Results 461-480 of 1,591 for speaker:Eugene Regan

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: With the medical cards, the quangos and the income levy, Members on the Government side of the House are getting very excited.

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: They are so self-congratulating on the strong measures taken but they are measures taken by the Government to correct mistakes of the Government. The Government provided free medical cards for over 70s.

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: The Government created the quangos it is now trying to amalgamate and the Government reduced taxes but is now imposing the income levy on gross level. The Government is correcting its mistakes, the Leader might agree with me on that. Whether speaking about the budget, the world financial meltdown or the economic recession, the elephant in the room is the Lisbon treaty. Discussions in the...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: Whether he is right——

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: I have a specific question. Whether the MEP is correct, it is a symptom of the change from understanding the Irish position to anger, particularly with regard to the European Parliament elections next year. The failure to pass the Lisbon treaty referendum means that the European Parliament elections will be based on the Nice treaty. This affects 12 member states and in the case of Spain...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: The institutional arrangements for the European Parliament were never an issue in the referendum. No constitutional issue arises. It is a problem we have created and there are no objections to the European Parliament elections being held on the basis of a change in the number of MEPs, as envisaged by the Lisbon treaty. It is incumbent on the Irish Government to contribute to a solution to...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: Ask the Leader a question.

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: I note that Members on the Government side of the House are quite smug this morning. The revolt in Fianna Fáil over the medical card for those over 70 has ended.

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: Yes, but I wish to explain the question. The revolt has ended on the Government benches but has——

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: A Chathaoirligh, I believe I am allowed to formulate my question in the manner I consider appropriate. The question is whether the revolt of the elderly has ended and whether the Government's policy of divide and conquer has succeeded. We will find out today whether the solidarity of the elderly will hold. The Government has solved a problem within its ranks but not necessarily the problem...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: It is for the Leader to respond.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: The budget was brought forward as a major initiative by the Government, and it was a political stroke which has turned sour.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: It was to buy time because it had not——

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: It is a preliminary remark to the formulation of the question.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: The budget was brought forward, there were no ideas but it built up expectations that there would be a budget which would deal with and restore order to the public finances and which, we were told, would be fair and balanced but tough. What we got was a budget that was essentially an attack on the young, the old and those on low incomes. As Senator Boyle stated, it was not thought through....

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: That is why it has fallen flat on its face. The budget is also based on assumptions of economic growth, tax revenue and expenditure which are faulty. The better course would have been not to have tried to pull this political stroke but to have introduced a budget at the standard time.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: This is my question for the Leader.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: It should have been at the standard time so that these issues could have been fully thought through and also that the November Exchequer returns would have been available. Then we would have had a budget that was based on proper assumptions and was properly thought through. I would ask the Leader, as distinct from the Deputy Leader, whether he would agree that it was a fatal error to try to...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2008)

Eugene Regan: That is the job of the Government.