Results 8,641-8,660 of 21,440 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Leaders' Questions (4 Apr 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Today, the future of policing and justice in the State is at a crossroads. Public confidence in the management of An Garda Síochána has been shattered by scandal after scandal and there is a flagrant lack of accountability and a detached arrogance among the top brass. The extent of the damage done to the Garda cannot be overestimated - it is immense. This issue is bigger than...

Leaders' Questions (4 Apr 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: No review or inquiry, no matter how robust or comprehensive, will be successful in addressing the dysfunctionality at the heart of the Garda while Nóirín O'Sullivan remains in office. It is as simple and clear cut as that. She has presided over a litany of catastrophes and her position is untenable. In no other walk of life would this be a matter for debate. The Commissioner...

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is ten years since the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was signed by the Government. Ten years on, when it is proposed that we will ratify this convention? The Minister will be aware that the ongoing delays and the failure to ratify the convention have caused frustration and hurt to people with disabilities, their carers, families and to Irish society...

Leaders' Questions (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: I too extend our sympathy and solidarity to the family of Captain Mark Duffy and to those other families who still agonisingly await the return of their loved ones. Yesterday, hundreds of people marched with the workers of Bus Éireann to the Dáil as part of their campaign to protect their livelihood and the public transport network in this State. Six days into their strike...

Leaders' Questions (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: It seems the Minister is almost as deluded as his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Ross. To describe the current fiasco as "very real progress" is really extreme even by the standards of his Government. Of course, the Minister, Deputy Ross, has previous form in looking the other way and sitting out his responsibilities. We saw how he did that with the Dublin Bus dispute last autumn. I...

Leaders' Questions (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Really?

Leaders' Questions (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Under the Government's approach, we have industrial chaos.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: That sounds reasonable.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: It should be noted.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: They will appear later.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Correct.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is reasonable because we do not want to be going through a futile exercise. At the same time, we should make clear that we want these officials to come, that they are expected here, the nature of the information that we require, and that we expect them to come in with the i's dotted and the t's crossed. We need to be reasonable but at the same time we cannot let this issue drift. I...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is right. They will have to appear here as well.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Perhaps we need to write to them again. I agree with Deputy Connolly. For those concerned, this is a personal disaster. Is the Chairman finished with correspondence? I wanted to raise a different issue.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Here is the item of business I wish to raise. I was more than taken aback yesterday evening to hear on the floor of the Dáil that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, had threatened, through the Chairman, to injunct this committee. I would like the Chairman to give us an explanation as to when that happened and the context in which it happened. We should have been made aware of...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: We now have elaborated on the position. It is not just the Minister who has threatened to injunct. We have had similar sabre rattling from NAMA. Was it Mr. Frank Daly who spoke to the Chairman about the issue around legal action and NAMA?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: So now we have the head of NAMA, the Minister and officials sabre rattling with the committee.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is a matter of fact that any of those parties could, and would, legally scrutinise our work and if they were so moved, they could intervene if they believed there was something legally unsound in the report or that they had been impugned in some dramatic way by the work of the committee. However, focusing on that misses the point. There are forces within the system which wish to thwart...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes, let us get to the bottom of it and let us hope that this episode does in fact strengthen the committee and does not make people cynical. As far as I am concerned, nobody will stand in the way of us doing the work we are sent here to do. We should have been told about this. It is not good that we got wind of this on the floor of the Dáil. I am delighted the Chairman made friends...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (30 Mar 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: It absolutely is not but neither would I like the Chairman to think the resolution to this is a handshake or a quiet word between two lads. This is the Oireachtas; we are democratically elected politicians. The other issue is given the abuse the constitutional Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General received, we probably got off rather tightly and we should not be surprised by these...