Results 18,941-18,960 of 35,829 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Card Applications (9 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: 429. To ask the Minister for Health the reason for the delay in processing a medical card application by a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; when a decision in respect of this application will be made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21600/17]

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (9 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: 657. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to amend the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 in order to provide a clear and fixed definition of reasonable paid allowances, pay increases and or paid time off work with respect to Sunday premiums and supplemental provisions for workers; her views on whether the current lack of clarity in this area is enabling...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces Representative Organisations (9 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: 681. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence his plans to review the restrictions on the rights of members of the Defence Forces to the collective bargaining process and to participate in various forms of industrial action; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22017/17]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh na finnéithe go dtí an coiste. Tá cúpla ceist agam i dtús báire. B'fhéidir go gcuirfidh mé ceist ar an tUasal Ashmore ar an gcéad dul síos. Could I ask Mr. Ashmore about the role of the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI? I have met with it a number of times. The work it does is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I might write to the SBCI and ask the IFA, whose representatives raised it with me, to bring it to the SBCI's attention as well. In respect of the ambition of the organisation, where does Mr. Ashmore see it going? We see the figures here. The agricultural long lending is very impressive and has been hugely welcomed by farmers but we see other areas relating to SMEs. When one puts it in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Is there any vision or ambition for the SBCI to apply for a banking licence in the medium to longer term, for example?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: On the support that SBCI provided to individuals and SMEs, what proportion of those loans, to Mr. Ashmore's knowledge, are in default or are non-performing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Not with the recoverability of any of the loans?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: It is early days yet.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I thank Mr. Ashmore. We welcome the work that he and his team are doing in that area. I welcome the establishment of an EIB office here in December. Mr. Andrew McDowell said last year that if he was giving Ireland a report card, it would read "could do better". Last year, the EIB group invested €950 million in the country through the European Investment Bank and the European...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I am not criticising Mr. McDowell for that, because there is an issue with Ireland. It is not just the State. These are private corporations that apply for funding from the EIB. To come up to the European average, we should be at approximately €1.4 billion per annum, yet we have the worst percentage of public investment in the European Union. The European average is made up of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: On Mr. McDowell's comment on Brexit - and the British Government's role in and part ownership of the EIB will still have to be worked out - his view that the EIB will do less lending in the UK is natural, although it lends outside the European Union. Can he address concerns about the EIB's involvement in the North of Ireland? As we know, the population in the North voted to stay within the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Regarding social housing, there was a recent announcement of a €200 million investment by the EIB, forming part of an overall €405 million social housing package, to construct 1,400 new houses. What is Mr. McDowell's understanding of the timeframe for those house completions? Why are we not seeing a more ambitious programme? While we welcome what is the EIB's second round of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: We have discussed this matter and the French model and, without knowing the details, I am encouraged to hear that there will be an announcement on social housing investment involving the EIB. Mr. McDowell mentioned structure funds. We have a fund, namely, the old pensions reserve fund. We have €8 billion in a discretionary portfolio. Some of it is used in the Irish Strategic...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: My final question is on capital investment in general. We know the serious problems that Ireland is facing as we enter into a number of decades of demographic pressures. Those problems will present acutely in terms of our infrastructure, for example, the road network. There is a view that investment from the EIB has allowed member states to reduce public investment. For instance, building...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Improving Investment Opportunities in the Wider Economy: Discussion (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: We might not be eligible to apply for the investment clause, but there is a strong argument that we would be eligible to apply under the structural clause, which would allow us to deviate from the mid-term budgetary objective, MTO, by up to 0.5% of GDP, which is a significant level and represents more than €1 billion in public investment, if we can show that the structural reforms to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Cuirim fáilte roimh Mr. Dalton and I thank him for his presentation. I shall start by referring to the concern raised by IBEC and a number of multinationals. Am I correct that the regulation just deals with the larger companies or multinationals? I have read some of the minutes on CSO meetings and know a concern was expressed about the definition of an enterprise. It was commented...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Yes. The regulation is still limited to the larger companies. I mean 2,000 companies out of a large pool of companies. The regulation affects the higher level but it does not just affect multinationals.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Yes, I appreciate that aspect. When the CSO conducts its surveys and gathers data are all of the companies legally obliged to provide the requested information?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (4 May 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Mr. Dalton has said the regulation "could seriously impede the CSO's ability to collect important commercially sensitive data from the large multinationals that are so critical to compiling Ireland’s economic statistics." Why? Can a legal obligation not be placed on the companies?