Results 4,301-4,320 of 15,491 for speaker:Eamon Gilmore

Order of Business (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: Tomorrow, the Minister for Finance will also make a 20 minute speech, but he will not take questions and no opportunity will be given to finance spokespersons to reply. Presumably, when the decisions are announced after the debate and the discussion with the social partners, we will be told that everything has already been discussed.

Order of Business (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: This is a nonsensical proposal with which the Labour Party does not agree. While we want a meaningful debate on the serious state of the economy, it must start with the Government making available to the House information on what decisions it is considering and has made, what is being discussed with the social partners and what are the real details of the situation.

Order of Business (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: I asked the Taoiseach yesterday whether he could tell the House what the total was, between social welfare payments and secondary benefits——

The Economy: Statements (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: Is that it?

The Economy: Statements (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: Since this country went into recession the Labour Party has taken a positive and hopeful view of our country's economic affairs. We have concentrated on putting forward solutions, suggestions seeking to convey our belief that, as a people, we can get through this recession, there can be better times and, however difficult the adjustment may be, that it will be worth it in the end. Despite...

The Economy: Statements (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: Let us consider some of points the Taoiseach made today. He said that the Government has a clear strategy which it will continue to implement. If it has a clear strategy, we have not been told about it and we certainly did not hear about it today. As for continuing to implement it, I advise the Taoiseach that "continue" is not the verb for these times, "change" is the verb for these times.

The Economy: Statements (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: If the Taoiseach continues to lead this country in the way he is and if he continues on the road he prescribed in his speech, he will lead it to ruin. He told us that there is little point in looking back at how some of this might have been anticipated or avoided. From a Government that has been in office for 11 years, the Taoiseach has some neck to say there is little point in looking...

The Economy: Statements (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: We must also look at the VAT situation. The flood of consumers going over the Border cannot be ignored. Equally, falling prices are likely to result in consumers postponing their spending. A temporary cut in VAT would have the effect of boosting incomes and would also help to shift the growing expectation of falling prices. There has been a similar shift in sentiment among the buyers of...

The Economy: Statements (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: Our competitiveness was badly eroded during the property boom and the problem has been made worse by the fall in the value of sterling. It is a source of deep concern, therefore, to read reports that the Government is contemplating cuts in capital spending. Ireland has serious infrastructural deficits that must be remedied. Looking back on the past decade, it is unbelievable that the...

The Economy: Statements (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: However, this is a simulated devaluation that places the burden on only one section of society. We are told that workers should take a pay cut. If they do, will the fees charged for a doctor's visit also fall, or their health insurance bills? Will other interests in our society take a similar hit? I have no doubt that we will see lengthy talks going on in Government Buildings in the coming...

The Economy: Statements (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: If it does, and we are both sent anywhere in retribution, Acting Chairman, we will share a cell.

The Economy: Statements (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: I repeat that the way to deal with the public finance crisis is to get the economy moving again. That is not to suggest we can ignore the state of the public finances because we cannot. What matters now is not the deficit this year or in any one year. What matters is whether we have a credible plan to address the problem over a period of years. We must send a signal that we are serious...

The Economy: Statements (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: Let us be honest about it, let us be up-front with people and let us call a tax a tax. The Government will do anything to avoid using the word "tax". It has levies, user charges and contributions, all of which are taxes by another name. It is clear there is a requirement to broaden the tax base. The wide range of reliefs and exemptions that grew up in the last ten years must now be...

The Economy: Statements (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: The world around us is changing very rapidly. Our current difficulties owe a lot to mistakes made by Government and to its lack of urgency in addressing the crisis. However, we must also realise that we are witnessing a major crisis in the structure of globalised capitalism. There is no certainty that we will return to the system as it existed before the credit crunch and the collapse of...

Physical Education Facilities. (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: Question 101: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the steps his Department has taken towards meeting the commitment contained in the programme for Government to promote sport in schools; the work his Department has facilitated with the Department of Education and Science; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2270/09]

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (28 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: Question 105: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the progress on the amalgamation of the National Library of Ireland, the National Archives and the Manuscripts Commission; if legislation will be required to enact the amalgamation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2254/09]

Order of Business (29 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: The Government is engaged in a great deal of codology here about this document. Everybody has the document. It is in the newspapers. We know what is in it. The Taoiseach came in here yesterday and read into the record of the House approximately 60% of what is in the document anyway as his script to this House, but without telling the House that it was much of the text of what was being...

Order of Business (29 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: It is important.

Order of Business (29 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: We are in the middle of a debate on the state of the public finances.

Order of Business (29 Jan 2009)

Eamon Gilmore: Some 20,000 extra people unemployed makes some difference.