Results 181-200 of 1,760 for speaker:Aideen Hayden

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: In regard to the Croke Park agreement, last month, when this matter came into the public domain, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, made it clear that he intended to look at all the allowances and to establish the best way of modernising the pay structure and eliminating outdated arrangements. As I said previously in this House, the reason we are dealing with this...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I have no difficulty in having a debate on the issue of public sector reform but with due courtesy to those people participating in the Croke Park agreement, we should allow them the opportunity to have their meeting this afternoon. On the broader issue, I have no difficulty whatsoever in fully airing this matter in this House. I welcome the announcement today of 610 jobs in Dublin. It has...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I refer to taxi regulation. I am sure many colleagues, particularly those who live outside Dublin, have more occasion to use the taxi service in this city than I do. Last night Dawson Street was like a Christmas tree of taxis. In fact, some of them were bedecked with all sorts of weird lights and jingle jangles which I have never seen on an official taxi. To say the situation has gone out...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: Today the Irish Banking Federation is having a conference entitled Restoring Confidence and Building Trust which it says will be a wideranging debate between, among others, academics, policy makers and so forth, and including key stakeholders. Ironically, however, there is no speaker listed who will represent distressed mortgage holders. I heard the comments of Fiona Muldoon, director of...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I support the call by Senator Darragh O'Brien for a debate on debt and the role of the banking sector. When I made a similar call yesterday I mentioned the comments by Fiona Muldoon at the Irish Banking Federation conference, which had the odd title "Restoring Confidence, Rebuilding Trust" but did not include a single speaker who might have represented distressed mortgage holders or...

Seanad: Alcohol Consumption: Statements (17 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I propose to share time with Senator Marie Moloney.

Seanad: Alcohol Consumption: Statements (17 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: A recent UK report which suggests the cost to the health system of alcohol consumption among older people far exceeds that for younger people offers a balance in this debate. My own generation and the one before us were more likely to drink and drive in a way that young people of today would not dream about. We must have some perspective on this. That said, I do not disagree with Senator...

Seanad: Alcohol Consumption: Statements (17 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I ask the Chair to be indulgent and allow Senator Moloney contribute.

Seanad: Mortgage Credit (Loans and Bonds) Bill 2012: Second Stage (17 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I welcome the Minister to the House. Like a number of others, I would like to thank Senator Barrett for all the work he has put into this draft Bill. It is a superb piece of work. I am a lawyer. I also have a degree in economics. I have gone through this proposal on a number of occasions. If I sat down to go through it ten more times, I doubt that I would understand it completely. I...

Seanad: Mortgage Credit (Loans and Bonds) Bill 2012: Second Stage (17 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: My colleague had ten. I am wondering if there is some discrimination between Fine Gael and the Labour Party.

Seanad: Mortgage Credit (Loans and Bonds) Bill 2012: Second Stage (17 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I will try to rush through as quickly as I can. It is important to say it is more than a debate we can have here today to find what wrong with the housing market in this country. I believe history matters a lot. We need to look at a scenario where we go back to what worked for this country in the past. I do not favour a situation where we go back to a scenario where we have such tight...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I bring to the attention of colleagues that there is a general strike in Greece today, the second such strike within a month. It follows hundreds of other often violent strikes that have taken place in Greece in the face of the austerity measures in that country. In Irish media in the recent past there has been nothing short of vilification of public servants in this country and a failure...

Seanad: Social Protection: Statements (Resumed) (18 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I would like to remind Senator Byrne that the reason we have a creaking social welfare system in this country - it is like the layers of an onion - is because Fianna Fáil, in government for the guts of 15 years, made an absolute mess of it. I welcome the Minister to the House. I would like to address the issue of rent supplement. I want to give a sharp warning to Government against...

Seanad: Social Protection: Statements (Resumed) (18 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I fully accept that the limits were cut further by this Government and I argued against those cuts last year and will continue to do so.

Seanad: Social Protection: Statements (Resumed) (18 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: However, the real cuts to the rent supplement budget were made by Senator Byrne's party in government. That is the bottom line and there is no point in crying crocodile tears about it now. I congratulate this Government for agreeing to transfer the rent supplement payment to local authorities and I urge the Minister for Social Protection to ensure this is done as soon as possible. Rent...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Sugar Beet Industry (18 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I bring to the attention of colleagues that there is a general strike in Greece today, the second such strike within a month. It follows hundreds of other often violent strikes that have taken place in Greece in the face of the austerity measures in that country. In Irish media in the recent past there has been nothing short of vilification of public servants in this country and a failure...

Seanad: Social Protection: Statements (Resumed) (18 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I would like to remind Senator Byrne that the reason we have a creaking social welfare system in this country - it is like the layers of an onion - is because Fianna Fáil, in government for the guts of 15 years, made an absolute mess of it. I welcome the Minister to the House. I would like to address the issue of rent supplement. I want to give a sharp warning to Government against...

Seanad: Social Protection: Statements (Resumed) (18 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I fully accept that the limits were cut further by this Government and I argued against those cuts last year and will continue to do so.

Seanad: Social Protection: Statements (Resumed) (18 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: However, the real cuts to the rent supplement budget were made by Senator Byrne's party in government. That is the bottom line and there is no point in crying crocodile tears about it now. I congratulate this Government for agreeing to transfer the rent supplement payment to local authorities and I urge the Minister for Social Protection to ensure this is done as soon as possible. Rent...

Seanad: Social Protection: Statements (Resumed) (18 Oct 2012)

Aideen Hayden: I would like to remind Senator Byrne that the reason we have a creaking social welfare system in this country - it is like the layers of an onion - is because Fianna Fáil, in government for the guts of 15 years, made an absolute mess of it. I welcome the Minister to the House. I would like to address the issue of rent supplement. I want to give a sharp warning to Government against...