Results 2,601-2,620 of 26,396 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: A number of fundamental issues arise with the amendments to this section which deals with water charges. The Minister of State will be aware that my party opposes the Bill partly on the basis of the proposal to introduce charges. People will be asking what all of the other taxes they pay are being used for. They are still coming to terms with the universal social charge, the purpose of...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: To clarify, there is one rate.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: The Minister of State will have to put that to the Tánaiste, Deputy Eamon Gilmore. That is the Tánaiste's territory.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: No; that is North Korea.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: I do not wish to comment on whatever might happen in China, but it seems that we have a split-----

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: It seems from the contributions of Senators Paul Bradford and Fidelma Healy Eames that we have a split in the RA - Reform Alliance - on the issue; one is in favour of water charges, while the other is not.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: We have learned that at least. The Minister of State gave a figure of €1.2 billion. He has said €200 million comes from commercial rates, which is fair enough; the remainder is €1 billion, as if there is a shortfall, and the money does not come from anywhere. However, it does come from somewhere. It comes from what people pay in taxation, which was always the case;...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: I think it does.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: It has. We are talking about water charges.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: I asked the Minister of State why we were paying a water charge. With respect to the Acting Chairman, we were told the purpose of the property tax was to pay for local services. We are now being told that one of these local services must be paid for separately, with all of the other local services people are being asked to pay for separately. With respect to the charge, one of the problems...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: One of the problems we have with the charge and the amendments to which we speak is that we have still not been told how the system will work. We still do not know how the charge will be calculated. We do not know the amount of the free allocation that will be granted to households.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: If you wish, I can speak to the section.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: If the Acting Chairman gives me the time to speak to the section, I will come back and make these points at the time.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: To be fair to the Acting Chairman, if it is helpful, I will come back on section 17 to speak on these issues.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: I support the amendment. It requires Irish Water to give a full breakdown annually on a county by county basis of all moneys that are transferred and expended by Irish Water. If Deputies were to table a parliamentary question, they probably would get that response anyway. If that is the case, then why can we not just accept this and do it as a matter of proper transparency? If we are...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: I wonder will the annual report provide a county-by-county breakdown.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: There is consensus on the issue in terms of the outcome. There is no doubt that what we all want to see is full transparency.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: I have a problem with the Minister of State's response on the issue of the annual report. It is my experience that annual reports can be very general and do not specifically provide a breakdown on a county by county basis, as sought in the amendment. We will receive an annual report from Uisce Éireann, but that does not necessarily mean what is being sought in the amendment will be...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: In the debate on section 16 I attempted to raise issues relating to the water charges plan and was asked to wait until I could raise the issues in the context of these amendments. I sought clarification from the Minister of State on the amount of money that would potentially be raised through water charges and, while he outlined figures that were helpful to us, I am still unclear as to how...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: It is the same thing. Once I am in full flight, am I better off in continuing to speak? I can rehearse my arguments on the section.