Results 661-680 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Oct 2008)

Alex White: There is no guarantee is the answer. The Minister for Finance and the Government announced an intention to provide a guarantee, which was a plan for the future, but there is no guarantee for today. This is a serious situation of which I do not make light as a talking point for debate. However, the seriousness of the situation is increased with a further delay in the presentation of the...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Oct 2008)

Alex White: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Oct 2008)

Alex White: The Government has done nothing. It introduced enabling legislation without a scheme. The scheme itself looks like disappearing with every passing day.

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Oct 2008)

Alex White: There is no back up to what the Government proposes to do.

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Oct 2008)

Alex White: There is no scheme and there is no authority for what the Government wants to do. How could we vote for that?

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Oct 2008)

Alex White: Nothing happened last week.

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Oct 2008)

Alex White: There was nothing to support.

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Oct 2008)

Alex White: Nothing happened, as there is no guarantee.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Oct 2008)

Alex White: There is a general air of expectation about the House in respect of the budget announcements this afternoon. I do not know whether this morning's unrelenting rain is a signal of what we can expect——

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Oct 2008)

Alex White: ——or at least a harbinger of what is to come. It certainly sets the mood for what we have been told to expect. We will see. I understand it is planned to have a debate on the budget in this House tomorrow. I hope that in the coming days and weeks, not just in one debate, we do not just see the budget as a bookkeeping measure to balance the books. I hope the Minister also does not see...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Oct 2008)

Alex White: Regarding the Budget Statement, many of us were hoping for a bold and innovative set of measures to rescue the country from its current economic situation. We got nothing of the sort. Instead, we got the launch of a number of liferafts by the Government to try to save the economy. I will either disagree with Senator O'Toole concerning the levy or nuance some of his comments. While this...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Oct 2008)

Alex White: In recent weeks and months, I wondered whether the inevitable tax increases would arrive before or after the final demise of the Progressive Democrats. The increases arrived just beforehand. It is a tax increase, yet the Government dares not speak its name. Senator O'Toole and others are correct regarding the 2% levy. If we want to go after higher earners, which I would advocate, we should...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Oct 2008)

Alex White: I have two positive comments. Since it may be due to the input of the Green Party, given that it is a decision consistent with the party's position prior to the election, I congratulate the Government on finally ending the sham of the so-called decentralisation programme. It is a welcome move and I congratulate the Government.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Oct 2008)

Alex White: The Government appears to have embraced the notion of performance-related pay. Members of the Government have taken 10% cuts, presumably based on their performances in recent months. I hope that they will revert to the House in the coming months regarding proposals on the inevitable further cuts in pay that they will need to take. The ultimate cut that they should take is not 10% or 20%....

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Oct 2008)

Alex White: We did.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Oct 2008)

Alex White: Not for the builders.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Oct 2008)

Alex White: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Oct 2008)

Alex White: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Unemployment Levels: Statements (15 Oct 2008)

Alex White: To some extent I am sorry the Senator did not have an opportunity to elaborate further because, with all due respect to him, it might have been possible for those of us who were listening carefully to him to get to the bottom of what he was driving at in his cry for help for the construction industry and his apparent criticism of the banks for failing to ride to the rescue of the construction...

Seanad: Unemployment Levels: Statements (15 Oct 2008)

Alex White: I am not sure Senator Boyle has read them. He thinks they are a public sector panacea; they are not.