Results 24,501-24,520 of 34,833 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second and Subsequent Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: Good. The number of non-House staff has increased significantly in recent decades and that needs to be factored into the general approach of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. My final suggestion may not be relevant to the commission but rather, perhaps, to Standing Orders. I would like to see the Ceann Comhairle elected by secret ballot rather than by an open vote. A secret...

Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second and Subsequent Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2015. I accept and agree with everything the Minister has said in outlining the purpose of this legislation. I will not repeat much of what he has already put on the public record. Essentially, the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission has its own independent function but it needs a budget. It is...

Appropriation Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: I am pleased to have an opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Appropriation Bill 2015. As the Minister said the purpose of this Bill is to give legal sanction to all expenditure by Departments as approved under the Estimates and Supplementary Estimates processes, the latter of which we discussed recently. The Estimates are based on the choices made by Government in terms of its...

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: On a point of order and before the Leas-Cheann Comhairle puts the vote, 13 amendments were to be discussed on the Bill but only 30 minutes were allocated and five amendments debated.

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: One amendment dealt with houses that were flooded-----

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: -----and exemptions from the local property tax.

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: I would conclude were those opposite not jeering.

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: Since we were not allowed to put the amendment-----

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: -----exempting those households from the property tax, I oppose this approach.

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: -----it is to be spent next year. The Minister of State said in the reply to which I refer that he was allocated money for flood relief works this year and then he said to his senior colleague, "Sorry, Minister, I could not spend it. Can I carry it forward to next year?" What good is that to the people he will be meeting over the next week or two?

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: What he is saying-----

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: Before I came down here this morning, a Cheann Comhairle, I checked the record of the funds carried forward last year, the unspent funds from 2014 carried into 2015. It was dealt with by the Minister, Deputy Howlin, or perhaps the Minister of State, at the finance committee earlier this year. There was indeed unspent money in various Departments but not in the OPW. He might have handed...

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: I will conclude on this point. The Minister of State is saying €15 million of unspent flood relief money will not be spent this year-----

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: -----and many households that are being asked to pay local property tax will be the subjected to flooding because he did not do his job this year.

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: That is the essence of what is happening here today. What I am saying in respect of this legislation is that we want a commitment from the Government. That commitment could even take the form of a gesture because the Government is good at gestures. Let it be a token; the Government is good at token efforts.

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: The Minister of State should at least make some effort for the people out there so that they will not have to pay local property tax in the first week of January in respect of houses they will not be able to live in over Christmas. If that is not reasonable, I do not know what is. Is the Government so out of touch with the people regarding the payment of property tax next January that it...

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: He said-----

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: We need a local property tax exemption for people whose homes and properties have been flooded. We have an exemption in there for pyrite-----

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: This is Second Stage. It is about the broad basis of the Bill. In respect of properties that were flooded, I do not know when the Minister of State said it, whether it was today, yesterday or the day before, but it was reported on some radio station this morning that he said this Government is the most proactive ever in the context of dealing with flooding-----

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Seán Fleming: -----and with people whose houses are flooded and who have to pay local property tax. The purpose of this legislation is to deal with local property tax. He said that all the plans can be viewed on the website. The Minister of State is living in a virtual world. He must come out of his website and into reality. Telling people in Portumna and Athlone that they can view his plans on the...