Results 16,861-16,880 of 36,764 for speaker:Enda Kenny

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: The Cabinet sub-committee on mortgage arrears met eight times in recent months. As the Deputy is aware, the sub-committee was established last March and its remit is to oversee the implementation, on a cross-Departmental basis, of the Government's response to mortgage arrears, agree a detailed implementation plan for the recommendations of the report of the interdepartmental working group on...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: Yes.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Confidentiality (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: The Deputy has not defined what he means by equality-proofed. In so far as the consideration of the Government was concerned, all of the issues in the budget were considered in the sense of being balanced given the circumstances in which the Government finds itself and we acknowledge the challenge that many people face here. I will not legislate for Cabinet confidentiality. I have looked...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Confidentiality (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: For years Opposition parties have prepared their alternative budgets and have sent them in their entirety to the section in the Department of Finance which assesses them. Fine Gael did so for years as did the Labour Party. Sinn Féin chose to ask a series of parliamentary questions and then make wild and fanciful comments about everything being rosy in the garden under Sinn Féin,...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Confidentiality (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: Sinn Féin never faced the difficult choices that are the reality of what Government decisions have to deal with. Nobody likes to announce reductions in benefits. We need to deal with the problem of our national finances and we have tried to do that in as fair and balanced a way as we can.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 7 together. All Cabinet committees, including the Economic Management Council which has the status of a Cabinet committee, have met this year and a total of 91 meetings have been held. My Department provides all necessary secretariat support for the Cabinet committee on mortgage arrears. The Cabinet committee on the children's rights referendum met on...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committees (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: I am constrained in what I can say because there is a High Court challenge under the provisions of the Referendum Act 1994 and therefore I do not want to say anything in the House that would in any way prejudice that challenge before the High Court. The referendum took place against the background whereby for 20 years it had never reached the point of the question being asked of the people....

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Confidentiality (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: The Deputy will be aware Article 28.4.3° of the Constitution states:The confidentiality of discussions at meetings of the Government shall be respected in all circumstances save only where the High Court determines that disclosure should be made in respect of a particular matter -(i) in the interests of the administration of justice by a Court, or (ii) by virtue of an overriding public...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Confidentiality (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: The Economic Management Council is a useful method of dealing with a range of issues and proposals before they are sent to Government for final decision by the Cabinet. Every member of the Government accepts the decision of the Cabinet on the budget. It has been streamlined like this to save time as much as anything else. Ministers had to have bilateral meetings with the Minister of Public...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Confidentiality (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: The pension for the blind was cut twice just a couple of years ago; we do not want to go back there. We are heading into 2013 and the process for the budget for next year will be even more open that it is now. The expenditure review plans have been published, the ceilings for each Department for the next three years are available and we have asked every spokesman to look at those figures....

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Ministerial Responsibilities (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: Yes, it was approved by Cabinet this morning.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Ministerial Responsibilities (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: There is no mystery here. A delegation order was signed for the previous Minister of State, Deputy Shortall with regard to her duties. Some of the duties were administrative and did not require a delegation order. Some of the duties were dealing with issues that did require a delegation order. The same applies in the case of the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White. The administrative...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Ministerial Responsibilities (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: And primary care, yes. The areas of opticians, dentists and fluoridation do require a statutory delegation order. Government approved of that this morning and signed it for Deputy White. The administrative end of primary care, or the administrative areas associated with any other issue, do not themselves require a statutory declaration.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Ministerial Responsibilities (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: Not in itself, because it is not a statutory function. It does require a statutory declaration to deal with questions about opticians, dentists and fluoridation. The Minister of State also deals with the area of primary care and the administration of that, including primary care centres.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Confidentiality (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: A Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 3 together. Cabinet confidentiality is provided for in the Constitution and I have no plans for legislation on the matter.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Confidentiality (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: Deputy Ó Fearghaíl will recall the Howlin judgment when the confidentiality of correspondence received by Members of the House was challenged. That will be dealt with in the whistleblowers legislation in 2013. I have read some of the material that purports to be from the Cabinet. I paraphrase Mark Twain and say those rumours are greatly exaggerated. I have read of vicious rows,...

Leaders' Questions (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: The single supervisory mechanism is part of the process of making the decision, following the decision of 29 June. The decision was endorsed by the Heads of Government at European Council level. Within the ECOFIN group, the Minister for Finance will start discussions on the modalities, mechanics and circumstances that will operate, which will lead to banking union. In parallel...

Leaders' Questions (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: -----to improve the lot of those who are unemployed, long-term unemployed, on low incomes and in the squeezed middle sector. If it is left as it is, they will never have the opportunity to have greater prosperity and activity at the level of jobs. That is where the focus of the budget has been. Our economy will be built on the backs of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Leaders' Questions (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: That is why the Government did not tax employment by increasing income tax or placing additional taxes on work. People can now plan their lives more clearly. I would like to think that if we can continue economic good progress during 2013, we will get the assistance committed to us from our European colleagues, which will make the country more attractive for investment and job creation....

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Ministerial Responsibilities (18 Dec 2012)

Enda Kenny: Delegation of functions orders are made by the Government at the request of the Minister concerned. At my request, on 22 March 2011, the Government made an order delegating my statutory functions in relation to the Central Statistics Office under the Statistics Act 1993, the Civil Service Regulation Acts 1956 to 2005 and the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004...