Results 4,541-4,560 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: I do not know how people can manage to turn logic on its head to such a degree but having listened to the two speakers on the Government side, and Senator Cassidy in particular, I agree with everything they said but I thought they were making the argument in favour of the recommendation. Everything they said is an argument in favour of the recommendation. It is the reason I am supportive of...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: Make the case or sit down.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: What is the relevance?

Seanad: Business of Seanad (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: I understand what we are doing now and that these recommendations must be decided on at 11.30 a.m. What happens if someone wants to raise a point on a section that is not included in a recommendation?

Seanad: Business of Seanad (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: I think we should reorder our business.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: I accept that. I am not suggesting a knock-on effect, rather that this section could flow into the next, continuing until 12.30.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: I am not suggesting extending business at all.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: I suggest the Leader propose a change to the Order of Business whereby the business that was supposed to be concluded at 11.30 a.m. be allowed to continue through the next section in order that all discussion is encompassed at 12.30 p.m. The only change would be that we do not finish this part of the Bill at 11.30 but we will still finish at 12.30 p.m. as intended.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: It is the ha'porth of tar.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: On a point of order. I do not wish to be unmannerly but I am conscious of time. The proposer has responded so the recommendation should be put now.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: First, I do not believe it is in company law and, if it is, the relevant section in the 2003 Act has not been commenced. There is much merit in this recommendation. Despite the fact that the Minister said it might not be relevant, I noticed he took the opportunity in his speech on Second Stage yesterday to make a passing reference to his relationship to the bonus scheme. He can hardly...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: Let me talk about abolishing it. That is a little like the Minister's response to the last recommendation. Nobody is saying all property tax reliefs are bad. Bonus schemes are good, but badly implemented bonus schemes are bad. That is the problem. It is not just the bonus scheme but the points that were dealt with by Senator Boyle. Incidentally, I have raised this with at least half the...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: For the past 15 years Europe has been trying to deal with the issue of pension liability in every estate. There has not been a year in the past 15 in which we have not examined it. Its importance was acknowledged by the Minister's own party in Government with the establishment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund to deal with these issues. It was also acknowledged by bringing in schemes...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: Effectively, he would be saying "I told you so" to people in that this is an example of an issue which will create problems, is a disincentive to Government policy and to European policy and we have, within our grasp, the opportunity of dealing with the problem in a way which meets everybody's requirements. It is a cross-party position. Everybody would agree with it. We all agree the...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: I recognise that the Minister of State has given us several dates. I trust he will correct me if my understanding of the matter is wrong. However, I understood that last year or the year before we changed the date of the return of capital acquisitions tax to a date in October as a tidying up operation and to ensure the two dates coincided. The argument from the Department at the time was...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: I fully support the points made by Senator Regan. I generally support powers for the Revenue Commissioners but, and the Minister can correct me on this, a number of issues arise from this. One is the constitutional provisions on private property. How can one attach somebody's salary without going through a process, usually a court process? I do not know whether issues such as errors in...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: Where does it state that it is only as a last resort?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: I want to make two points. We pick up our newspapers day after day and see that it has taken three years for the State under the Criminal Assets Bureau to get attachment of Mr. Gilligan's property. It has to go through all sorts of hoops to do that. Any professional body, say, the Medical Council, that wants to strike off or deprive somebody of his or her salary must go to the High Court...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: Nobody is disagreeing with that.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jan 2011)

Joe O'Toole: I support Senator Regan's recommendation. In its report for 2000 the Committee of Public Accounts discovered there was a problem with the relay of information from different groups. The legislation at the time was interpreted to mean that the Central Bank could not share information with the Revenue Commissioners and that the Revenue Commissioners could not share it with the Garda. When I...