Results 14,101-14,120 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen

Tax Code. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: The only arrogance that ever arises in this House at question time is when someone disagrees with the Deputy, so she calls them arrogant.

Tax Code. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: So do I.

Tax Code. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: My party represents far more working people than the Deputy's and that is why we have 81 seats.

Tax Code. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: If the Deputy looks at the Moriarty recommendations in that respect she would be more accurate in her comments. The Deputy has a blinkered view.

House Prices. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: As the Deputy will be aware, housing policy is primarily a matter for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. From an economic perspective, house buyers benefit from a range of supporting factors, including healthy income growth, low income tax rates and relatively low levels of interest rates by historical standards. Affordability is also supported by the strength...

House Prices. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: The Government's housing policy will tackle issues of affordability through supply side actions. Maintaining the pace of housing supply in line with our future demographic requirements is a primary objective of Government policy——

House Prices. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: ——which has a critical role to play in securing balance in the marketplace and supporting affordability, particularly for first-time buyers. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's housing policy framework outlines Government plans to reform the social and affordable housing sectors and support the expansion of home ownership. We are working towards building...

House Prices. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: It would be better if some of the local authorities in the greater Dublin area which are populated with majorities from the Deputy's party were more supportive of housing development than is the case. I can point to a few who have been less than helpful in making sure we maximise housing development prospects within their local authority areas. That is an issue about which the Deputy has...

House Prices. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: The Deputy should get his house in order and support construction. I have to listen to Deputy Burton constantly talking about builders. At the same time, the Deputies do not want houses.

House Prices. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: I reiterate that the people who need to get real are those in local authorities populated by the Deputies' parties, who are doing everything they can to stop housing developments in the greater Dublin area.

House Prices. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: They succumb to the NIMBY factor. They are doing nothing about affordable housing. The Deputy should ask Deputy Gilmore what he is doing in his local authority area. He talks about local housing in this House when his party has a majority on that local authority, which is a disgrace for the amount of housing it provides.

House Prices. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: That is all cant. The Deputy is full of cant.

House Prices. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: The Deputy is politically paranoid. That is her problem. The Labour Party should not talk to me about housing.

House Prices. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: The Labour Party talking about housing is a joke.

House Prices. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: The Labour Party should get their local authorities in order.

House Prices. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: The Deputy is a joke.

Decentralisation Programme. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: As the Deputy will be aware, 30 State agencies are due to relocate under the Government's decentralisation programme. Some 2,340 posts are involved, or just over one fifth of the programme. The decentralisation implementation group, DIG, did not set a specific timeframe for State agencies as it believed that it was the responsibility of the board and senior management of each agency to...

Decentralisation Programme. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: As I said, we believe the outstanding industrial relations issues can only be dealt with in the context of a centralised discussion with ICTU, at that level rather than at individual State agency level, which has been the case up to now. The DIG, which has responsibility for moving this forward, has suggested to us, and we have agreed, to pursue proposals directly with ICTU for getting...

Decentralisation Programme. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: We are hopeful that discussions with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions at a central level will help resolve these matters, rather than dealing with individual State agencies and unions that represent individual groups of staff. It is important to understand the process in place to manage the issue of staff remaining in Dublin. Staff will come on stream in Dublin on a phased basis as their...

Decentralisation Programme. (7 Feb 2007)

Brian Cowen: Of the 6,000 general Civil Service posts being moved out of Dublin, approximately 3,400 applicants are coming from Dublin. This is only a snapshot of the central applications facility and it is changing all the time. There is a significant turnover each year at the clerical grades and junior management grades in the general service, where the majority of staff are employed. Therefore, we...