Results 5,841-5,860 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins
- Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: -----and that the Government return with the answers that will facilitate this crucial debate to continue. I formally move.
- Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: Will the Minister deal with my proposal under Standing Order 23?
- Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: The section deals with the water conservation grant. It was absolutely right, as is normal on Committee Stage of a Bill, that Members would tease out with the Minister the effect in regard to the public finances of such a measure. There was a long discussion yesterday, which the Minister was unable to resolve and, therefore-----
- Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: Yes, but I am sorry-----
- Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: I will be finished in 120 seconds.
- Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: No. I will leave it to the Minister to resolve, which he has had time to do overnight, because he was giving figures we had to query and try to resolve. The nub of the issue is that the Minister said the €100 so-called conservation grant will cost €130 million. We looked at the number of private households, which would be entitled to that grant, and it should be €165...
- Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: That is the nub of the first issue. The second and last point I will make is that the Minister said that water charges will bring in €271 million, but when we did the figures for the one and two person households, the figure should be €389 million. How does he explain the difference between them?
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (16 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: 12. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the recent European Council discussions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41697/14]
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (16 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: The problem is not that there should not be trade between the United States and Ireland; it is that it is incredible that this matter would not be a subject of major debate at summits of European leaders. That really mirrors the reality of what happens in trade agreements, which involve secretly conducted talks in which representatives of major European corporations have access to key...
- Order of Business (16 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: I, too, am concerned, although I will leave my remarks and objection until the discussion on the next proposal, No. a20, which deals with the guillotining of the debate on the Water Services Bill.
- Order of Business (16 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: It is not acceptable in any sense, in particular in regard to the Water Services Bill, that a guillotine would be imposed. The Bill would have progressed much faster if the Minister had not come in here last week and tied himself up in knots, giving wholly contradictory figures to the Dáil and being unable to answer the legitimate and forensic questions from Opposition Deputies. In...
- Order of Business (16 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: Yes, but one can see the problem with shutting down the debate. In terms of income, the Minister provided €271 million next year for income, but has lost €218 million.
- Order of Business (16 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: If the Minister is acknowledging that there will be a significant level of non-payment and boycott, he should say so rather than trying to arrogantly shout down the legitimate questions of Opposition Deputies. I recommend that there be no guillotine. I strongly recommend that the Government postpone further consideration of this Bill until January, when we can have a full and logical...
- Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: Accountancy trickery.
- Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: It is a grotesque abuse of parliamentary procedure for a Government to put a guillotine on a debate, only for Government Deputies to be deliberately piled into the Chamber to take up a significant portion, if not the bulk, of the time allocated.
- Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: That is a cynical abuse of parliamentary procedure.
- Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: It would of course be welcome if Government Deputies had participated fully in the debate. For example, if they had joined us last week when we were here at midnight without a guillotine, that would have been welcome. In the context of a guillotine, however, it is cynicism in the extreme. In regard to the proposal to legislate for a plebiscite before any water services are privatised, it...
- Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: They are champions for public ownership of our resources and our services. It is unfortunate that we cannot believe their bona fides.
- Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: The reason this issue has become so important is because people, from bitter experience, do not trust the political establishment. It is incredible to hear a Labour Party Deputy blithely absolve herself and others of any blame for breaking her party's election promises on the grounds that Fine Gael's policies were different during the course of the election. Suddenly, the massively...
- Water Services Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2014)
Joe Higgins: -----the domestic collection services.