Results 2,361-2,380 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: Various people who now sit around the Cabinet table have described this country as being banjaxed, as an economic corpse and as a country in a pawn shop. As a true republican party, we will not adopt such a negative, self-serving, corrosive style of opposition.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: I know that Government Deputies would rather there were no Opposition Members in this House but there is an Opposition. We may be small in number but we will make our voices heard, increasingly so from now on. We will call it as we see it but we will never portray this country in a light that is unfair or that will undermine the efforts to improve life for our people. This is a great...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: Over the coming days, people will come to terms with the detail of the cuts and taxation measures announced yesterday and today. They will find many unpleasant surprises buried in the detail of the announcements that have been made, including social welfare rate cuts. For example, for pensions with less than an average of 48 weeks' contributions per year - basically anyone who left the...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: The Government is increasing the number of years' contributions required to qualify for a widow's pension from three years to ten years. One parent family payment is also being cut by bringing the qualifying age of a child to seven. These are rate cuts; they can be dressed up whatever way the Government wants but they are what they are and the people will know it when they get their welfare...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: The Government pretends that rates are being maintained but for many welfare claimants, weekly income will be substantially cut. In the cold light of day, and I hope the Minister reflects on this, there are some measures that should be reconsidered. The cuts the Minister is imposing on young people with disabilities are deeply unfair.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: It is a heartless and cruel cut. Cutting up to €88 per week from young people going on disability allowance, some of whom have severe and profound disabilities, is totally unnecessary and should be reversed.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: Young people with disabilities look forward to having an income of their own. They look forward to the independence it gives them and the quality of life it brings with it. Last year the Minister rounded on Fianna Fáil and the Green Party in Government for imposing a cut on the blind pension and I believe he was right; it was the wrong thing to do.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: What the Minister proposes today on cutting the disability allowance for young people up to the age of 24 is also the wrong thing to do and it should be reversed.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: The Minister certainly has the backbenchers to drown us out, he has the numbers to bulldoze through whatever measures he wants; he does not need the support of Fianna Fáil or anyone else in Opposition but for the sake of the €7 million saved with this cut, he should have a second look. In education, the changes announced will effectively mean some schools will no longer provide guidance...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: This cut, along with the further cut to student grants and the 20% cut to the fund for students with disabilities at third level-----

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: -----will save a miserly €15 million. Postgraduate education should not be the preserve of the wealthy and if the Minister goes ahead with these cuts, that is exactly what the outcome will be. When that information is placed alongside the report in today's The Irish Times that there are 200 people in the third level sector earning €150,000 and more, with 100 of them earning more than...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: On coming into office nine months ago, this Government asked to be judged on its success in tackling the jobs crisis. If it succeeds, I and my party will be the first to congratulate it. The retention of existing jobs and the creation of new jobs must be the number one priority for all of us. We can all accept that making inroads into Ireland's unemployment rate will help to solve so many...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: The truth is that the number of people on the live register is 448,600 people, 7,300 more than the day the Government entered office. The Government pointed to increased tourism numbers in 2011. There is evidence of that and we welcome it. That increase is compared to the exceptionally low base in 2010 and the signs of recovery in tourism were evident before the VAT reduction took effect...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: If we look at the combined effect of the changes announced yesterday and today, when we examine the figures closely, the people who will be hardest hit are working families with children and families dependent on welfare. If we take two examples we can see this. A working family with four children over the course of a year will lose €432 child benefit and while we can quibble about the...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: -----and the family now relies on mortgage interest supplement to heat the family home. They will lose €228 on child benefit. They will lose €120 on fuel allowance. For the youngest child they will lose €200 on the back to school allowance and for the two older children they will lose €105 between them. With much less disposable income the VAT increase will cost them approximately...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: It is all very well to tell people it is not-----

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: It is all very well to tell people the Government is not increasing their income tax and not cutting their basic welfare rates, but that is cold comfort to families already struggling to get by and they realise the impact the budget will have on them. These families will certainly not take the advice of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, and book a holiday any...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: The Government is not asking the very high earners in the economy to make any contribution bar a token gesture of 5% for those who are sheltering income with tax relief. On the broader economic picture, the detail of today's document again reveals that the Government has downgraded its growth forecast for 2012. It has only been approximately three weeks since it came out with the medium-term...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: Since coming to power the Government's strategy has been to look for easy targets to raise tax revenue - ideally once it believes people will not notice. It raided private pensions for €460 million, but because people do not see it coming out of their disposable income the Government felt it would get away with it. It is now focusing on VAT, hoping people will not notice that either. The...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: When news of the VAT increase leaked in the German Bundestag the Minister was quick to put out his analysis that it would have a greater impact on the better off. However, the distribution effects of VAT in Ireland were examined by the ESRI in a paper published as recently as July. The results were unambiguous. They showed that those hardest hit by a VAT increase are households in the...