Results 17,961-17,980 of 21,260 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: How you reckon that is fair or balanced is quite frankly beyond me.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Taoiseach has said a lot but told us very little. At some stage he will have to give-----

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----a detailed account in this House of the progress made to date rather than vague assertions and words of comfort that the matter is under discussion. Another date has now been set in respect of the promissory note for next March. There is every likelihood that that date will come and go.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes, similar to the statements that were made by the previous speaker. If you are going to apply rules, apply them fairly. At what stage, even if a full deal has not been agreed, will we get more information or a clearer sense of what progress is being made on this matter?

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is rubbish.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Deputy Martin's earlier concerns about An Taoiseach answering multiple questions have been confounded by his capacity to answer 55 in one batch.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am curious to know more because the term special case has been used. The Taoiseach tells us that Angel Merkel, Mr. Hollande and all the others recognise us as a special case. Will the Taoiseach set out for us what they understand by this? It is a turn of phrase the Taoiseach has used regularly but there is no clarity to what is meant by it. The Taoiseach still seems to be placing all...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I accept that.

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I do not welcome the reduction in home help hours. Neither do I welcome the Taoiseach's support for a Minister who proposes such cuts.

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The list of calamities around the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, continues to grow. At the weekend hundreds of people took to the streets of Castlebar, in the Taoiseach's constituency, to protest against the Minister's decision to cut home help hours. The Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, is on record as saying these cuts are not right. She made those remarks in response...

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----the evening before the announcement was made. For the past 18 months, the Minister has had a track record of unmitigated disaster. He closed public nursing homes while being up to his neck in the private nursing sector. He promised he would make savings in the areas of consultant contracts and generic drugs, and would recoup costs for private beds in public hospitals. Worse, he has...

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: He mishandled the demands of the family of Savita Halappanavar in regard to an inquiry.

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am addressing the track record of the Minister.

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Allow me to put my question.

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister's explanations in regard to the primary care centres are ludicrous and do not stand up to any scrutiny. Everybody knows that the position of the Minister, Deputy Reilly, is untenable. The dogs on the street know this. When will the Taoiseach come to this realisation and relieve Deputy Reilly from his position as Minister for Health?

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is not easy, certainly not for those people who are on the receiving end of what the Taoiseach called the strategy of the Minister. The families who are being hurt directly in the here and now by his cuts to home help hours are living a terrible reality and the Taoiseach appears to be either immune or indifferent to that reality. The Minister has a responsibility. He has a duty of care...

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----that Fianna Fáil perfected over many years. He now follows in that dishonourable tradition. I do not choose to personalise this against an individual. I am saying very clearly that in Deputy James Reilly we have a Minister-----

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----whose strategy is failing and who fails to meet even the most basic criteria-----

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----of openness and good governance.

Leaders' Questions (27 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I can only presume that just as the Minister told us yesterday if he had it all to do again he would do it again in the same way, the Taoiseach is standing by him and is refusing to take any action.