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ENDA KENNY WAS in the hotseat once again this afternoon for Leaders’ Questions.
Micheál Martin, Gerry Adams, independent Mattie McGrath and Catherine Murphy of the Social Democrats had the questions today.
Institutes of technology and public sector pay were high on the agenda – but for the first time since his election, there was no mention of Donald Trump in the Dáil Q&A sesssion.
Enda Kenny says it’s accepted there’s a need for investment in the sector, and highlights a range of government efforts in the area.
Micheál Martin (as you might expect) says he’s not happy at all with the Taoiseach’s response.
It’s not the most exciting of openings to a session of Leaders’ Questions – but then that’s New Politics for you…
15 Nov 2016
2:12PM
This exchange on ITs is continuing.
The Taoiseach says the government is well aware of what needs to be done, and in the course of his answer to Martin’s second question gets in a sly (if familiar-sounding) dig about the fact that Fianna Fáil presided over the financial collapse.
Does Kenny accept the need for urgent dialogue with the public sector unions, Adams asks.
The Taoiseach, responding, says a “well managed process” needs to take place.
“We stand by Lansdowne Road,” he says, referring to the public sector pay deal now being called into question in the wake of the Garda pay negotiations.
“The public service pay demands have to be balanced against the constraints” of the government, Kenny says.
We need, he says, “fairness across the board”.
15 Nov 2016
2:21PM
Adams, responding to the Taoiseach, says he’d asked Kenny a simple question and accuses him of obfuscating.
Ad-libbing (presumably) he says that Micheál Martin has been “out strutting his stuff” on this issue, before imploring the Taoiseach to follow his own course.
After the Taoiseach’s answer Sean O Fearghail, the Ceann Comhairle, interrupts proceedings to welcome a delegation of parliamentarians from China, visiting this afternoon.
There’s applause from the TDs and from the visitors.
15 Nov 2016
2:32PM
McGrath, after that interruption, jokes that he’s losing his own train of thought.
15 Nov 2016
2:34PM
We’re falling behind here a little, due to all the odd interruptions, but Kenny essentially stood over the Government’s stance on the National Children’s Hospital and its planned location.
They wouldn’t be changing the plan at this stage, after such a long (and winding, it should be added) planning process, he insisted.
15 Nov 2016
2:36PM
Catherine Murphy of the Social Democrats is next up.
Will the Government oppose the planned acquisition of the Celtic Media Group by Independent News and Media, Murphy asks.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Committee (CCPC) approved the proposed acquisition last week.
We’re moving on with the Order of Business, in the Dáil.
No mention of Donald Trump this afternoon, which makes it the first Leaders’ Questions since his election that the US President-elect hasn’t been mentioned.
Gerry Adams, by the way, is already back on the Twitter Machine after his contribution:
Sorry I cudnt get 2 Childcare Professionals demo. Stuck in Dáil chamber. Well done sisters & brothers. Thanks 4 ur work. pic.twitter.com/k8NO1CfFoo
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Do you know what that room says to me?Aqua.which is French for water.its like being inside an enormous Fox’s glacier mint,which again,to me,is a bonus.
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