Results 11,261-11,280 of 15,491 for speaker:Eamon Gilmore

Order of Business (18 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: If it does turn out to be a major document and a statement of major national significance——

Order of Business (18 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: ——it should be announced in the House.

Order of Business (18 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: If it is a major national statement and made in Dublin Castle, I will be asking the Ceann Comhairle to have the Committee on Procedure and Privileges examine its appropriateness. It is not acceptable that the Government makes announcements there on the economy, for example. This has been built up as something tantamount to a Budget Statement. If it is of that significance, it should be...

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: What is the Minister going to do?

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: I thank Deputy Ciarán Lynch for proposing this motion, Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh for seconding it and the Sinn Féin Deputies for co-signing the motion with the Labour Party. I thank all the Deputies who have contributed to the debate this evening and yesterday. A couple of nights ago I watched on my television the appalling sight of children in Zimbabwe suffering and dying from cholera....

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: It is the kind of thing one sees happening to emperors at the end of an empire. The Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, stated the motion before the House is ill-judged and accused the Labour Party, and myself in particular, of being hysterical, scaremongering and causing panic and unease. The point of the motion is to address the panic, unease, fear and in some cases hysteria among people...

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: The Government indicated it would keep the mortgage market under review, having regard to the information available from the Financial Regulator and banking sector. Is this the same Financial Regulator and banking sector that provided the Government with information on the state of the banks over the past year? This is hardly comfort to people worried about losing their jobs. We can...

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: ——and more on the list because the figures have been doctored. Sticking with the official figure, even the 60,000 on the council waiting list is the highest number of people applying for council housing since 1964. That was a time which caused people to rise in Dublin and march on the streets and led to the establishment of the housing action committee. We have proposed a very simple...

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: He thinks this is some kind of assistance for developers. He has a blinkered view of it. This is not difficult. There are empty houses.

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: They are all over the country and cannot be sold.

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: I am delighted to see the Minister here this evening because we do not often see him.

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: It is a real pleasure.

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: He may soon be in the Seanad for a lot longer than he wants to be.

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: If the Minister is doing it, why do we have the highest number of people on the housing list since almost the time the Minister was born? It is at the same level as 1964.

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: That year saw the highest number of people waiting on council houses. With regard to the multi-purpose legislation, the Labour Party has been asking the Government to introduce legislation to address problems with management companies, fees and the running of these apartment blocks for years. We are still waiting for it.

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: Frankly——

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: The Government regularly accuses the Opposition of not putting forward positive suggestions. We have a number of positive suggestions in this motion that will deal with the housing problems people are experiencing today. We have not said anything unduly critical of the Government in the motion and yet a blinkered, arrogant and out of touch Government has decided to amend it from existence...

Housing: Motion (Resumed) (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: ——back-clapping amendment that is worthless to the people in need of housing but will somehow provide some kind of political comfort rag to the Government in its dying days.

Written Answers — Light Rail Projects: Light Rail Projects (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: Question 91: To ask the Minister for Transport his views on the development of light rail systems for Cork, Limerick and Galway; if he will publish the feasibility studies for each of the projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46349/08]

Written Answers — Light Rail Projects: Light Rail Projects (17 Dec 2008)

Eamon Gilmore: Question 111: To ask the Minister for Transport if he will report on progress on the big dig infrastructure works necessary in Dublin city centre to facilitate the construction of metro north, the Luas link-up and the Dublin rail interconnector; if adjustments have been made to the contingency plans of the big dig in view of the reports on the deferral of the Luas Line BX; the stakeholders...