Results 16,521-16,540 of 21,260 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is the equivalent of saying that farmers milk cows and grow crops for commercial purposes and therefore the sector is not strategic in terms of the State and our economy. It is a nonsensical argument.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister will not concede the point. Coillte is strategic. It is today and was at the time he decided to examine it for the purposes of the sale of harvesting rights. The State's holding in Aer Lingus is strategic. The European Commission and UK commission deliberations on the company reflect very clearly the strategic issue of the State's holding. I find it very odd that the Minister...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is the commitment of the Minister on behalf of the Government.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister made much of his achievement in raising the €2 billion bounty to €3 billion. If he achieves the target of €3 billion, the troika said on that basis that he could have a 50:50 split between investment in stimulus and debt write-down. I can only assume, therefore, if he does not hit the target of €3 billion, that there will be implications in terms of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is a separate issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister was very clear on the €3 billion target.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am not interested in this meandering. I ask the Chairman to ask the Minister to answer the question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: In his speech which he delivered today, the Minister said he was able to convince the troika of the 50% investment in jobs stimulus on the basis that he would hit a target of €3 billion. He said this repeatedly and confirmed it again today. In the event that he does not reach the target of €3 billion, is there a question mark over the 50% investment in jobs stimulus?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Hold on, Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I will not talk over the Minister if he does not talk down the clock. He said: "I secured an agreement that in return for increasing the level of ambition of our asset disposal programme to a €3 billion target the troika agreed that we could retain half of the proceeds to fund additional employment enhancing projects", which is a jobs stimulus in other words. They are the Minister's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----it is a fair question and the Minister should have a clear-cut response. Is the 50% investment conditional on the target of €3 billion being reached?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister has an open-ended arrangement with the troika that he will notionally, at some point in the future, hit €3 billion. In the meantime, he can invest in jobs stimulus. Is that a lay translation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Given that Coillte and Aer Lingus are off the table and that, in the Minister's non-strategic view, he has chosen to dispose of Bord Gáis Energy and parts of the ESB, how will he make up the €3 billion? Irish Water is also off the table, I understand.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: How will the Minister accrue the €3 billion?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: It strikes me as an extraordinarily loose arrangement with the troika. The Chairman of the committee praised the fact that the troika's arrival here marked increased scrutiny of budgetary matters and a tightening of the reins.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I welcome the fact not so much that the Minister has broken a promise, but that he has withdrawn the threat to sell off Coillte and indeed the State holding in Aer Lingus. Throughout this process the Minister has said that he will only consider the sale of what he deems non-strategic assets. Does the Minister accept that Coillte is a strategic asset and the remaining State holding in Aer...

An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: An Dara Céim (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (19 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Fine Gael and Labour Party programme for Government contains 69 separate references to reform. Yet when the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport spoke last night to this legislation he could only reference three true reforms which, by the way, have yet to be fully delivered on, namely, the whistleblowers Bill, the lobbying regulation Bill and the restoration of the freedom of...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces Operations (18 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: 39. To ask the Minister for Defence the amount the security arrangements for the G8 summit in County Fermanagh will cost the Irish tax payer. [29116/13]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (18 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: 250. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the provisions that will be put in place to mitigate the loss of income and the subsequent financial hardship for a person (details supplied) in County Longford currently on a community employment scheme in County Longford who is due to lose their lone parent's allowance from July 2013. [29257/13]

Other Questions: Magdalen Laundries Issues (13 Jun 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Do I get an opportunity to respond?