Results 10,741-10,760 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton
- Questions on Promised Legislation (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: The effort of making this bid will certainly help us for the future. Many lessons will have been learned.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: In terms of this Government, the maintenance of the sports capital grant right through the very difficult years was a very inspired decision. It has helped communities across the country to build facilities that have kept up the involvement of people in sports on a very practical basis.
- Questions on Promised Legislation (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: This year, we have made enhanced investment in the sports capital grants so that more communities can benefit. The long term aim for sport is to see more people actively involved. We need to see at least half of our population actively involved in sporting activities.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: We will all be looking to the Minister of State, Deputy Brendan Griffin, in respect of our hopes for sports capital grants.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: That is an area for which he has responsibility. We will look forward to him showing his prowess there, and I have no doubt that he will. The assurance I can give the Deputy is that, in the context of the national planning framework that has been published, it is the intention of the Government that half of all the population growth that would occur will be outside of the major cities. The...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: We have brought forward a €1 billion extra investment in education and we have set a target that we will be the best in Europe within a decade. On the issue of early school leaving and drop-out, we are now making huge progress. We have seen our position drop from 14th place to 7th. In respect of people in the age bracket 20 to 24, we are now second best in Europe in terms of those...
- Questions on Promised Legislation (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: The decision on which routes ought to be selected for tendering is made independently, it is not made by Government. However, clearly, there is a commitment that we would open up the opportunity for competitive tendering for some elements of our public transport services. That allows other providers to offer alternatives. It is good for the consumer and user to see alternative offerings....
- Questions on Promised Legislation (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: The Public Service Pay Commission is examining areas where there is difficulty in recruiting. The Government recognises that while observing public pay policy in a fair and even-handed way and living within the available resources, we have to be conscious of areas where there is genuine difficulty in recruiting people. The Deputy will know that such difficulties apply in many sectors,...
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: I fully acknowledge the sincerity with which the Deputy is putting forward her argument. There is no doubt that legislation and policy in this area must be informed by the best possible research. I understand there is a task force in place that is scoping out this area of research to see whether it would be appropriate and necessary to conduct the sort of review the Deputy is proposing....
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: I am not in a position to offer deadlines but, having worked in the research field, I know the first thing one does is make sure one surveys what is already available before commissioning further work to identify the gaps in provision. It is prudent for any government to take the approach we are taking and it is not holding back important investment of real resources. Organisations dealing...
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: I congratulate Deputy Danny Healy-Rae on his excellent grasp of what someone described as "retail politics". My answers will be more in the wholesale area, telling him what we can do on a national level to ameliorate the types of problems he listed. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, because of the progress we have made in advancing the economic recovery and as we find...
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: I roundly reject the suggestion that we are pretending the problem does not exist. It was our Government - the former Minister of State, now Senator Ged Nash, and I - who commissioned the work by the University of Limerick on zero-hour contracts. It was on the back of that work that we held consultations with the trade union movement and employers to ensure we can bring forward legislation....
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: It is the responsibility of Government to bring in legislation that is practical and which can be applied and is feasible for all concerned. That is what we are doing. Our legislation will ban zero-hour contracts. It will introduce protection for people who are on short-hour contracts and give them recognition for the fact they often work longer periods than are specified in their...
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: We are also ensuring there will be a system of banded hours.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: Mandate or any other group can put forward possible amendments to the committee that will be considering that legislation.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: It is for the House-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: -----to consider-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: The way in which we legislate is not by signing the requests of various outside bodies. We are elected to represent people. We come here-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: -----and we make the decisions on the merits of the case as put forward. The merits of a case put forward by Mandate will be examined by the House when the Bill is presented to the House for debate and adopted.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Nov 2017)
Richard Bruton: I thank the Deputy for raising this question. The Taoiseach is flying to Sweden today for an EU summit. He will be meeting with other European colleagues and will hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister May. The position of the Irish Government remains unchanged. We believe that there must a clear road map to achieve what has been announced as the objective of all parties, which is...