Results 9,501-9,520 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: It is proposed to take No. 15, Supplementary Estimates for Public Services - Votes 12, 17, 25, 26, 30, 31, 32, 39 and 40, back from committee; and No. 31, Water Services Bill 2014 - Committee Stage (resumed) and Remaining Stages. It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that (1) the Dáil shall sit later than 5.30 p.m. today and shall adjourn not later than 10 p.m.,...
- Order of Business (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: The Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I agree that there was a very powerful manifestation, and peaceful manifestation by and large, on the streets of Dublin yesterday. That was a manifestation of very many years of difficult economic decisions - both the Government and I understand it was not just water charges - that were required to give us hope for the future, to put our economy back on solid ground-----
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: -----which we have now done. We can now begin to give people hope in planning for the future and creating jobs. To answer the specific issue of water charges, this Government has been listening. The very clear view over many months was that people wanted certainty and simplicity-----
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: -----and they wanted to know it was affordable in the longer term. They wanted to know that the money was going to be used to invest in the country's decrepit public water and public sewage supply because the old system to which Fianna Fáil wants to return - to give it back to the local authorities - has plainly failed us.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: We need to invest in all the water treatment plants and all the sewage treatment plants that are required. We need to do away with the boil-water notices and give quality water to people.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Since the Government's revised package was presented, more than 90,000 people have registered with Irish Water.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: That puts things into some context. As of now, some 935,000 people are registered.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Most people understand that water and water infrastructure, a quality water supply and a clean water supply for families, individuals, companies and for communities, has to be provided, the same as waste water treatment plants, rather than spewing solid sewage waste into our streams and rivers. That all has to be paid for. If it is not paid for through a usage charge-----
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: -----it will be paid for through a further tax on workers. I know that the Deputy's party has already outlined €5 billion on additional taxes on work but I do not think that is the way to go.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I know the Sinn Féin Party wants a general election because its members tabled a motion to that effect earlier. In terms of policy-making, it is not a general election so much as a by-election that determines Sinn Féin policy. Up to the most recent by-election, they were minded to pay water charges - as was the Deputy herself - and minded to support them.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: However, since they were out-manoeuvred in the by-election, they think now that policy should be determined-----
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Clearly, making fundamental policy by opinion poll in a time of economic crisis will not serve this country well. Decisions on policy are made by the sovereign Parliament elected by the people of this country. I ask the Deputy to have regard for that. This is an assembly of elected politicians, each of us who have put our names on a ballot paper and each of us have the same mandate.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: To hear Fianna Fáil talk about false promises, I remind Deputy Dooley that they banjaxed the country.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: We have now restored it and the least Deputy Dooley could do, in modesty, is to allow me to answer questions for people who are asking serious questions. In reply to Deputy McDonald, the Government has been listening to the voice of people. We understand the impositions of the past number of years but we also look at the consequence for countries - I refer in particular and very carefully...
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: If four years ago we followed the path that Sinn Féin has mapped out for us we would be in ruin now. We would not be talking about-----
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I know that a democratic assembly is difficult for some people to listen to; they like to shout people down from the back of a truck.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: If Sinn Féin and the Socialist Workers' Party, the Anti-Austerity Alliance, People Before Profit and whatever-you-are-having-today party, had their way, we would now not be paying 16 cent a day for a water charge or 43 cent a day for a family of more than two adults, we would be in ruin without being able to pay for any basic services.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputy for raising what really is a very important and multifaceted issue, namely, domestic violence and the related issue of gender-based violence. The Government has specific campaigns to alert people to the issue, because by its very nature, unlike violent crimes that occur on the street, a lot of it is invisible even to the Garda. In many instances people are so intimidated...
- Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2014)
Brendan Howlin: Many actions have been taken not only by the State directly, but by a panoply of local organisations. The women’s refuge in my home town of Wexford operates with significant HSE and local authority support, and public support, which is really important.