Results 101-120 of 45,373 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Doherty. He is right with regard to making sure people can be assisted with the cost of living but I would point out this Government has taken a number of measures, and that wages in Ireland are now growing ahead of inflation. We have taken action with regard to reducing childcare costs. That is just one example. We have made school books free and provided free school...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Sheehan and assure him the Government is getting along very well, and Ministers are active and busy in a whole range of areas. If there have not been sightings of different Ministers together - I will have to inquire into that - it is probably because they have been too busy doing their jobs. We are at one with regard to the need to establish a housing activation office. I...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: He can bring forward his proposals and we will consider them.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy. I was taking in a lot of figures there; I appreciate that the Deputy has done a lot of work on this. The purpose of the Deputy's question is largely around the issue of carbon tax. On the issue of speed limits, it is about trying to get it right. It is about recognising - we all share this view - that far too many people die on Irish roads. Being very honest, the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I know it.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I often say that we need more common sense in our politics. The problem is that common sense is a subjective concept. There is common sense in collecting revenue through a carbon tax and in specifically doing what we have committed to in our programme for Government. In a very honest and an upfront way, the programme for Government states that we are going to continue to use carbon tax...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Murphy. I do not believe anybody can credibly suggest that this Government is anti-worker. In fact, there are many more workers in this country as a result of this Government's and successive governments' efforts to create jobs in every town, village and city throughout our island. To have workers, you need to have jobs. There are many more people in employment. Many of us...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: It is not that anybody is breaching the minimum wage; it is that we have a tiered system of minimum wage in this country. The Deputy and I have different views on that but people are following the minimum wage. It is just tiered and applies differently to different people in different age brackets. That is the system that we have had in place. After the Deputy goes into that café and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: We support young people in so many ways. I found myself having to shout at the radio the other day about broken promises in relation to statutory sick pay. Read the Fine Gael manifesto. We were very clear during the general election in relation to five days of statutory sick pay. It is there; it is in black and white. We made it clear to people. There was no statutory sick pay scheme...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: That is what we are doing. It was not Sinn Féín's idea or ours; it was a good idea that came from the Housing Commission and we are trying to act on that. The Minister was quite right this week to bring forward a proposal to Cabinet to move that forward. The only decision the Government of Ireland took this week was in that regard.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: The Minister was quite right this week to bring forward a proposal to Cabinet to move that forward. The only decision the Government of Ireland took this week was regarding that.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: Now that the Government of Ireland has done that, we will decide how best to populate the office, process matters - I want to understand the processes followed regarding key personnel - and we will then address all those matters and put this together.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: That is the appropriate way. Of course, people who do a job will be paid a salary but this not about personalities.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: In the first instance, this is about getting things right. Speculation in the media is not how we do things in government. We will bring forward proposals, we will tease them through-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: -----and we will consider them. That is exactly what we will do in the hours and days ahead and we will get this right-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: -----with a housing activation office to break down silos. Getting the right people in place is also important.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Bacik for that. I also wish everyone a happy International Workers' Day. I would like to acknowledge the incredible work done by workers right across our country in the public service and in the private sector, as well as the many people who work here in Leinster House to help our democracy function on a daily basis. Objectively, it is fair to say a lot of positive measures...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I assure Deputy Bacik the Government is unified in wanting to support our workers and economy and wanting to protect their jobs too. I agree low paid workers and workers in this country are certainly not responsible for the many turbulent challenges the global economy faces and the impact that may have on Ireland. We are very lucky to live in a country where our union movement was very...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. We all agree that housing is the most important issue. There is a housing emergency in this country. There is an onus on all of us to come forward with ideas and policies to try to make real and meaningful progress for people in the country. I hope we are at least united on this. This Government has taken a number of steps on...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (1 May 2025)

Simon Harris: There is no housing tsar for us either.