Results 8,161-8,180 of 16,478 for speaker:Tommy Broughan

Other Questions: Energy Prices (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: 6. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the measures being taken by his Department to tackle the problem of fuel poverty. [51567/13]

Other Questions: Energy Prices (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: So far this winter we have escaped with relatively mild weather conditions, although it is very cold this morning. Last winter was one of the worst in living memory. The Government has reduced the term during which the fuel allowance is payable and the allowance has effectively been wiped out by the 33% increase in the price of gas. The Minister will be aware that the price of a standard...

Other Questions: Energy Prices (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: The Minister has referred to the better energy warmer homes scheme, the target for which is 1 million homes by 2020, of which 102,000 have been insulated thus far. Has the 12,000 target for 2013 been achieved? I acknowledge this work is under way having seen teams of workers moving through local authority estates. The Minister also referred to the pay-as-you-go scheme. He previously gave...

Other Questions: Energy Prices (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: The Minister did not address my questions about the roll-out of pay-as-you-go meters or price invigilation. Given the general uselessness of the Commission for Energy Regulation during the years, is there not a strong case to be made for some controls in this regard? In a recent speech the Tánaiste spoke about increasing prices and the sudden appearance of bills which families could...

Other Questions: Energy Prices (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: The damage was done in 2011-12.

Other Questions: Energy Prices (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: No, I was not. The Minister knows I was not.

Other Questions: Energy Prices (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: A Cheann Comhairle, I was the Minister's energy spokesperson.

Other Questions: Energy Prices (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: No; the Minister is the one who has forgotten.

Other Questions: Post Office Network (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: The Minister should sing it.

Order of Business (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: Is it possible that there could be a social welfare (amendment) Bill before the House breaks up? The Tánaiste will be delighted to learn that Deputies Nulty, Halligan, Pringle and I, along with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, Focus Ireland, Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, INOU, Age Action and One Parent Exchange Network, OPEN, formally launched a campaign for...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: I strongly support Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan's comments. I recognise that the Government has perhaps come a small way towards meeting the grave concerns brought to our attention. Like myself, the Ceann Comhairle has probably received many representations on this issue and the retrograde and disproportionate changes the Minister has introduced in this section. It is felt that this is...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: Without casting aspersions on our distinguished colleagues in the bull pen, the Minister of State's contribution is reminiscent of an episode of "Irish Pictorial Weekly", with numbers being plucked from the air. He referred to the definition of a day. It seems we will have to define what is and is not a day. Given the energy the Government is expending on tracking down the €25...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: I move amendment No. 15:In page 21, to delete lines 18 to 39, and in page 22, to delete lines 1 to 25.This is the section dealing with relief for insurance against the expense of illness. As the Minister of State may remember, on Second Stage I strongly opposed this provision for a reduction in the relief available to those with medical insurance premiums above €1,000 for adults and...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: Thank you, a Chathaoirligh. I have listened carefully to the Minister of State, but I think the proportion of people affected, at 57%, is not an insignificant percentage. I know some of the estimates we got after the budget were around €200 per family, and that is a significant additional cost. I am ad idem with Deputy Boyd Barrett. Deputy Shortall, Deputy Boyd Barrett and I all...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: I mentioned already that the VHI and the Government are under serious constraints due to new rules at a European level. I do not think the Minister has really addressed-----

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: I want to make a final point.

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: The final point I want to make is that the Minister has not ordered his officials to do a cost-benefit analysis with regard to the huge numbers leaving the private insurance system to go into public care. Can the Minister of State give me figures from a cost-benefit analysis that show which situation is more expensive for the State?

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: I appreciate that. I did that job in the Chair for many years before you appeared in this House.

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: We are discussing the Finance Bill in the House with a Government which has a huge majority-----

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Dec 2013)

Tommy Broughan: -----and which has done outrageous things.