Results 2,681-2,700 of 2,815 for speaker:Tony Killeen

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: I am pleased to have the opportunity to support the amendment moved by Senator Donie Cassidy and to express my full confidence in the Taoiseach and the Government. I will deal with some of the points made by Senators before making other points. Senator Ross appears to be on a crusade about default on the bondholders. That is a matter for him to explain because he has not explained very...

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: -----on what might have been done on the other hand. He also made a point about cronyism in terms of directors not giving evidence before Dáil committees. He, as well as everyone else in the House, is aware that there are a number of considerations on what it is appropriate for directors to do and whether to make themselves available. I will move on to the much more difficult points made...

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: If I had been asked I would have said exactly the same thing. It had not been approved at any stage by Government and until it was approved it was not under way. Senator O'Toole made a point about the Fianna Fáil leadership. I have absolute confidence in the Taoiseach, Deputy Cowen, as leader of the party and leader of the country. His final point related to the minimum wage. I was...

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: When all of those issues are explained and the question of sovereignty is put in that context then I will begin to take some notice but in the meantime I can only reach the conclusion that it is a politically-----

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: I do not know how the Senator could expect me to have answers to the points made by a variety of Senators without at least having heard what they said.

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: I was trying to honour Senators by addressing the points they made.

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: Senator Twomey also cited the mortgage rate of 3.5%. I recall a time he would not remember when I had a single income with a family of four children and a mortgage rate of just over 16%. By that standard 3.5% seems modest.

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: Senator Boyle outlined the Green Party response to the challenges of Government. I accept the points he has made in that regard. Senator Bacik made a fair point about the over-dependence on construction employment. Approximately 280,000 people were directly employed in construction at the end of 2007 and in early 2008. It should have been obvious that a continuation of employment in that...

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: There was also an over-dependence on related taxes.

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: The policies of the time were driven by the realities of the time. Among the realities was two major Opposition parties arguing for a continuation of policies to keep up that level of employment, including the Labour Party.

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: At the time the policies of the Government on all of those issues were described as Scrooge-like by the two major Opposition parties. Light regulation is now criticised by the very parties which when I was Minister of State with responsibility for labour affairs criticised me strongly for operating a nanny state in terms of the regulations that were in place.

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: I am not aware of any ghost estate that was built on foot of a tax break. Tax breaks were in defined areas which did not include the development of new estates. I distinctly recall during the previous election campaign when the auction politics was not led by the Government parties.

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: The promises that were made on the other side were ones that the Government was not able to reach. One of the reasons the election campaign turned around in the middle was that people realised that the promises being made by the Opposition parties were not deliverable-----

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: -----and they decided the safer option was to go with the Government.

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: As it turns out-----

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: -----it was in terms of dealing with the issues of the moment. The final point made by Senator Bacik which appears to suggest that the alternatives currently are to choose between an adjustment of €6 billion or an adjustment of €4.5 billion, conveniently overlooks the fact that there are two options available to the State at this time. There is the €6 billion alternative which enables...

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: He is gone now.

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: An issue arises in terms of competitiveness. There is an enormous challenge for this country in terms of job creation. Although we always hear about the 430,000 on the live register, 280,000 in receipt of payments are unemployed full-time. Many more are employed part-time or fall into several other categories.

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: We need to address the large number who are unemployed full-time. We also need to remember that a great many of them were in employment and will be again if they have an opportunity.

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Tony Killeen: One of the challenges is presented by competitiveness. Since 2009 we have seen a 7% improvement in our unit labour cost relative to the remainder in the eurozone. This is one of the reasons the IDA and Enterprise Ireland have been more successful in attracting jobs; our export performance figure has increased by 7% this year, while productivity in the export sector has increased by 12% in a...