Results 881-900 of 933,491 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' speaker:Rory O'Hanlon

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Jun 2022)

Michael Collins: The Minister might answer the question. I am not supporting it.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: We are engaged with the European Commission in terms of getting approval for the scheme. I hope to have approval soon and to have the scheme up and running as quickly as possible. There is a challenging situation at the moment for fuel and the cost is impacting on fishermen. I am meeting all fisheries representative organisations next week to discuss this issue. I have been in close...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Jun 2022)

Michael McNamara: There is a large discrepancy in what childcare providers are paid per child between large and very small childcare providers. Large providers are paid more per child. Usually the opposite is the case, for example, in Department of Education capitation fees, because the more children there are in a school, the cheaper it is to heat the school, provide additional staff supports per child and...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Jun 2022)

Michael McGrath: I assume the Deputy is referring to the early years sector in particular. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O’Gorman, is engaging directly with that sector. As a Government, we made a step change in investment in the last budget, which will kick in in the autumn. I want to make sure that funding is used effectively for the purpose for...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Michael McGrath: The Deputy makes a valid point that rising fuel prices have an impact across the board. They affect private citizens in households, of course, but also private enterprise such as contractors, farmers and the delivery of public works contracts. We have made a number of interventions as a Government and we have already spoken about the reduction in excise, which comes at significant cost....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Danny Healy-Rae: I thank the Minister for his reply but he has not given much comfort to people who are struggling out there today. I accept and acknowledge what the Government has provided already but it is just not enough. The Minister must admit that the Exchequer has taken in a massive increase in taxation. In the past two weeks alone, fuel prices have increased by 20%. That is coming out of people's...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Michael McGrath: The Deputy started his contribution by correctly saying these are not normal times, and I agree with him on that. In normal times a Government would not come out in March and say it would reduce excise by 20 cent and 15 cent. It was an exceptional intervention because of the costs that people face. It happened to coincide with a time when wholesale prices were rising and people felt they...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Danny Healy-Rae: Give them vouchers. Do something for them.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Jun 2022)

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Jun 2022)

Mary Lou McDonald: Last month I raised with the Minister the shocking increase in the rate of homelessness and he described the position as disappointing, regrettable and concerning. The words "shocking", "shameful" and "unacceptable" are more appropriate because the latest report on homelessness is a damning indictment of Government housing policy. More than 10,000 people are now homeless and for the first...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Jun 2022)

Michael McGrath: The Deputy will not hear anybody on this side of the House defending any level of homelessness and certainly not the level we are currently experiencing in our country. As a Government, we are responding with the largest investment ever in the history of the State and we will deliver approximately 10,500 public and social homes this year, of which 9,000 will be new builds. As the Deputy...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. He has articulated the real-world experience of many people at this point in time. Not everyone but, certainly, a share of the population is very much feeling the effects of what is a 40-year high level of inflation. The Deputy has acknowledged, to be fair, that the Government has made a range of interventions in different areas to address cost of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Peter Fitzpatrick: I am a sportsperson. Morale is very important when one is involved in sport. It is also important for society. Morale in this country is very low. Families are suffering and the people of Ireland built this country to what it is today. The Minister and I know that this country is highly respected throughout the world for the amount of work that it does. All I am trying to say is that...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Michael McGrath: We have sought to help to date. We will do more and we will help people who most need it, in particular. We are working on finalising the summer economic statement, and the preparations for the budget are now under way. We are looking at all of the options that are open to Government with a view to making a real impact. It is our assessment that the autumn, coming into the winter, is when...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Danny Healy-Rae: I am glad to get the opportunity to raise the issue of the cost of fuel, which is impacting on everyone on the road, whether it is the man going to work in the car, the mother taking children to school or the man filling up his lorry to transport goods or filling a construction work vehicle. Kerry is far away from everywhere and is impacted more than many other places. The increase in the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Since the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform pulled the plug on Benefacts, a name that will not be familiar to many of the public but that provided a valuable public service, I have been trying to figure out exactly what the Department has against open, transparent and comprehensive data. Benefacts was set up in 2014 at the request of the Department to provide transparency on the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of Benefacts. It is important to put on the public record that Benefacts was not a public service body so it was not in the public sector family. While the State provided funding for the organisation for a number of years, it was not running the organisation. It was an external third-party body, which delivered a good service during its lifetime and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Catherine Murphy: We had the Secretary General of the Department before the Committee of Public Accounts and I took the opportunity to speak to him about this. I raised the issue of the report the Department commissioned from Indecon. Before he closed it down, I asked him whether he had read the report and he told me he had not, which I thought that was quite extraordinary. He said he had got a briefing on...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Michael McGrath: I did not come to the debate with a fixed view. I received a clear recommendation based on an assessment of value for money and the business case. The recommendation made to me as Minister was that we could no longer stand over spending public money on a service that was matched by other public bodies. We reached out to other public bodies, some of which the Deputy has mentioned, including...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2022)

Peter Fitzpatrick: The people of Ireland are bleeding and need help now. I welcome the €2.4 billion allocated to cost-of-living measures and the reduction of VAT on gas and electricity bills from 13.5% to 9%. I will not say the Government has done nothing but I will say that it needs to do more. In my constituency office in Dundalk I hear from my constituents what is happening on the ground. People...