Results 3,681-3,700 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: Come on.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: With the agreement of the House, I will share 30 minutes of my time with Deputy Seán Fleming. We are all agreed that the Irish people have made enormous sacrifices in recent years as Ireland works its way through an extraordinarily difficult economic period. The Irish people have been patient and tolerant. They have made major changes in their own lives to reflect the new economic...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle. Of all the things people want from their politicians at this time of crisis, the most wanted are honesty and leadership and for us to ensure the decisions made are fair. I wanted the Government to bring in a budget that gave people hope for the future, showed we are all in this together, that was about fairness and solidarity, had enterprise at its heart,...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: All of this begs the question, who was looking after everyone else in the middle. Families who do not qualify for a medical card now have to make a drugs payment of €144 per month. In the budget negotiations, who was watching out for families who get no assistance whatsoever with their mortgage or rent or who have to bear the full cost of their children's education? The price Fine...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: Fine Gael used the basic welfare payment of €188 per week as a negotiating chip to protect those earning more than €100,000 per year.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: The Government has increased the universal social charge for pensioners over 70 years of age by 3%, but it cannot increase the tax on those earning enormous sums of money.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: In the face of this resistance from Fine Gael, the Labour Party capitulated and accepted the symbolic fig leaf of a so-called mansion tax that will affect a small number of people and bring in little additional revenue.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: Principles that were articulated in opposition are forgotten around the table of power. Fianna Fáil believes the Minister had some scope to increase the direct taxation burden on those with very high incomes. This would have given him a wider set of choices in deciding his spending priorities. The Minister, in a highly regressive move, abolished the PRSI exemption threshold in a...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: This proposal will bring in €300 million in a full year. Behind the property tax, it is the second largest revenue generating item in this budget. Today the Government has targeted families with children, who need their car to go to work and who have made sacrifices to provide a home. A family on low to middle income, with three children, living in a modest house with a mortgage and...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: How many Ministers even have a mortgage on the family home? The Minister said the exemptions are largely based on the exemptions to the household charge, which are exceptionally narrow in nature. The Minister failed to point out, however, that those on mortgage interest supplement, who were exempted from the household charge, are not being exempted from the property tax. Around 16,000 of...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: They have a legitimate case to make, but that is not being taken into account. We have an unemployment rate of almost 15%. An Irish League of Credit Unions survey showed that 1.8 million people live in households that have less than €100 on which to live after essential bills have been paid. The reality is that a great many individuals and families will be unable to pay this...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: For many older people this will become a tax from beyond the grave - a tax on a home they have spent an entire lifetime to secure. On their death, instead of being safe in the knowledge that the home will pass to a loved one, the taxman will be first in the queue to take a slice of the value of their home. The deferral the Minister has announced today will be subject to an indexation per...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: -----some 1.6 million households are potentially liable for the household charge. The Department of Finance document states that the Revenue believes there could be up to 1.9 million households liable. Let us use the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government's figure of 1.6 million. The full-year projection of €500 million divided by 1.6 million households assumes...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: How much additional revenue will this yield? It is clear from the budget documentation that up to the €1 million threshold they are only liable to 0.18% and the 0.25% rate only applies to the excess over €1 million. One wonders how much extra revenue will be delivered by this so-called mansions tax in the way the Minister has configured it.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: The expected yield from this along with the money in respect of the 3% on pensioners, which is approximately €38 million in a full year, should be compared with what would have been achieved if the Tánaiste had got his way and added 3% to the universal social charge for those earning more than €100,000, which would yield up to €200 million. The Government would have...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: It is fine for the Minister to shake his head. We will find out in coming weeks when cuts affect service providers such as COPE Foundation, Jack & Jill Foundation and the Brothers of Charity Services. Their cuts are never outlined in the budget document but when it comes to the national service plan being agreed they will get a cut. I hope the Minister proves me wrong and he protects...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: The Minister can offer a commitment today that they will not be cut and put it to bed. Will they be cut or not?

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: The Minister will not answer the question. That is the bottom line.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: Buried in the depths of the expenditure reductions is a €325 per annum cut in the respite care grant from €1,700 to €1,375. That is a cruel cut and there is no need for it to be implemented. My God, the bar has been set so high to qualify for a respite care grant now that many people with a family member, who has a serious disability, either use that grant to get a break -...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Michael McGrath: This budget day is one which many ordinary families have been dreading. They are looking to this House and Government for reassurance about their future. They want a Government that will lead them through this economic crisis in a fair and compassionate way. The harsh reality is that today's budget will put an unbearable financial burden on many families. This budget reaffirms the...