Results 1,041-1,060 of 2,918 for speaker:Séamus Healy

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pensions (16 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: The effect of my question is to ask the Minister if he will agree to introduce legislation to provide for a legal right for public service pensioners to an audience with the Government and pension authorities and access to the Labour Court and the Labour Relations Commission on a statutory basis rather than on a concession basis.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Recruitment (16 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: 252. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide details of the new arrangements to replace the moratorium on recruitment and promotion in the public service from 2015 onwards announced in his budget statement; in view of growing demand on public services in a range of areas, if he will provide an assurance that these new measures will halt the reduction in...

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: All we get is an e-mail.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: That was too late for the 80 year old man who had no water.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: I believe this forum will be worse than useless. Will the Minister withdraw this section? In my view, it is simply a smokescreen for Irish Water, for the Minister and for the CER. The history of getting information on Irish Water, water charges and water tax has been marked by failure. This House, and we as public representatives, have failed to get information from successive Ministers....

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: This forum is worse than useless and an absolute smokescreen to ensure we do not get the information to which we and the public are entitled. Irish Water has proved itself to be completely incompetent in this regard.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: I would not have had to have a second go if it had been answered the first time.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: I strongly support this amendment. I would go so far as to say that householders should have a majority, or certainly a very strong representation, on such forums. I outlined a number of scenarios that currently exist and which underpin the need for such representation. Dealing with Irish Water reminds me of the difficulties which arose with regard to medical cards.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: The point I am making is that the public and public representatives cannot talk to anybody in Irish Water. We can only reach a call centre, and this gives rise to considerable frustration and anger. Every backbencher in this Chamber knows that what I am saying is 100% true. I asked the Minister on two occasions, yesterday in the context of section 3 and again this morning, to respond to my...

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: I ask the Minister to instruct Irish Water to free these blockages by way of their contracts with local authorities, which have always freed such blockages in the past.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: This is not an individual problem.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: This is not an individual problem. I am just giving an example of what is happening on a daily basis.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: Yes, and I say that membership of the forum should have a majority of householders.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: The reason for that is that currently one cannot deal with Irish Water. For the past fortnight I have been dealing with a case which involves a blockage in the sewerage system, not on a householder's premises, front garden or back garden, but on the public road outside the property. The householder was told yesterday evening that it was a matter for himself to deal with. The blockage is on...

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: I support the amendment. Householders should preferably make up a majority of this forum and they should certainly be very strongly represented. Dealing with Irish Water is already a disaster for the public, householders and public representatives. Every Member in this House who has been dealing with Irish Water since last January knows that one cannot talk to Irish Water. The public and...

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: On a point of order, I proposed more than an hour ago that the House should adjourn.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: The record will show that Deputy Buttimer was not in the Chair when I proposed that the House adjourn. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle had taken his place.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: I second that. I made that proposal approximately an hour ago. I had hoped that the Minister would do the decent and right thing and offer an adjournment. As he has not done so, we are left with no choice but to request the Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: -----to adjourn the sitting until next Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2014)

Séamus Healy: 9 o’clock Over the past month, the Minister and the Government spoke about how this issue would be clarified and people would be satisfied with that clarity. Tonight, we have anything but clarity; instead, we have a bank of fog. We have no clarity in the figures for houses or the cost of administering the grant. It is quite clear that the House does not know if the introduction...