Results 12,581-12,600 of 36,764 for speaker:Enda Kenny

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: I accept your ruling, Ceann Comhairle. It might be helpful to everybody if the clock at the back of the Chamber was actually switched on for these replies-----

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: -----so we would know these things. In reply to Deputy Donnelly, I expect him to go to Wicklow County Council tomorrow, call the staff who are dealing with water services in any shape or form and tell them he wants-----

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: -----half of them sacked. Is that what he wants?

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: It is not a case of the HSE all over again. In fact, I agree with Deputy Donnelly that unnecessary waste in the Irish system must be done away with. Should we not first deal with the 40% of water which is leaking away every day? Does he agree that we should deal with the problems of 18,000 households who have had to boil water for the past six months? Does he agree it is right to deal...

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: The Deputy should go down to Wicklow tomorrow and call the staff together and say, "Donnelly is on the warpath, he wants you sacked."

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland Issues (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 31, inclusive, together. As Deputies are aware, the recent political talks in Northern Ireland on parades, flags and contending with the past under the chairmanship of Dr. Richard Haass and the vice-chairmanship of Dr. Meghan O’Sullivan concluded without agreement in the early hours of New Year’s Eve. I am disappointed that the talks...

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: Tabharfaidh mé freagra don Teachta ar an cheist a chuir sé orm. Ta an Coimisiún Ombudsman an Gharda Síochána fíor neamhspleách agus ní féidir liomsa rud ar bith a dhéanamh leis. Leagann an coimisiún síos na coinníollacha agus déanann sé féin an iniúchadh. Bhí mé ag éisteacht le duine...

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: Tá a fhios agam cén cheist a chur an Teachta orm.

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: Tá fhios agam, ach táim ag tabhairt freagra don Teachta faoin gcoimisiún. Chuir an Teachta ceist orm faoin Coiste um Chuntais Phoiblí. Of course, the remit of the Committee of Public Accounts relates to value for money as opposed to matters of governance.

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: It has adhered to that remit over the years. The Minister for Justice and Equality cannot just refer a complaint by a garda against a colleague to the Garda Ombudsman Commission. It is because of the changing allegations that have been made that, in the public interest-----

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: -----the Minister is required to ensure that integrity, confidence and trust in the system will be retained. That is why the matter has been referred to the Garda Ombudsman Commission. I support him in that regard because it is exactly the right thing to do. What the Committee of Public Accounts does in the context of its discussions is a matter for its members. I cannot interfere with...

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: I do not believe it is good practice for information provided during a private session of a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts to be bandied about in the national media or for comments that could in any way be construed as straying outside of the remit of that committee to be made. The committee is doing its job but it is important that it should stay within its remit. As already...

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: Irish businesses are not being locked out of the sector, nor is another monster being created. What we are doing is addressing the challenges relating to the future. Perhaps Deputy Donnelly, who spent some time working with McKinsey and Co., wants to propose that we should sack 2,000 workers. Is that what he is saying?

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: If the Deputy comes from the commercial side of the business sector, then I suggest he needs to get his facts right. The fact is the Irish water system is, in many cases, entirely deficient. It has suffered as a result of a lack of infrastructural investment for many years. That is why, as a result of their being 34 different local authorities, there are gross inconsistencies in standards....

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: There has been a lot of talk about accepting advice. As I pointed out to the Deputy last week, the Government of which he was a member paid €7 million for three days work by financial advisers before landing this country with the greatest economic catastrophe it has ever experienced. His Government did not accept that advice. Deputy Martin should not come in here claiming a...

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: We also had people on the benches opposite saying that thousands of euro in charges would be heaped on top of people under the property tax. Members opposite are all on record as having said that. As I said, in the coming weeks the Government will publish the financial and business models for Irish Water. The only charges to be incurred here will be in respect of consumers, that is, the...

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: The Government will deliver the level of charge as a matter of policy and the regulator will have an input into that. It is about the Irish consumer.

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: I am not sure what the Deputy's position is now in terms of whether he supports the Minister in what he is doing here. The central tenet of what the Minister has done is to keep respect and integrity in the Garda Síochána and in the process here. As Deputy Adams is well aware, the Committee of Public Accounts, over many years, always had an independence within the Houses of the...

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: I find it peculiar that Deputy Adams should raise the question of whistleblowers in the first place. He used to have a very different way of dealing with them himself.

Leaders' Questions (28 Jan 2014)

Enda Kenny: Deputy Martin has raised several issues, if I may say so. Clearly, last year it was perfectly obvious from Government that the cost of the establishment of Irish Water would have a headline figure of €180 million. PricewaterhouseCoopers carried out an analysis and recommended that there be a greenfield operation. The Government is about making decisions. Since the setting up of a...