Results 9,821-9,840 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: May I reply briefly?

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: The Minister of State said it all there. I wish him the best of good fortune in returning to the House but, obviously, that will come down to the voters of south Tipperary. The Labour Party has an excellent candidate there in my Seanad colleague, Senator Phil Prendergast, who I hope will also be returned to this House.

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: She is not a Cinderella, rather she comes from a background of having been a very experienced professional midwife. It she is elected to this House, it will be a first for this House to have a Member who was a professional midwife of long standing and who would have such experience of the health services. The Minister of State said it all in one, namely, that if the first contributions from...

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: Such people cannot simply avoid making their fair contribution. If reform in this area is to be introduced by the next Government, it will be difficult because these are very powerful people, with vested interests and they employ the best lawyers in the world. We have to get everyone in this country contributing at an effective rate. That is the only way we will keep taxes low and...

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: Yes.

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: The first part of section 57 deals with the exemption from VAT of public postal services provided as part of the universal service set out in the EU postal directives. It extends this both to An Post and any other designated provider of that service. I presume this means postage stamps will remain free of VAT, in addition to postal services, be they the traditional services provided by An...

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: I understand this section refers to the mandatory disclosure of information regarding people who are arranging particular tax transactions and may be involved in fairly aggressive tax planning. Will the Minister of State read out his note on this section so that we might have a sense of what is intended?

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: Is the section designed to deal with people involved in aggressive tax planning so that the people who might be the beneficiaries of said planning can be identified to Revenue? As I might not understand the section correctly, perhaps the Minister of State will clarify the situation.

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: Do the Minister of State's officials have a view on how much income has been lost to Revenue through these aggressive forms of tax planning? During the past year or more, a great deal of information has emanated about people with deposit accounts in Switzerland in particular that have been used to avoid tax. In well publicised cases, whistleblowers there have identified people from various...

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: I have written to the Minister for Finance on several occasions on this matter. Was this connected to tax avoidance? Were the depositors in that bank-----

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: The section describes transactions and persons and contains a reference to promoters. The transfer of large deposits of money from the Irish jurisdiction to tax havens by means of promoters or to places where there is a practice of banking secrecy, is the highest form of aggressive tax avoidance management that I am aware of. The Minister will remain a Minister for the duration of the...

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: -----for the officials to write to me? With regard to what is described as the mandatory disclosure regime, can the officials advise the Minister of State why this amendment was introduced unless they were certain that certain promoters of schemes were able to avoid examination of the schemes by the Revenue Commissioners? I ask the Minister of State to give the background to the amendment.

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: Fine Gael has not closed off the Fianna Fáil option and Deputy Martin has already suggested it.

Finance Bill 2011: Committee Stage (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: Tallaght in reverse.

Business of Dáil (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: Sections 1 to 38 at the beginning of the Bill are of most interest to Members and include the changes to pension provisions, the universal social charge and section 23 tax breaks. Today's schedule allowed very little time for that part and considerable time for areas including giving Revenue extra powers in combating tax evasion and so on. We should devote most of the time to sections 1 to...

Business of Dáil (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: I suggest the bulk of that time be devoted to sections 1 to 38 because the later sections have been adequately addressed and I believe that is the feeling of most Members.

Business of Dáil (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: I believe an hour would be adequate for the others.

Business of Dáil (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: It was very frustrating today that the major budget provisions were all packed into an hour with very little opportunity to discuss them.

Business of Dáil (26 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: I am satisfied with the last section because I believe there is unanimous agreement that unless the Minister has Report Stage amendments, we do not need more than ten or 15 minutes on that.

Finance Bill 2011: Motion. (27 Jan 2011)

Joan Burton: A Cheann Comhairle-----