Results 18,241-18,260 of 21,260 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is a fair point to make globally in respect of taxation, and I do not disagree with Mr. Cody. However, given that the public sector pay bill has been such a focus of discussion and misrepresentation, does Mr. Cody not have a concern in respect of issues of equity within that system? Given that those workers on the shovel, as Ms King described them, have been so badly hit in respect of...

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I welcome the delegates. On the issue of non-consultation, I read Ms Nunan's opinion piece in The Irish Times yesterday regarding the reductions in remuneration for new teachers. In respect of accusations that the unions sold out new entrants to the public sector, she states: "The unions were not part of the decision on allowances. In fact the unions were frozen out of this process..." Is...

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Having been excluded or frozen out of the process initially, it strikes me as odd that, as a group, the delegates have come before the committee with no view in respect of the allowances. We are conversant at this stage with the wide range of allowances and the history behind them. As Mr. Cody observed, many of them predate the formation of the State. In that context, I am surprised to...

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I heard Ms King make that point.

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Thank you for that, Ms King. I did hear the earlier contribution and was struck by it. The question I am asking, however, is whether that very clearly articulated position is the position of the group. Ms King is speaking on behalf of SIPTU, but I want to know whether it is the position of the ICTU's public services committee that allowances will be defended in the definitive way she has...

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am interested in the consolidation issue, which is a point well made. If Mr. Geraghty does not mind, however, before addressing that I would like a simple answer from the delegates as to whether it is their position, as a committee, that the continuation of the payment of allowances to members will be defended.

Public Accounts Committee: Irish Congress of Trade Unions - Review of Allowances (31 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I know where the discussions will take place.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: My final question is for Mr. Purcell and relates to the Department. Is No. 8 at Vote 44, delegates' allowances, gone?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: They are not under review. Rather, they have been knocked on the head, as it were. We went through the common Civil Service allowances with the Department recently. In Mr. Purcell's letter to the clerk of the committee, Mr. McEnery, Mr. Purcell noted that Vote 24's allowances in respect of staff at children's detention schools had not been included in the attached lists and so on because...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I presume we will get the information from the Department. Mr. Purcell discussed reform within the system, annualised hours and so forth. In the Department of Justice and Equality, the Irish Prison Service and so on, much of the discussion of allowances is on cost containment, not reform. We need a useful discussion on reform of the delivery of services, among other things.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The figure Mr. Purcell gave for the increase in committals since 2008 is staggering. The task is considerable. The expectation is that the anomalies within the pay system will be ironed out so that the public understands what is being paid for and the service staff are not undermined by the perception that they are getting money for old rope. Although this is important, the broader reform...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: If you would.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Has the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, indicated anything on opening up discussions not only on the allowances, on which a review is under way, but also on a new payment system for the public sector? He indicated several times in debate in this committee and in the Dáil that he will cast his eye over this. Have any initial discussions been opened on this?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The reason we are here is because the focus has been on individual allowances and the business cases for their sustainability. It is a cost containment exercise on the part of the State. The Minister has indicated he recognises that many of the allowances form part of what is called core pay. He has conceded the system is ragged at the edges and not terribly coherent. On several occasions...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr Purcell is speaking about the allowances themselves.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I was asking a broader question so I take it the answer is that such a discussion has not taken place.

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: My next question is for Mr. Clinton and it is on the allowances which will be disallowed for new recruits. When the new pension arrangements were introduced for the public service, new entrants were put on a different footing to those in service. We now see a similar gap opening up between serving officers and new entrants with regard to allowances. What is Mr. Clinton's view on this? In...

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: How does Mr. Donnellan view continuing allowances for incumbents and disallowing them for new entrants? Does he see it as problematic?

Public Accounts Committee: Department of Justice and Equality - Review of Allowances (25 Oct 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Does Mr. Donnellan see these differentials causing a problem at any stage for the annualised hours system?