Results 18,161-18,180 of 19,162 for speaker:Alan Shatter

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: I will briefly respond. I listened with great interest to what the Minister said. He studiously avoided addressing the issue, which is about the amount of money spent by the Government and by his Department to get across his party's policies and his Government's policies in the lead in to a local election. This is not about an even playing pitch. It is not about the best democracy money...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: It is a constant source of entertainment to me on "Youtube". I was fortunate, along with hundreds of thousands of people, to have the "Nine O'Clock News" on live on that night. I was obliged to call my wife in, who had disappeared into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee, and I was delighted when the group reappeared. I genuinely have a difficulty discussing this matter. To move on——

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: There is a punch line and I will get there. I seek an assurance from the Minister that when press conferences are held by him——

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: ——during the local elections, or indeed by his ministerial colleagues, that the initiative we witnessed on the "Nine O'Clock News" last Saturday evening was not a practice run for something that is going to be repeated during the course of the elections.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: Will we see groups of mute and startled candidates running for the Green Party or the Fianna Fáil Party gathered around a Minister in a state of some distress, but unable to speak, in the hope that it would advance their political cause? It is important that we know this, because if we do not get such an assurance there may be a need to calculate the financial benefit of such an appearance...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: ——is worth 5% or 10% of an election spend in the 60 days leading up to a general or a local election.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: I conclude by congratulating the Minister's Green Party colleagues at that party's national conference on not doing the same thing live, but in believing it necessary to have a practice run in the privacy of the conference building after the RTE "Nine O'Clock News" went out. That was a sign of originality.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: I ask the Minister to clarify one aspect of the section. The Bill introduces a number of expenditure limits, which reduce based on a perception of constituency sizes and other factors. I am interested in the thought process which produced these figures. Why was an expenditure limit of €15,000 rather than €20,000 or €12,000 selected? Has a mystical measure of which I am unaware been...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: No, I do not see any logic.

Departmental Expenditure. (11 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: In the context of the savings to be effected in this area and others, has any kind of approach been made to the members of the Judiciary to suggest they voluntarily reduce their salaries by an equivalent of the pension levy which is being imposed on everyone else in the public service? I understand there may be constitutional difficulties with reducing judges' salaries, but I am not sure...

Departmental Expenditure. (11 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: In the context of saving expenditure, has the Taoiseach considered this? Have any steps been taken to raise this in an appropriate manner?

Departmental Expenditure. (11 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: Would the Taoiseach acknowledge that the wider public expects everyone in the public service, with no exceptions, to make a contribution to resolving the current economic crisis in which we find ourselves?

Visit of Bulgarian Delegation. (11 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: Tallaght is obviously being twinned.

Leaders' Questions (11 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: Deputy Gilmore is correct.

Leaders' Questions (11 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: The great "I am".

Written Answers — Inter-Country Adoptions: Inter-Country Adoptions (10 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: Question 234: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position with regard to the putting in place of a new bilateral adoption agreement with Russia; the progress made to date; the steps being taken by the Government; and when it is anticipated such new agreement will be signed. [10108/09]

Written Answers — Medical Cards: Medical Cards (10 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: Question 235: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the situation of people over 70 years, granted a medical card prior to 1 January 2009, who made a declaration of income to the Health Service Executive on the basis of their income in 2008 being over the threshold specified in the Health Act 2008 and whose projected income in 2009 will be much reduced and will fall below the specified...

Children in Care. (5 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise the issue, which has been somewhat truncated from the original matter submitted. My concern is with children known to be at risk and notified to the health board or HSE as being at risk who have lost their lives or children who have lost their lives having already found their way into the care system. On 19 February I asked the Minister...

Children in Care. (5 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: Apparently, there is some report into the death of David Foley but we do not know what it contains because it is suppressed.

Children in Care. (5 Mar 2009)

Alan Shatter: It is hidden somewhere on the shelves of the HSE. I do not even know if the Minister has received it. In conclusion, we should have an independent review of the system for all children who die in care or who die after the HSE has been notified they are at risk. We should have transparency. Reports should be published. We should learn the essential lessons from these deaths to ensure the...