Results 40,401-40,420 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: That is fair enough. Many people serving in the Naval Service will welcome this new tax credit. It is important to establish, though, whether people in the Army and the Air Corps are going to get the same benefit. While service with the Naval Service at sea is a particular type of service, confining this tax credit to help boost after-tax pay to the Naval Service is wrong. The problem of...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: Most of the schemes like this are the product of various large accounting and legal firms producing packages which they can then sell around the world to people in the appropriate income bracket. That is one of the principal reasons the scheme in Ireland has failed to be capped properly and now results in a significant difference in tax treatment between somebody who is fully resident for...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: However, we see no sign of a move towards equalisation or equality. That is why people feel so undervalued. A teacher gets nothing like these breaks.

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: A nurse does not get anything like these breaks. They often work much harder than the people who are brought to Ireland on the basis of the sale of these schemes by professional companies.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (19 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: 53. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress on a permanent school building for a school (details supplied); his plans to extend the use of the current site of the school in view of the fact that the lease ends in June 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47485/19]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Climate Action Plan (19 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: 56. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to equip teachers and schools, particularly within the subjects of geography, CSPE, science and English, with the tools and guidance to explore the topic of climate change through their specification and curriculum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47486/19]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Supply (19 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: 65. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to assist teachers from a diverse background to teach here; if his attention has been drawn to the benefits to schools of having teachers from diverse backgrounds on their staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47487/19]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (19 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: 101. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has received the review of relationships and sexuality education by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA; his plans to publish the review; his further plans to enhance sex education in schools in order to promote education regarding consent, LGBTQI+ issues and navigating relationships in a positive and healthy way;...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Refurbishment (19 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: 143. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the timeline for the commencement of renovation works at a school (details supplied) in Dublin 15, in order to address the issues being caused by pyrite; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47121/19]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Motorised Transport Grant (19 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: 358. To ask the Minister for Health when a replacement scheme for the motorised transport grant and mobility allowance will be announced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47262/19]

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: I have proposed a minimum effective corporation tax rate many times. The recent publication by the OECD that recommended a minimum effective tax rate in parallel to the BEPS process is a warning note to the Government to the effect that this particular regime will not last forever. Assuming that Ireland will continue to be an attractive destination in the EU post Brexit, the Minister will...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: One area of taxation of the types of sectors about which we are talking is a financial transactions tax, which would have a massive impact on poorer countries around the world. One of the side effects, perhaps unsought, of the type of tax regime Ireland and Luxembourg have developed is that poorer countries are relieved of their tax earning capacity in respect of raw materials. The Minister...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: I made my views on this matter clear on Committee Stage. I understand that food supplements are recognised as food under Irish and EU law. Specifically, EU Directive 2002/46/EC on food supplements was enacted in Ireland under statutory instruments in 2007. The health food industry is required to adhere to all food regulations to ensure quality and consumer safety. I understand this is...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: People remember in their childhood being force-fed various kinds of fish oils and, particularly among people on the west coast, seaweed products-----

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: ----for coughs and other ailments. They work for many people. If they were being sold in their original food form as generated, they would not be subject to VAT. As such, I fail to see why the Minister would want to do this other than it being a money-raising measure. In a certain sense, he is hiding behind the Revenue Commissioners and getting them to do the work of raising more taxes.

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: We want to know whether the Minister is taking or has ever taken a food supplement. Answer "Yes" or "No".

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: Go on.

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: The Minister and his advisers know that a 0% rate is still a rate of tax. If he wants to persist in the argument that food supplements are different from foods and that fish in oil form, for example, is no longer a food, that is fine. I strongly advise him that if he does proceed with imposing this tax, he should do so at a rate of 0%.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Maternity Services Provision (21 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: I appreciate that many of the things the Government is involved in are beset by confusion, lack of budgets and lack of management, as highlighted in the discussion on the previous matter. What exactly is happening with the Rotunda, the biggest and oldest maternity hospital in Ireland? It seems like another country since 2015 when the then Minister for Health, and now Taoiseach, announced...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Maternity Services Provision (21 Nov 2019)

Joan Burton: This is an incredible reflection on the Taoiseach, who as Minister for Health made an announcement in 2015 concerning the Rotunda Hospital, which we all know is a very venerable hospital in old buildings that has provided centuries of care to women and babies in Dublin. According to the Minister of State's reply, it now looks as though it will just get a wave of the hand and be left to carry...