Results 1-20 of 88 for going forward speaker:Gerald Nash

Future Ireland Fund and Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund Bill 2024: Second Stage (10 Apr 2024)

Gerald Nash: I am pleased to speak in support of the establishment and the principle of both the future Ireland fund and the infrastructure, climate and nature fund. It is a principle that we agree with the Government on. The fact we are establishing funds of this nature is something that would have seemed simply beyond us just a few short years ago. Fifteen years ago, the economy of our country was...

Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (20 Mar 2024)

Gerald Nash: ...supporting more than 10,000 jobs in almost 5,000 microenterprises. A great thing about Microfinance Ireland and how the funds have been managed is that there is a really good geographic spread around the country, with only 22% going to businesses in Dublin and the remaining 78% spread around the country, including my own county, Louth. A concern I have about the performance of the...

Housing and Homeless Prevention: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (23 Jan 2024)

Gerald Nash: .... This is the issue of our time. It is very rare that you can point to a single issue and say that is what is uniquely holding our country back. However, as the President put it a couple of years ago, the disaster that is housing in Ireland is the single biggest barrier to making real progress in this country. The lack of affordable housing is preventing us from having enough teachers...

Capital Supply Service and Purpose Report Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) [Private Members] (29 Nov 2023)

Gerald Nash: I commend Deputy Shanahan on bringing this important Bill forward. Its principles have considerable merit. As a party that believes in transparency in all aspects of public life, including and especially the expenditure of public money, the Labour Party fully supports the Bill. As was said, what it seeks to achieve is simple and quite straightforward. The Government might argue about the...

Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (15 Nov 2023)

Gerald Nash: Today is a bit of an emotional day for me. The Minister will recall the work done by the Government in which I served to start to address these issues, issues that became all too apparent to us in light of the Clerys debacle. I will never forget two phone calls I received that afternoon, the first from Gerry Light, the then deputy general secretary of Mandate trade union, soon followed by...

Energy Charter Treaty: Statements (9 Nov 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...we may disagree on the mechanics, so to speak, regarding how we get there. We in the Labour Party have numerous concerns regarding the ECT. Our environmental concerns are perhaps the most straightforward. Put simply, as others have done, the ECT, as the Minister said himself, is incompatible with our climate goals. It is incompatible with the Paris Agreement. How can we expect to...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Second Stage (24 Oct 2023)

Gerald Nash: I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on the Finance (No. 2) Bill on behalf of the Labour Party. This legislation gives effect to many of the proposals announced in budget 2024 two weeks ago, including the important changes to the corporation tax code, which are the most significant and far-reaching since 1997. While the finance Bill, by definition, focuses on the taxation...

School Transport 2023-2024: Statements (3 Oct 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...in point, and one that comes up practically every year, is Collon in County Louth. This is a village a few miles to the west of my home town of Drogheda. The vast majority of children in the area go to school either in Ardee or Drogheda, yet their local school, which is a fine school, is in Dunleer. A very significant number, if not the majority, of children in the area go to schools in...

Labour Exploitation and Trafficking (Audit of Supply Chains) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Sep 2023)

Gerald Nash: We may not use the entirety of our ten minutes but let us see where the journey takes us. I note the Minister of State's remarks in respect of the Government having greater ambition than is laid out in this legislation. I would take issue with that. There is no doubt that developments in respect of the directive have, in some respects, overtaken the ambition of our own legislation. If the...

Labour Exploitation and Trafficking (Audit of Supply Chains) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Sep 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...by firms about the risk of labour exploitation and human trafficking in their supply chains. The Bill would require businesses to report annually on what measures they have taken to ensure that production of the goods or services they sell does not involve such exploitative practices. This area is already the subject of voluntary codes. Voluntary codes, to nobody's surprise, are simply...

Mortgage Interest Relief: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (20 Sep 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...is most felt by those who can least afford it, namely those on low and modest incomes. We in Labour were warning ahead of the October 2021 budget that inflation was starting to rise. That budget two years ago, even before the war being waged in Ukraine escalated in February 2022, was a missed opportunity to make structural changes to our social protection system and public services that...

Local Government and Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (Carrigaline Rent Pressure Zone) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Jun 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...of State for his response to Deputy Ó Laoghaire’s very well considered Bill. The Minister of State acknowledged that this is an issue that the Deputy has been working on for some time and in good faith. As the Deputy indicated at the start of his contribution, there is a similar situation in my constituency. It is a matter that was raised with me a short number of weeks ago....

Food Costs and High Grocery Bills: Motion [Private Members] (9 May 2023)

Gerald Nash: To be fair to the Minister of State, I acknowledge that he arranged to organise this meeting last week, which is when he announced it. He brought forward the scheduled 21 June meeting of the retail forum to discuss this most pressing of issues. I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment. It is the first opportunity I have had to do so in this Chamber. I have no doubt the...

Finance Bill 2023: Second Stage (21 Mar 2023)

Gerald Nash: The issue of the day is housing. On 31 March, the Government will bring an end to its five-month stay on evictions. We vehemently oppose this move which will be catastrophic for countless numbers of renters who, if they are made homeless, will have nowhere to go. In my home town of Drogheda, which is Ireland's largest and most populous town that has yet to be designated a city, there are...

Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Second Stage (28 Feb 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...me to the credit union. In some ways, I have never looked back. I have maintained my old account there, as I am sure many have. At around the same time, I opened an Ulster Bank account and got my Henri Hippo savings device, if I can call it such. I may not have my Mam to thank for that, it may have been the powers of TV marketing. I wonder where we should hand those back to when...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Report of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2023)

Gerald Nash: The simplest and most straightforward thing to do - we should all have a collective understanding of this - if we are to address questions around income adequacy and are determined to address issues around deprivation, is through increases in the core rates of social welfare, which match or beat inflation. The Government decided not to do that and took a different approach. I am attracted...

Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2022)

Gerald Nash: ..., for want of a better description, to develop on its own lands, whether that has been for housing or a critical piece of infrastructure. I have been sceptical about this proposal from the get-go. I could not quite understand where the demand was coming from or why the Minister would propose this. It appears to be a form of window dressing. I do not believe it is necessary. I do...

Finance Bill 2022: Second Stage (25 Oct 2022)

Gerald Nash: ...and anxiety. In many ways, budget 2023 flattered to deceive. It is worth remembering that, even with the expenditure of an additional €11 billion between this month and 31 December 2023, this Government will have managed to widen the gap between the rich and the poor by €199. That is not my analysis but the analysis of Social Justice Ireland. We are dealing exclusively...

Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 Oct 2022)

Gerald Nash: The business of the House is going to be concluded earlier than we thought. A glance at the monitor told me we are probably two hours ahead of where we expected to be. On that basis, I am unlikely to use the full 20 minutes apportioned to me, but we will see how I get on. These are welcome proposals. They have been evolving now for some time and many of them are based on...

Community and Voluntary Sector Workers: Motion [Private Members] (12 Oct 2022)

Gerald Nash: ...on which we all rely. I was reflecting earlier on my own personal experience this week before attempting to prepare some remarks. My family spent much of Monday morning helping a family member go to a service that is operated by community employment, CE, supervisors and funded by various agencies. I spent most of my day on Monday dealing not with the HSE, the local authority, the...