Results 15,961-15,980 of 21,257 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of 2014 Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: They are all wrong to do so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of 2014 Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is not simplistic. Nobody sitting in this committee room today is on a zero hour contract. If people are, they should put up their hand. I would like to know who they are. There is none. We are on proper, decent contractual arrangements in our respective forms of employment. I am not even seeking an explanation. I am highlighting the position and I am shocked to hear the delegate...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of 2014 Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: This notion that putting people on that type of exploitative arrangement in any way improves the quality, prestige or standing of care work as a career is frankly farcical. We will not agree on this, but I thank Mr. Harty for his response. I profoundly disagree with him.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of 2014 Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Excuse me, Mr. Harty, the Vice Chairman might have to intervene.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of 2014 Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: This was not an invitation to Mr. Harty to go off on some reverie in a series of distractions. I have made my point on the issue of the contracts. It might interest him to know it is a position shared by many of the workers who provide care. Please do not accuse anybody sitting on this side of the table of having misconceptions. There is no misconception. The reality is that zero hour...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of 2014 Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: For the purpose of clarity in these proceedings, is Mr. Dunne's organisation a for-profit operation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of 2014 Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Are the members of Mr. Harty's organisation for-profit operators?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of 2014 Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is a key distinction. However, the practice of operating zero hour contracts is entirely wrong, regardless of whether it is in for-profit or not-for-profit environments.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of 2014 Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is not the proposition.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of 2014 Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I thank the witnesses for their submissions. As ever, I probably have about 100 questions, but I will try to whittle it down. I will start with questions for Mr. Harty. In the last budget, as in previous budgets, carers were disproportionately hit. The cut to the respite care grant was particularly reprehensible. The Government should take the opportunity to reverse that decision. Mr....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of 2014 Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I say this with all due respect to Mr. Harty and his organisation's members. I am taken by some of the points set out in its pre-budget submission. However, from my perspective it has zero credibility in making an argument for social inclusion or against exploitation or pressure on the front line if the organisation or any of its members supports the exploitative practice of zero-hours...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of 2014 Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I thank the witnesses for their submissions. They are extremely helpful and they raise matters of serious concern. Ms Barry set out clearly the staffing shortages that mental health services are experiencing. The delegates have no doubt followed the ongoing debate about posts and whether they have been filled. The Oireachtas has been led to believe the additional posts are on track and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2013: Discussion with OECD (5 Sep 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Bertók mentioned in his presentation that the regulation of lobbyists was associated with other transparency issues. We have had a long debate and some controversy on the whole issue of freedom of information in this state. One of the core issues that has arisen in respect of that legislation is that of an exception based on commercial sensitivity. Sometimes the concern is that...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Does Ms O'Donoghue mean everywhere in the inner city?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Where did it increase?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am drawing the Secretary General's attention to a problem in the inner city. I am referring to Dublin 1, Dublin 3 and Dublin 7.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: What was the scale of the increase?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: One would find it difficult to find accommodation for €850 per month in the postal codes to which I referred. Ms O'Donoghue could go online or read the Evening Herald and see this for herself. I accept that, in the final analysis, it is a political decision for the Government to recognise that people cannot spirit quality accommodation for themselves and their families out of nowhere...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I did not raise the issue because I imagined for one second that the Secretary General could provide a blanket guarantee of human behaviour; I raised it because of the need for protocols and standards in respect of that discretionary, albeit necessary, element.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I understand other agencies have duties and responsibilities and this does not fall solely at the Department's feet but, as Ms O'Donoghue pointed out, the Department funds a huge proportion of the private rented sector. Is the figure 30%?