Results 19,861-19,880 of 21,260 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald
- Departmental Staff (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Will the Minister square this assertion with the fact that, in the next breath, he conceded that, while 9,000 individuals may exit the service, recruiting 3,000 more might be necessary? How has the Minister calculated the level of savings? Will he clarify whether he has taken account of the cost of pensions for those leaving the service in his global figure? On the face of it, the Minister...
- Departmental Staff (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: The Minister did not indicate the process of sanction from his Department. I echo Deputy Fleming's call that the Minister keep his eye squarely on the front line. Is the â¬3.5 billion saving he asserts net of pension costs? Does it take account of the necessity to recruit up to 3,000 new entrants to the service?
- Departmental Staff (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: I am aware of that.
- Public Sector Pay (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: They are only on â¬200,000; God help them.
- Sale of State Assets (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: I am glad the Government has clarified that any choices to privatise will be Government choices and are not being foisted upon it by the troika. The Minister said from the get-go that the sale of semi-State assets would refer to those that are non-strategic but he has failed consistently to offer a definition as to what differentiates a non-strategic from a strategic asset. We know he...
- Sale of State Assets (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: The mind boggles - I do not know where to start.
- Sale of State Assets (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: I will boil it down to one issue. The Minister said that he will have permission to use "a sizeable amount of the proceeds". Those were his words. The troika was notably guarded when asked about that. What does a sizeable amount mean? Does it mean 50% or 80% of the proceeds, or does the Minister know the percentage?
- Sale of State Assets (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: How can the Minister be so sure that it will be sizeable?
- Sale of State Assets (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: The troika did not utter the word "sizeable", just to be clear on that.
- Departmental Staff (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Question 53: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if there have been any formal or informal requests made to him to secure a salary in excess of â¬200,000 for the Secretary General of the Department of Finance position due to be filled on Kevin Cardiff's departure to the European Court of Auditors. [3790/12]
- Departmental Staff (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Above all else what has astonished me most about the Minister, as a Minister with responsibility for reform, is the dogged manner in which he has defended very high pay rates in the public sector. The ESRI, the OECD and others were quoted earlier by Deputy Stephen Donnelly. The Minister will probably also be aware of a 2011 document published by the IPA. Not alone does it reflect that we...
- Departmental Staff (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: I do not accept the Minister's L'Oreal defence of overpaid public servants that somehow they are worth it.
- Departmental Staff (24 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: It must be borne in mind that these are the very characters who were being paid huge sums of money when this State was sleep-walking into the crisis in which we find ourselves. I am glad the Minister has clarified the matter and I take it the incoming Secretary General for the Department of Finance will not be another case study in breaking the Minister's own pay ceilings.
- Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (19 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Question 17: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a school (details supplied) in Dublin 7, a DEIS band two school is still on the list for capital funding in the context of the school building and modernisation programme; if he will clarify the position of the school on the queue; and if there are any proposals to initiate a more simplified system when schools can easily access...
- Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Question 32: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will outline and publish the terms of reference for the DEIS schools review under budget 2012. [2953/12]
- Order of Business (19 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: The Tánaiste committed to publishing the residential institutions statutory fund Bill during this Dáil session. This will be a difficult and controversial item of legislation, particularly for survivors of institutional abuse who still await State recognition and redress. The interdepartmental committee on the Magdalene laundries has not reported back to the Dáil and I am disappointed...
- Leaders' Questions (19 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Today the troika will give its verdict on the first full year of implementing the so-called "bailout". I for one have no doubt it will place a big gold star on the Government's copybook in recognition of its policy of cutbacks and the ongoing assault on the livelihoods of low and middle income earners. I have no doubt the troika will say we are getting there, we are ticking the boxes and we...
- Leaders' Questions (19 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: I am certain I am not alone in the sheer boredom and tedium I feel when I hear the Tánaiste talk yet again about his inheritance. He is in government now. This is his gig and all of this is happening on his watch.
- Leaders' Questions (19 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: It is utterly perverse for the Tánaiste to ask people to pull on the green jersey in order to bring about cutbacks in our schools and in the health system, and to take half a million home help hours out of the system. That is not the stuff of the green jersey, it is the stuff of seeking a gold star on a copybook from the Tánaiste's friends in the troika. He says it is all about recovery...
- Leaders' Questions (19 Jan 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Without even rehearsing, yet again, all of the utter misery that the cutbacks agenda, which the Tánaiste so enthusiastically pursues, is bringing to people's lives - even by those objective measures, the bailout strategy is failing. It defies logic that a person who bemoans their inheritance and urges others to put on the green jersey, does not have the simple wit to realise that when one...