Results 3,261-3,280 of 4,024 for speaker:Martin Kenny

Banded Hours Contract Bill 2016 Report: Motion (16 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: I compliment Deputy Cullinane on bringing forward the Banded Hours Contract Bill and thank the Members who did great work in both committees to develop the proposals set out in the Bill. I commend, in particular, the committee chaired by Deputy Mary Butler, which put a great deal of effort into enhancing the legislation. All that work has brought us to a place many of us thought we would...

Banded Hours Contract Bill 2016 Report: Motion (16 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: Yes, he got it wrong in that Governments have not played that role. It is our job in this House to ensure the Government uses a firm hand now to make things better for the ordinary people who are going to work everyday and doing their best. Deputy Cullinane's Bill has been considerably amended and enhanced such that most Deputies are in agreement that it offers a way to put in place a...

Questions on Promised Legislation (15 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: As mentioned earlier, there is great emphasis in the programme for Government on A Vision for Change and care for the elderly and those with disabilities. In my constituency, that seems to be occurring through the privatisation of services. That is particularly evident in respect of the respite service in Sligo, where Solas House has been closed and we have been told that private providers...

Multi-Party Actions Bill 2017: Second Stage (14 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: The essence of the Bill is about the difference between the weakness and strength. I commend Deputies Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire and Pearse Doherty on bringing it forward. An elderly lady, who lives not that far from me, was the victim of symphysiotomy in Manorhamilton hospital many years ago. For the most part of a decade, her two daughters went around the country to solicitors and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: I thank the witnesses for their attendance and thank Mr. Callanan for his presentation. I note Mr. Callanan's point that the fact that agriculture produces one third of our greenhouse gas emissions reflects the importance of agriculture in the economy. It is easy to say one third of Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions are from agriculture but where do we rank in respect of greenhouse gas...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: But their emissions are far higher than ours.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: The reason agriculture has been singled out is that it represents such a large portion of the Irish economy, compared with the economies of other countries. That is the point I made at the very beginning. Across Europe or elsewhere, economies have big industrial sectors. When those countries look at what they are going to do to mitigate climate change, they look at the sector that has the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: Absolutely. I appreciate that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: Some 112 people work at the plant.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: The example given the previous evening was that farming land was put up for sale by a person who was left the land, who inherited it. They do not live nearby. For the past number of years the land had been leased. A local man with suckling cows was farming the land. Now that the land is for sale, that man wants to buy it. The man went into the bank and the banks told him they would lend...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: Exactly. The problem is that the Government is putting money in so that the farmer will be left with little other option. If he or she wants to buy the land, he or she must plant it. That is the only thing he or she can do with it. We need to make other activities more viable. In addition, we have many people coming in who are buying land from other counties. These are farmers from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: I am not blaming people for doing it but I am saying it is what is happening. I take Mr. Callanan's point that there is work, but if I go to my parish, quite a bit of which is planted, there is not one human being I know who works in forestry, unless there is someone driving a lorry around somewhere whom I do not know about. Generally, that is all we have: guys driving trucks, hauling the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: I welcome the opportunity to speak to amendment No. 66. As Deputy Burton has said, information is power, and in this case it would seem that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine did not have the information on the extension of stamp duty to farmers because he certainly came out the next day to say that this was not going to extend to them. We now find, of course, that it does...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: I was talking about amendment No. 66. The Minister said this amendment would result in a loss of €32 million to the Exchequer if the stamp duty was reduced from 6% to 2%, which the amendment requests. I am quite confused about that figure because if 4% represents €32 million, it would suggest that there is approximately €800 million in agricultural land sales in the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: I move amendment No. 66: In page 53, to delete line 10 and substitute the following: “(i) in paragraph (4), by substituting “6 per cent for non-residential sales and 2 per cent for agricultural land sales” for “2 per cent”, and”. We will press this amendment.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: Time is of the essence. The sooner this is sorted out and something is clearly put in place in which people can have confidence, the better, as it is really what is necessary. The impression we got from the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, was that he would come back with something sometime. It needs to be something very solid very fast. That is really the issue. I have another point...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: It was calculated into it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: It was.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: There was a reduction made in respect of that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Martin Kenny: It is being pressed.