Results 10,721-10,740 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: The purpose of the tax-----
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: -----is to broaden the tax base and to bring property taxation in this country partially into line with the experience across Europe. We are virtually the only country in the OECD that does not have a property tax. What Deputy McDonald is concealing is her complete opposition to the property tax, which is remarkable given that up the road there is a property tax in Newry three times as...
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: This kind of partitionist mentality on behalf of Sinn Féin is difficult to understand. How is it that it is alright in one part of the island but not alright in another part of the island? The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government consulted carefully with every local authority, told them the purpose of what it was engaged in and asked them to assess the estates...
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: Deputy McDonald, in particular, is very good at describing the problem-----
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: -----but she is not very good at coming up with solutions. What we need, in these circumstances, are solutions. I would be careful if I was a member of Fianna Fáil, given the legacy of the problem we are discussing. It is remarkable that Fianna Fáil Deputies are prepared to put their heads above the parapet, given their connections to this problem.
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: Of course, all one has to do is go out to the north side of Dublin and have a look at the pyrite-affected houses and one understands the Sinn Féin link to the issue.
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: We are dealing with a legacy issue and we are seeking to deal with it in as fair and consistent a manner as we can.
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: I would hope that at least the party that authored the property tax would now support it.
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: I feel like the people of south Tipperary after that because I, too, am bewildered. I am very hurt that Deputy McGrath should make such charges against me and the Government. The fact of the matter is we are trying to protect ordinary people.
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: We are trying to put this country back on the road to economic recovery.
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: There cannot be any social services or nurses, teachers and fire service personnel in their posts unless we get the economy right. I do not think it is fully understood how grave the situation was when this Government took over. We were on the edge of the abyss. That is how serious it was at the time. Deputy McGrath referred to Cyprus and what is playing out there at the moment. I could...
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: -----as a condition of the bailout. There was no statutory measure accompanying that action. There is an awful lot of hypocrisy associated with this.
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: There is always an element of theatre about Parliament and I understand the posturing. However, at the end of the day, we have to get the economy right. We are seeking to spread the tax burden as equitably as we can.
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: Some colleagues representing Dublin constituencies would say that people from south Tipperary and other provincial constituencies get a better deal under the valuation system than Dubliners. However, there had to be a valuation methodology settled on and the one chosen is based on market value. It is right that the efficacy of the collection system should not be in question and that...
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: The fundamental answer I had that night was that what Deputy Pat Carey and his colleagues had done would put the subsequent Government into a straitjacket in terms of its freedom to make economic decisions for this country, and so it has turned out to be.
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: The fact of the matter is that from the time of the bank guarantee in 2008 to the general election in 2011, 250,000 of our people were made unemployed. A quarter of a million of our people lost their jobs and the first priority of this Government is to put those people back to work. This is the first priority.
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: In order to do that, we have to get the economy back into balance.
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: That is the first challenge and that is what we are working on. There is no comparison between giving away the proceeds of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and levying 0.6% on pension funds as a contribution to the jobs initiative introduced by the Minister for Finance in the summer of 2011.
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: That initiative has produced results in the tourism and hospitality sector and elsewhere and it must be remembered that the same pension funds had been the recipient of enormously generous tax reliefs. There is simply no comparison. We are trying to do exactly what the Deputy claims to aspire to, which is to look after the interests of the average citizen of this country-----
- Leaders' Questions (21 Mar 2013)
Pat Rabbitte: -----to give sons and daughters an opportunity to work in their homeland again.