Results 1,821-1,840 of 2,967 for speaker:Séamus Healy

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Service Executive Service Plan 2013: Discussion with HSE (7 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: I welcome the HSE staff to this meeting. Mr. O'Brien has outlined the figures fairly clearly and we see there has been a reduction of €3.3 billion or 22% in the health budget in recent years. Approximately 10,000 staff have left the health service already. This year there will be a further cut of €721 million to the budget and a net reduction, if I am correct, of around 3,000...

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: I most certainly did.

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: I said the Bill was guillotined which did not give public representatives any opportunity to debate ---

Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: There is no doubt in my mind but that this so-called local property tax is no such thing. It is solely a family home tax. I remind the Minister that, while in opposition, the Taoiseach told us that any attempt to tax the family home would be unfair. He may also have called it immoral. If I am not mistaken, the Minister made a similar comment while in opposition. This family home tax...

Health Insurance: Motion [Private Members] (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: The private health insurance industry is in crisis. As Members are aware, almost 70,000 people have left the sector in the past 12 months, having been simply unable to afford the premia, which have been pushed up year after year by huge levels of inflation. The latter have been far in advance of the normal rates of inflation and far above health sector inflation. Young people simply are...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Household Benefits Scheme (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: Elderly people have been targeted with significant and savage cutbacks in recent budgets. These various schemes pertaining to heating units, free fuel, mobility allowance, respite care grant and so on are the little things that made life bearable for elderly people. They are the very things that Margaret Thatcher targeted when she came to power in England and, unfortunately, it now appears...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Household Benefits Scheme (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: As she has the money, I ask her to please restore these benefits to elderly people.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Household Benefits Scheme (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: I am sure they do.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Household Benefits Scheme (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: They also face the highest costs in Europe.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Household Benefits Scheme (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: It is being reduced today.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Household Benefits Scheme (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: The grant in south Tipperary is being reduced from €3.1 million to €1 million.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Household Benefits Scheme (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: South Tipperary's grant was reduced today from €3.1 million to €1 million. The scheme has been destroyed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Pay and Conditions of Non-Consultant Hospital Doctors: Discussion (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: I will be brief. I apologise for being late; I was speaking in the Dáil. I welcome the doctors. My last direct involvement in the hospital service was approximately 15 years ago. It was an issue then and clearly it remains an issue. It is a more serious issue now because as the doctors have said the complexity of the work and the workload is entirely different today from what it was...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Household Benefits Scheme (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: There is significant fuel poverty in this country and it particularly affects the elderly, infirm and those with disabilities. Studies have shown that more than half of elderly people have cut back on food to try to keep their homes warm. About 60% of elderly people are worried about whether they can heat their homes properly in the autumn and winter. There are significant cutbacks in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Household Benefits Scheme (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: Today, every local authority in the country has been notified of savage cutbacks in the housing for older people grant scheme. That scheme was used to insulate homes, install windows and doors, and generally keep homes warm. Without borrowing another cent we could reverse these savage cuts to the heating and fuel schemes in recent budgets. The Government says it is saving €1 billion...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Household Benefits Scheme (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will ensure that the number of heating units and the heating period be restored to their levels before she took office in view of the inclement weather and the impact of fuel poverty on the old and the poor and the fact that the top 1% of income recipients have a gross income of €8.742 billion per year and an average income of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Property Taxation Exemptions (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding homes purchased under the local authority shared ownership schemes; if these homes are subject to the local property tax; if so, the person responsible for the payment of this tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11272/13]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: State Savings Scheme (5 Mar 2013)

Séamus Healy: To ask the Minister for Finance if returns arising from the investments in the Ten Year National Solidarity Bond issued under the National Instalment Savings Scheme will be subject to deductions for PRSI and/or universal social charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11275/13]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Income Statistics (28 Feb 2013)

Séamus Healy: To ask the Minister for Finance noting that in the course of a reply to Deputy Boyd-Barrett, Dáil Report of 3 October 2012, he provided data for year 2012 on the incomes of the top 10,000, top 1%, top 5%, top 10% of taxable units and their tax payments and effective tax rates (details supplied) and that the data was based on projections by the Revenue Commissioners of expected earnings...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Income Statistics (28 Feb 2013)

Séamus Healy: I thank the Minister for his reply. We know from previous replies that the 10,000 highest earners have astronomical incomes. The figure is approximately €595,000 per individual. Even after the effective tax rate and PRSI are taken into account, they have incomes of in excess of €300,000. These are astronomical figures compared to the average industrial wage or social welfare...