Results 9,801-9,820 of 36,764 for speaker:Enda Kenny

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: If there is not an independent commercial body - owned publicly - that can borrow off the Government balance sheet, there would be expectation of raising €850 million next year and every year, rising to €1.2 billion, to meet the programme for dealing with the problems out there. This is the way to do it. We are not going to increase income tax or cut services further.

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: If the Deputy wants to put a tax on jobs and unemployment, she will make it more difficult for people. I do not accept her assertions or claims. Over the weekend we have listened to the voices of people. Some have said they do not want to pay for anything.

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: Others have clearly stated they are willing to make a contribution for water but the process should be made clear, fair and affordable. They have said they will assist the country as they are as Irish as anybody else. That is what the Government will decide upon, and the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, will make his presentation to the Government and the House, I hope, in approximately two weeks.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Official Engagements (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, together. I travelled to Lebanon on 15 June 2014 as Taoiseach and at that time also as Minister for Defence. I was accompanied on the visit by the Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Department of Defence, Deputy Paul Kehoe. The purpose of the trip was to meet Irish troops serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon,...

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: I want Deputy Gerry Adams to understand this Government is not going to go down the road of having to raise €850 million in extra tax increases or cutting other services.

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: What we need is the capacity to have an independent, commercial public body to borrow money off balance sheet and invest in the infrastructure that is necessary. An example is that Dublin City Council proposed to spend €350 million on upgrading the treatment works at Ringsend. The Minister has just come back from there and, because Irish Water is a public utility, it is able to do...

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: That is what the investment is about. Let us all understand we want the country to measure up in terms of our environmental responsibilities and high quality water systems and not leaving hundreds of thousands with an inferior system. From that point of view, we will not be dropping the charges, but we will make them as fair as we can in everyone's interests.

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: I do not accept the proposition. The Deputy has said the Government did not listen to the people once it was elected. I challenge that assertion. I was in houses with people who had put together mortgages and then found buildings were disintegrating with pyrite. I met the residents in the unfortunate case at Priory Hall. I met the Magdalen laundries people here and in England and we...

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: -----we will attempt to address the issue in the fairest way. Those who live alone will have 40% of their water needs provided for by the allowance, which works out at 50 cent a day. The Government is considering how best to help that category, the same as everybody else. Genuinely, we want to put in place a regime that will allow borrowing off the Government balance sheet to deal with the...

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: No, I will not support Sinn Féin's Bill. Obviously, we will have a full-scale debate in the House with the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, when the Government announces its decision which I hope will be in the next two weeks.

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: In the spring of 2016 Deputy Joan Collins will be involved in a general election campaign - it is not that far away. The people will make up their minds as to who they want to elect. That will be their choice and that is how it should be in a democracy. They will ask whether the Government fulfilled its mandate in fixing the public finances and whether it put the country back to work....

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: I recognise that there is a great deal of misinformation about this issue.

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: People are being told by those who want to tell them that the contribution they will make for water is going to some private company.

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: The Deputy knows from the law of the land that was passed here that Irish Water is never going to be privatised.

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: It is not going to be privatised by this party, the Labour Party, the Fianna Fáil Party, the Sinn Féin Party or the Independent group.

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: If anyone here believes Irish Water should be privatised, he or she will have an opportunity to say his or her piece.

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: The Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, will come before the Dáil and we will have a debate on this issue when the Government announces its decisions. I am not going to tie him or the Government to announcing it on a particular day.

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: I have listened carefully to the hundreds of people who have contacted me - some of them in not very kind terms I might add, but that is to be expected in politics. Many of those who have expressed a view say they are quite willing to make a contribution for water, but they want to know what the charge is and what it is for.

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: I will finish now. In County Roscommon, where Deputy Fitzpatrick - gabh mo leithscéal - Deputy Fitzmaurice was elected, chas mé ar an leoraí i dTuilsce an lá cheana agus mé ag dul síos. Thank you, Michael. As Deputy Fitzmaurice will tell us, there are six treatment plants being completed in County Roscommon. The Deputy was going to leave the people concerned...

Leaders' Questions (4 Nov 2014)

Enda Kenny: It seems Deputy Micheál Martin does not want to recognise the invalidity of his own case made the other day. The point is that if this work is not done and one has to raise €850 million for a programme of investment in extra water infrastructure and facilities, how will it be raised? I am not going to go down the road of increasing taxes or pulling services.