Results 4,881-4,900 of 5,732 for speaker:Fidelma Healy Eames

Seanad: Action Plan for Jobs 2014: Statements (3 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I was referring to taxes on SMEs.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: What about the law?

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: It is good to see the Government takes action when it has to. I am referring to the homelessness crisis. It struck me last night listening to the news that the centre in which €250,000 is being put will guarantee homeless people a bed until March. Pray tell me the Government will not turf the people out like cattle come March. Can the Leader clarify what that means? I compliment...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Let us have that debate, Senator Burke.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: That is exactly why I have been looking for the debate for the last three to four weeks. We now know from the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, that we have more than €1.5 billion extra in the State coffers that was not expected. I am not talking about a tax giveaway. I am talking about putting money back into the pockets of hard-pressed workers. Doing so will grow local...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: What about the Taoiseach?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I welcome the Minister of State and thank Senators Katherine Zappone and Feargal Quinn for tabling this significant recommendation. The OECD has found that in Ireland only 41.3% of workers, four out of ten, aged between 20 and 69 years are enrolled in a fund pension plan. We know that the issue of pensions is a time bomb and, as Senator Feargal Quinn said, by 2050 there will only be two...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I appreciate that and the same applies to myself. I seek clarification for the House on the following. Is USC now standard policy? Have we moved from the situation where it was introduced as an emergency measure during the crisis and where every citizen was asked to make a contribution? In principle, I agree that every citizen should make a contribution according to their ability to pay. I...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I am discussing section 2 which deals with the USC.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: We are talking about low paid people who earn €20,000 a year or €400 per week. They cannot get a credit union loan, buy a car or plan a family even though they are 39 to 41 years of age but they benefit, as we go into recovery, by just €3 per week. Therefore, the scheme does not really put money back into people's pockets. We are a long way from fixing the tax system...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: There is a good deal of agreement on the section, and I agree with the Minister of State about the tax burden. People are concerned about the amount of money left in their pockets to pay their bills and meet family commitments. At the current cut-off point of €32,800, the top rate of tax is stultifying and crippling. The Leader said we were moving to a cut-off point of...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: We have had mini-budgets before. Fianna Fáil did it in the last Government to crease the people.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Because of its mistakes. Now the Government could make another mistake, if it is not listening. If we are on the favourable side of the curve - I accept that we are not over the hump - we must bring the people with us. I am very concerned about the anarchy we are igniting in the people. I felt the underbelly of change in the last by-election when I campaigned in Dublin West. I was in a...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I missed section 20 as the Acting Chairman went through the sections so fast. Is it appropriate to speak at the end of this section on it?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: What about when we come to the end of the section?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: You were going at such speed that I missed it.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I would like to receive a clarification on farmer taxation. Great progress was made on it in the Dáil and if the Minister of State would clarify that, it would be useful for the House.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: The Minister of State has the information. It is simply that the sections went past in quick succession and when I wondered about the section, it had been dealt with.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: It would be good to put in on the record of the House.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Okay.