sign off on them, but the...

Job Creation (12 Oct 2011)

Willie O'Dea: I am glad the Minister of State has confirmed that the jobs target has disappeared. When this programme was first mooted in November 2009, the proposed expenditure was €18.2 billion. It subsequently dropped to €7 billion and it is now at €2 billion or 10% of what it originally was. The funding for this appears to come from the sale of strategic State assets. The troika has not yet...