Results 7,501-7,520 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The parties opposite seek to run our country like "The X-Factor", changing Governments with every local opinion poll, telephone poll or even text poll. We will see through our five year mandate. We do not change our party leader because of the latest poll, as the party opposite did, very unfairly, a number of years ago.

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: It got rid of a very good man, former Deputy John Bruton, because of an opinion poll, and it rues the day. We will not run away from tough decisions. In the area of crime, I have an unprecedented agenda, as has been seen in recent times. I have issued some 10 Bills on gangland crime, surveillance and gun control. I call on the party opposite to publically support the initiative I have...

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I will give the Deputy the figures. There have been 3,500 extra gardaí recruited in the last four years, 7,000 teachers and 11,000 nurses and doctors. If we squandered the boom in that respect, then we are guilty.

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We gave the largest social welfare increases in the history of the State. I remind the Deputies opposite that the last time their party was in Government, the famous Proinsias De Rossa, who received a very good vote recently-----

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: -----was part of Government. The people of Dublin forgot when he was Minister for Social Welfare, in his last budget in 1997, he gave an increase of £1 per month child benefit. I became a Minister immediately after him, in a Fianna Fáil-led Government, and two years in a row-----

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: -----we gave an increase in child benefit of €32 per month year on year. We gave the highest increases in old age pensions and, again, shamed people like Proinsias De Rossa, the so-called socialist, in the increases that we gave. The party opposite manufactured a surplus in the year it left office to make the situation look good, but the reality is it ran deficits and gave very little when...

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We would be guilty of squandering the boom if one looked at the type of social welfare increases we gave, and we are unfairly criticised.

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We brought in the lowest tax wedge. Do not take my word for it. The OECD said over the last ten to 12 years we had the lowest tax wedge. In other words, our people paid the lowest amount of tax of any other country in the OECD. If we are guilty of anything, that is what we should be given credit for. Again, we have the highest standard of living in the EU. Even to this day, despite the...

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: For ten years, until this year, we had full employment and turned around the issue of emigration. Again, we deserve credit for that. One third of all homes built since the foundation of the State were built in the last ten years.

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: Again our record, which we can stand over.

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We have spent a significant amount on infrastructure in the past ten years, which was twice the EU average. The money was spent on schools, roads, rail, health and, in my own area, courthouses. Every time I go to open a new courthouse or garda barracks-----

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: -----Members opposite are there claiming credit for it.

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We re-started the prison building programme. When Fine Gael was in power, it closed it down and did not build one prison cell. We came into Government in 1997 and since then we have put in place 1,300 prison spaces. This summer we will open another 400. Again, we stand by our record. We also have, I remind the House, despite our current difficulties, the lowest national debt in the EU....

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: It will go a bit higher, but that was the investment we made during the good years. Another measure this Government and its predecessors should be given credit for is that we put money aside for a rainy day. We put money into the National Pensions Reserve Fund-----

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: -----something Fine Gael did nothing about when it was in Government. There are 400,000 people unemployed, including our friends, neighbours and family members. We owe them. We are all used to the criticising each other across the House.

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: When we knew of the difficulties which were ahead of us, we appealed for some understanding of the job that had to be done and said people should pull together. That is what the public want.

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: It wants all of us in this House to pull together. That is why we have to make tough decisions. We are advancing concrete plans to restore the public finances and the credit system, as people in the House accept we have to do as a prerequisite for our national recovery. We also have to try, as much as possible, to keep people in jobs and assist those who are unemployed. We will continue...

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: -----€22.8 billion is allocated for social welfare, 20% is spent on public sector pay and the balance on services. Do not cod the people. What will Fine Gael cut? We spent eight days around the Cabinet table, endeavouring to look at the estimates in the run-up to most recent supplementary budget and take savings into the system. It was an extremely difficult process. We started by...

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: Local and European elections are not the forum for debating that. A general election is.

Confidence in Government: Motion (resumed) (10 Jun 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We did very well in the previous general election. The people looked at the two alternatives. They saw a Government led by Deputy Bertie Ahern of Fianna Fáil-----