Results 12,201-12,220 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton
- Order of Business (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: It is proposed to take No. 1, Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014 [Seanad] - Second Stage. The Friday fortnightly business shall be No. 77, Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014 - Second Stage; and No. 17, report of the Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht on the outline heads of the climate action and low carbon...
- Order of Business (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: On the Taoiseach being in Davos, where I presume there are far more millionaires than in the Dáil, he is spending his time meeting senior executives in companies such as Facebook and Google with a view to bringing jobs to Ireland.
- Order of Business (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: I wish the Taoiseach well in bringing more employment to Ireland.
- Order of Business (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: The SILC report is a very important one. If Deputies want to take the matter up with the Whips, I would be happy to make provision for a debate on the report in the House at any stage. The report relates to the second half of 2012 and the first half of 2013, which was just as Ireland began to emerge from the crisis. It shows that the incomes of those in the lowest income groups increased...
- Order of Business (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: This is based on 2012 and 2013. It shows that the 300,000 plus jobs that Fianna Fáil lost the country after the disastrous bank guarantee were still working their way through.
- Order of Business (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: If Deputies care to recall, the jobs recovery was beginning very slowly at the very end of 2012 and it began to gain momentum in 2013. More importantly, I agree to a debate and I want to respond to some of Deputy Kelleher's points. The most important thing in the SILC report is that the median household disposable income went up. That is the one that is regarded internationally as being...
- Order of Business (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: As I said to Deputy Kelleher, I am happy to facilitate a debate on the SILC report. The critical issue relates to poverty and it is important as we approach 2016 that we do everything as a country to secure an economic recovery that gets people of working age who are entirely dependent on social welfare incomes into employment. The best way to help lone parents is to help them into...
- Order of Business (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: The SILC report shows that has reduced the number of those at-risk of poverty in Ireland by 60% because of the social welfare supports. Every year, I have also prioritised putting direct funding into additional school meals, particularly school breakfast clubs so that when children arrive in school, they can get breakfast.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: We are now commencing-----
- Leaders' Questions (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: We are now commencing a very ambitious social housing programme.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: That social housing programme will make significant provision for new housing units over the year. In addition, particularly in Dublin City Council but also to a lesser extent in the other local authorities in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, local authorities adopted the unfortunate practice of boarding up houses and flats whenever vacancies occurred.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: A crash programme is now underway, and is bearing fruit as I speak, to reopen those houses, which should never have been boarded up in the first place.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: That is going to add significantly to the supply of housing over this year.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: History will show-----
- Leaders' Questions (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: With this investment, we will have an enormous increase in the number of houses being made available. Deputy Coppinger referred to the Threshold protocol, which was established by my Department in the middle of June. I am sure she is aware that the protocol has worked very well. Where families have been approached by landlords in regard to a threatened increase in the rent, through the...
- Leaders' Questions (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: If a family in receipt of rent supplement has a difficulty with a landlord who is increasing the rent, I want them to use the protocol because it has worked reasonably well for those families who have used it. Deputies should acknowledge the work done by the staff of my Department in the homelessness unit and of voluntary organisations like Threshold. The protocol is working well and is...
- Leaders' Questions (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: Given that we are having an exchange of questions and views, perhaps the Deputy can explain why the people associated with her party who sit on the local authority of which she was once a member voted against a social housing development before Christmas
- Leaders' Questions (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: She might find out because one of the issues is that parties such as the Deputy's have to persuade their representatives on local authorities to be positive in terms of allowing social housing to be constructed.
- Leaders' Questions (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: Perhaps the Deputy should investigate the issues arising and whether they could have been resolved. I do not know what drove the opposition but it would be interesting to find out. The Deputy made a comment about local authorities selling houses to council tenants. Since 1973 there is a long-standing policy, which I understood was supported by most parties in this House, that people who...
- Leaders' Questions (22 Jan 2015)
Joan Burton: By implication, she is condemning the local authorities for selling houses to tenants on a tenant purchase scheme.