Results 10,781-10,800 of 36,764 for speaker:Enda Kenny

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: Am I wrong in seeing figures suggesting that every week that passes between 1,000 and 1,200 people, mostly or some of whom are young people who have been out of work, are going back into the world of work? Am I wrong in seeing those figures? Is that not an indicator going in the right direction? I believe that it is.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: I agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett that we can have a situation whereby the working poor suffer from inequality and poverty but the job of Government is to grow the economy to a point where that disappears and where these people know that they are contributing for their futures and for the economy. It is not possible to do that unless we get them to have the opportunity to have work and not be...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: I do not. We need to provide proper pipework and pristine water for everyone as an indicator of what progress actually is.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: We cannot do it without setting up an entity that can borrow off the Government balance sheets to provide the infrastructure and have the facility for everyone. I agree that this is a problem for everyone. Surely in 2014 we should be able to provide good quality, comfortable, warm and affordable housing for people. As I have said, we went from 90,000 houses to 8,000 houses. Why is it...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: This is nonsense. These people should be told in advance that the will get No. 7 or No. 12 or whatever it is. I hear all of these arguments but we have 100,000 people on the live register who have experience in the building and contracting business. These are good competent people. That is where we need to be and it is not only a matter of social housing.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: NAMA has offered 4,000 units and local authorities have already taken up 2,000 of these. We are now monitoring the progress on the 1,800 units to be fixed. However, we also need the private sector to step up to the mark.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: They were well able to build 80,000 houses in the so-called boom years and had people buying them over the telephone ten or 12 at a time. Now we need to be able to provide proper, affordable, good quality, warm, comfortable houses for families who need them and that is the focus of Government. This is an indicator of progress as distinct from squalor, as pointed out by Deputy Boyd Barrett.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: I have read out the list of issues dealt with by the social policy committee, including the discussions that took place about the national ageing strategy, the national carers strategy, the substance misuse strategy group and the question of homelessness and housing. It is very distressing to hear of young mothers, young couples, single people or whoever, especially if children are involved,...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: That is why NAMA has offered 4,000 units, although only 2,000 have been taken up. Fully 5,000 homes will be added to the social housing stock his year because the Government has a Minister of State with responsibility for housing. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, is working exceptionally hard right across the spectrum in this area. The position is quite distressing although we...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: I was coming to that. We have returned to a point where there is a process of direct financing of local authority builds. However, recent reports from the NESC, etc., highlight that this model will not be sustainable into the future. We must find new ways of proceeding. In addition, those in private sector construction must step up to the mark. As Deputy Higgins is well aware, 90,000...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: A good old rant there from Deputy Boyd Barrett.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: The Deputy stated that we are all in favour of jobs. Of course we are.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: Does the Deputy regard someone seeking to regularise the position in Dundalk as being an example of poverty and inequality? There, people who are on the live register drawing unemployment are encouraged, interviewed and well able to meet the targets set for a major company. They now have permanent jobs and move on from being on the social welfare or social protection list. Deputy Boyd...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: A referendum was held on children's rights, and child protection has been strengthened through the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 and the Criminal Justice (Withholding of Information on Offences against Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012. The new Child and Family Agency was established. The national implementation framework and a value for money...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: If I am reading it correctly, Sinn Féin policy is to increase income tax to 59% for PAYE workers and 62% for self-employed people.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: I know very few teachers, gardaí or nurses who are earning over €100,000-----

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: What Deputy Adams wants to implement would force them to take an €800 pay cut on top of all of the challenges they face already.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: If that is not the case, then the Deputy needs to spell out an alternative policy to the one he has put forward for the last period.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: Yes, twice.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (24 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: I thank Deputy Higgins for his comments. I do not think it is in any way anti-social to call people who find themselves on the live register to discussions about what it is that they might like to do, about their ambitions, their competencies and their experience in order to try to give them an opportunity to get into the world of work. As I pointed out to Deputy Adams, more than 60 people...