Results 49,101-49,120 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Role and Contribution of Public Interest Directors in Financial Institutions: Discussion with Permanent TSB (19 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: Great. This is important because it is a nice gateway to the next issue I wish to raise. I wish to continue on an issue raised by Deputy Pearse Doherty. As the delegates will see on the screen, the Personal Insolvency Bill is making its way through its Final Stages and we will vote on it this evening. I regret that I will vote against it, having supported the Minister for Justice and...

European Council Brussels: Statements (19 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: With the agreement of the House, I will share my time with Deputy Boyd Barrett. As I have only five minutes to speak, I will touch on a few issues. The first is the single supervisory mechanism which came out of the recent meeting. The logic of the mechanism goes as follows. It will lower the risk because if the ECB is in charge of the banks, we will not repeat the mistakes of the past....

Finance (Local Property Tax) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: I support the amendment. In fairness, I give the Minister ten out of ten for style - it was a good reply - but probably a bit less for substance. His reply went to the heart of the concern held across the House, one that has been echoed by his backbenchers. He stated that this was a tax on assets, but it is not. That is the problem. Let us keep using the example used by Deputy Pearse...

Finance (Local Property Tax) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: Renters do not pay.

Finance (Local Property Tax) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: Renters do not pay.

Finance (Local Property Tax) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: The Thornhill report says 0.1% but the Minister for Finance has opted for twice that.

Finance (Local Property Tax) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: We can talk about the Thornhill report later.

Finance (Local Property Tax) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: If any of them happen to be listening on their office monitors, a lot of strong rhetoric was used in the Chamber in the small amount of time given on Second Stage to change this Bill. Yet, very unusually, the Minister has not tabled a single amendment - not one. Members of the Select Sub-Committee on Finance - including myself, Deputies Doherty, Michael McGrath, Boyd Barrett, Higgins and...

Finance (Local Property Tax) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: The Title of the Bill is somewhat misleading. In schools of policy, they say that a good policy must meet three criteria: it must be technically correct, which is usually the job of the officials; it must be politically acceptable, which is usually the job of the politicians; and it must be implementable. This so-called local property tax seems to fail all three of those. It is clearly not...

Finance (Local Property Tax) Bill 2012: Second Stage (14 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: I would like to start by voicing my opposition to the Government's use of the guillotine on this legislation. This is the second time it has happened in two days. Yesterday, the guillotine was used on the Social Welfare Bill. Such a move intentionally stifles much-needed parliamentary debate on these two critical Bills. Before the last general election, the government parties talked a...

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: I will be brief. To be honest, I cannot understand how we are having this debate, over €26 million. The Minister is an accountant and I imagine she shares my reaction, to a degree. I can give her 100 better ways to raise €26 million. Next year €170 million will be paid in increments; €700 million has been paid in increments during the past four years. I cannot say...

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: Will Deputy O'Dea please watch the time?

Order of Business (13 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: That is outrageous. The Tánaiste should be ashamed of himself. He calls himself a democrat.

Order of Business (13 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: The Tánaiste should be ashamed of himself.

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: Who collects commercial rates?

Leaders' Questions (13 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: Who collects commercial rates?

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Strategies (13 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she intends to consider or act upon any of the proposals made in the consultation (details supplied) Being Young and Irish that concluded in November, 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56056/12]

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Second Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: The Government's refusal to allow Dáil Éireann to have adequate time for a meaningful debate on the Social Welfare Bill is outrageous. This Bill will push many people into poverty, yet the Government will not even allow our national Parliament sufficient time to debate it. What is the Government afraid of? Is it afraid its backbenchers may get time to speak? Deputy McCarthy made...

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (12 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: I wish to share time with Deputies Clare Daly, Mick Wallace and Mattie McGrath.

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (12 Dec 2012)

Stephen Donnelly: Yesterday, I spent an hour on the radio debating with the German ambassador. Among other things, we debated Ireland's banking collapse and the subsequent €64 billion of debt. The ambassador is clearly a man of integrity and he is very well informed on financial and geopolitical issues. What he had to say on the banking debt was very interesting. In essence, he said the banking debt...