Results 3,381-3,400 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Tax Collection: Tax Collection (4 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: Question 205: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the anti avoidance rules of Section 499(2) has the effect of extending to seven years the redemption date under BES if the investor makes an investment in two consecutive years; and his views on whether this represents an undesirable restriction on the use of BES. [32577/07]

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (4 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: Question 243: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to a campaign by the Irish Osteoporosis Society to secure core funding; if she has commissioned an independent assessment of this request; and if her Department has developed protocols for the support of voluntary support groups in important areas of public health. [32152/07]

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (4 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: Question 464: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if there is a limit to earnings a student may themselves earn before those earnings would be added to their parents income in assessing eligibility for higher education grants. [32148/07]

Written Answers — Third Level Charges: Third Level Charges (4 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: Question 465: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the student registration fee at third level; if this fee comes up for review in 2008; if she issues guidelines related to some price index of the acceptable rate of increase. [32149/07]

Written Answers — Liquor Licensing Laws: Liquor Licensing Laws (4 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: Question 555: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the growth of dial a can services whereby drink will be delivered to children under the legal age, for example if their parents are out; and if there are measures that could be taken to stop this activity. [32456/07]

Written Answers — Environmental Policy: Environmental Policy (4 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: Question 600: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to an assessment of the relative environmental impact of glass bottle use versus aluminium cans for beer or soft drinks; his views on the introduction of an incentive to encourage switching; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32455/07]

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: The level of applause would indicate many backbenchers wish there was a regime change. The truth is this budget represented a very stern test of the leadership of the Minister. It was a test to see if he had the courage to break down the patterns of incompetence and indifference which has surrounded this complacent Government and the vision to embrace real reform and see real change in the...

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: They have got used to lying in in the morning, bingeing on junk food and not exercising. The result is what we see today. At the slightest hint of deterioration in the economy, we see the public finances plunge from a €4 billion surplus to a €2 billion deficit. That is some achievement for a Minister — to have squandered all that money and to have so little to show for it. It is...

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: That is because the soft options are being taken. The money is being spent but it is not delivering and the soft option of borrowing is being taken. Looking ahead, the prospects of those who cheered the Minister a moment ago, seeing their great programme for Government being delivered are nil. If one looks at the figures the Minister projects for taxation for 2010, one will see it is €6.3...

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: The tragedy, of course, is that it is not just these manifesto promises that will be broken once again. We have seen it time and again from this Government. The tragic truth is that if the economy continues to be managed the same way the Minister is managing it today in this budget, we will quickly be unable to afford the investment in infrastructure that we need. We will see serious...

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: Their four new parliamentary committees, their three new Ministers of State with their entourages and their own huge pay increases, which include €38,000 for the Taoiseach, have all been paid and it is others, such as pensioners, who we ask to make do with so much less. Ordinary workers on the average industrial wage are asked to pay tax at 41%, the same rate as that paid by a millionaire....

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: The tragic truth is that we would have a resilient economy today that would be capable of dealing with the challenges if the programme of reform had been started. We have only to look across the water to see what Gordon Brown and the Labour Party in the UK did when they demanded annual efficiency changes and over the period in question were able to release what would be the equivalent in...

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: Again we see that many people who need a leg up are frozen out of tax relief.

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: For example, over 600,000 people in the private sector do not have any pension whatsoever. We were promised that we would see a one for one scheme. Indeed I believe the Green Party was the first to advocate having such a scheme to help the lowest paid people invest in pensions for their retirement so that they would not be solely dependent on social welfare pensions and would not be plunged...

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: A slightly better increase of €2 per week in the child care supplement is being offered. One might say this is extraordinarily generous but the reality is that out of their pre-tax income, people must find an incredible €18,000 per child to support children in child care. That is the reality in the tiger economy of today. Families where both parents are forced to work face that...

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: Instead of trying to address this, the Government is, once again, penalising people who opt to drop out of the workforce to provide care at home for a period. The penalty they face has been ratcheted up once again today. An extra €1,400 penalty is being imposed on people who opt to stay at home. The combination of the bands and the PAYE allowance they will give up by dropping out of the...

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: We were told there would be a major increase in the supplement in respect of children and that it would be indexed in accordance with the industrial wage. A family with two children is deemed by the Minister to be too wealthy to receive a medical card if the parents are on the minimum wage. At €17,800 they will be deemed too wealthy to receive a medical card. What sort of planning for...

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: Many children with special needs have been dependent on psychological assessment and many school principals must play God in deciding which children with serious problems will be allowed have a psychological assessment. That situation will continue in a budget that was supposed to address the situation with equity. We will continue to see children accommodated in temporary accommodation....

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: The tragedy is that making ends meet is not the only worry facing older people. They have been waiting for proper standards of policing of nursing home care and other care facilities. They have been waiting to see the high chance of picking up infections in hospitals addressed. They continue to wait. They have seen home care packages axed because the bureaucracy in the HSE ran out of...

Budget Statement 2008 (5 Dec 2007)

Richard Bruton: It was the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, who told us it would be inequitable and would spook the market.