Results 20,221-20,240 of 24,350 for speaker:Jerry Buttimer

Seanad: Health Centres (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: Can the Acting Chairman intercede on my behalf with the Cathaoirleach?

Seanad: Health Centres (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: Given that we are almost related, a Leas-Chathaoirligh.

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: That is not the reason. The Minister of State is not giving the House the right information or rationale behind this.

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: We are very aware of it.

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: The most important point the Minister of State made was that as a consequence of the budget and the Bill, the black economy would flourish even more. Senator O'Toole is correct in stating it is more like one in 20 people are on the national minimum wage. The Minister of State spoke about C2 agreements, etc., but how many of them are at national minimum wage level? He also spoke about...

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: I do not know how many there are in the Cabinet; I was never a member. They change the number nearly every week. Is Senator Ó Brolcháin's party still in government or has it left?

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: The Green Party is like a three-wheeled bicycle; half of it is on stabilisers.

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: I am talking to section 13. The Minister of State spoke about activation measures and supports. However, the most important aspect the Government has failed to address in the budget or the Bill is that people must be better off in work than on social welfare. As a result of this measure, they are not. The Government has reduced tax credits, revised tax bands, brought in a universal...

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: We are talking about people. In the Minister of State's matrix, this is about a cold computer printout of analysis of a budgetary figure. He is not trying to keep people in jobs. When account is also taken of the people who have emigrated, the position has become a great deal worse. If we are serious about incentivising work, the minimum wage should not be cut.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2010: Second Stage (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: And they left the buggy in the train afterwards.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2010: Second Stage (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. We had a very good debate last night when he made a comment about being a reforming Minister for Social Protection. I would love if we could have a debate, devoid of partisan politics, on social protection and on the role of the Department that was once the Department of Social Welfare. Senator Mullen was partly correct in saying the individualisation...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2010: Second Stage (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: I believe it will. I have listened to what people working in this area have said about this. I am prepared to listen to what the Minister has to say and he can argue with me on it. We must have a multifaceted approach rather than being reductionist in our approach. I am concerned we are basing entitlement to benefit on a medical evaluation or orientation rather than a social model. In...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2010: Second Stage (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: The Minister can come back to me on that point. The objective of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to assist people to meet reasonable accommodation costs. Senators Brady and McFadden referred to this. I despair at times in this respect. Last Saturday I canvassed people in a Cork housing estate of more than 100 houses. The houses in the front row of the...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2010: Second Stage (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: That perception must be nailed on the head. The Minister has an obligation to end the growing apartheid that exists in communities in Ireland. Not a day goes by that I do not hear this, whether while canvassing, at my clinic or when I meet people. We are building a new Ireland where all people are equal and where all people are included, be they black, white, Jew, Asian, Irish, Polish,...

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: It is difficult to understand why the Government is proposing this cut. Is it to create employment? Is it to penalise the most those in casual low-end labour?

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: Is it to appease the Government's new masters in the IMF and the ECB? The issues of PRSI and the minimum wage are interlinked. If we are serious about creating jobs we should reward the entrepreneur who creates employment and we should entice people on low incomes to stay in work. The consequence of this Bill and the measures taken by the Government will be to drive people further into...

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: Yes, when I was a member of Cork City Council.

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: Thank God I was elected to this House. Senator Ó Brolcháin may talk about voting against Government or party, but he has sheepishly come in here with his colleagues time after time and pressed the "Tá" button because he cannot vote against them because he is too afraid to.

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: Fianna Fáil is either for the people and the national interest or it is not. However, it has not been for them. It has made a hames of the boom, its policies have come to the end of the line and the waterfall of money has dried up. Now, instead, the Government is a bit like Fagin in "Oliver!" and will have to pick a pocket or two. It will pick the pockets of the poor people on the...

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Dec 2010)

Jerry Buttimer: That is the point I am making. I love the term used in the title of the Bill, "financial emergency measures in the public interest". This Bill is not in the interest of workers who are most in need. Why did Fianna Fáil not bring in real reform on budget day? Senator Boyle spoke last night about the political class, but why did the Government not introduce real reform of the political...