Results 11,121-11,140 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Diplomatic Representations. (13 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: Why are Questions Nos. 6 to 14 being taken together?

Diplomatic Representations. (13 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: Who is it a matter for? What has Question No. 6 to do with Northern Ireland?

Diplomatic Representations. (13 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: I heard the Ceann Comhairle say that he has no role in the ordering of parliamentary questions. I submit, in any event, that questions on Northern Ireland are one of the few substantive areas where Opposition Members may question the Taoiseach. Otherwise, we are back to e-Cabinet projects, the communications unit and housekeeping matters that could be dealt with by Deputy Callely or someone....

Diplomatic Representations. (13 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: Thank you very much, a Cheann Comhairle.

Leaders' Questions. (13 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: The substantive question put to the Taoiseach was what was the threat to our democracy. Will the Taoiseach answer that question? I remind him it was protection of our democracy and the institutions of the State that justified a previous Minister for Justice tapping telephones. Will the Taoiseach spell out what was the threat? Like Deputy Kenny, I think Frank Connolly's answers to legitimate...

Leaders' Questions. (13 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: Mr. Ahern is the Taoiseach.

Leaders' Questions. (13 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: I am asking the Taoiseach the question.

Leaders' Questions. (13 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: The Taoiseach is the Head of Government, but he refuses to answer the central question. The Minister has based his justification for what he did on his belief there was a threat to our democratic system and institutions. I and Deputy Kenny asked the Taoiseach what was that threat, but he evaded the answer. The Tánaiste is on the record as saying that the Centre for Public Inquiry was...

Leaders' Questions. (13 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: There must be quite a few such bogus applications. People have done many things with passports. There is no connection.

Leaders' Questions. (13 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: What did the Taoiseach do about that? We still know as little about it as we did then.

Written Answers — Alternative Farm Enterprises: Alternative Farm Enterprises (8 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: Question 21: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the action she has taken to assist in meeting the 2% quota for production of biofuel by the end of 2005, required under the Kyoto Agreement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38374/05]

Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed). (8 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: I join Deputy Kenny in regretting that the debate on the budget was delayed by the efforts of the House to have the issues surrounding the resignation of the former Minister of State, Deputy Callely, debated.

Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed). (8 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: I do not see it that way. We did not block the debate but the Taoiseach blocked Deputy Callely from speaking. He was blocked and silenced and that is an important issue. Adversarial politics aside, nobody on this side of the House takes any pleasure from the resignation of an office holder. In this case it is clear the Minister of State resisted resignation because he felt he took the rap on...

Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed). (8 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: The Minister was fully aware of the nursing homes issue and was quite prepared to clock up another hundred million euro of taxpayers' money without acting. When Mr. Pat McLoughlin's legal advice was brought to his attention, he had no argument after that. He should have known about the issue from the extension of the medical card to the over-70s but could not have failed to realise it from...

Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed). (8 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: The Minister for Finance had a great deal of money to give away yesterday and he did that. He scattered it around every segment of the electorate from whom the harvest of votes might be improved. There is no innovation, no new ideas and no joined-up thinking. The budget is cautious, predictable and safe. It is not intended to address structural inequality, rather it is designed for one...

Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed). (8 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: Then Saint Augustine would have no place in this Cabinet.

Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed). (8 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: The basic social welfare increases are welcome and will help people in a high price economy to keep body and soul together. However, as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul pointed out, the social welfare package will do no more than that. There is no structural assault on poverty. The meanest cut of all is that there is no reinstatement of the RAPID programme. I really regret that our friends...

Financial Resolution No. 5: General (Resumed). (8 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: Deputy Burton made the point yesterday that the people in the new poverty trap are those who are forced into private rented accommodation. Our social housing problem is now forced into private rented accommodation, which is accommodation driven by tax reliefs and tax incentives. Those people are on housing rental supplement but if they try to go back into the workforce, either they lose that...

Order of Business (Resumed). (8 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: I agree with the Taoiseach that no Deputy would want to force another Member of the House to make a personal statement if he or she does not want to do so. I accept that there is a contradiction in a Member being quite happy to make several statements outside the House but not being willing to address the House at all for whatever reason. There is no compulsion on Deputy Callely or any other...

Order of Business (Resumed). (8 Dec 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: We know that he had been briefed and that he had the documents. The former Minister of State, Deputy Callely, personally briefed him and briefed the Taoiseach.