Results 1,061-1,080 of 6,295 for speaker:Michael D'Arcy

Seanad: Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: That was a good spot by Senator Gilroy. I note the irony of the Minister of State's remarks on the day that Ulster Bank, which is an established bank, is closing 40 branches. This shows the difficulty faced by anyone wishing to establish a bank here. There is a further difficulty and it is a case of which comes first, the chicken or the egg. The existing pillar banks are not lending to...

Seanad: Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: Tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: I wish to call a quorum.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Jul 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: Reports on the troika's latest review state that it is very concerned about legacy tracker mortgages. I also note the percentages of tracker mortgages on the mortgage books of Permanent TSB, AIB and Bank of Ireland are 50%, 40% and 30%, respectively. These mortgages all are losing money for the aforementioned three institutions. I call on the Leader to ensure that nothing happens with...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Jul 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: I refer to the deployment of members of the Defence Forces to Syria. I am amazed that it happened in this manner and that there has been no comment. The Syrian conflict is perhaps the most vicious this century and we are asking members of the Defence Forces to go into an area in which there will be urban terrorist warfare. I am astonished that it has hardly been commented on in this House,...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Sep 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: I wish to raise the issue of the VAT rate within the hospitality sector and it is particularly relevant to so do before the budget. Figures that are being quoted suggest that an additional 9,000 jobs have been created in the hospitality sector. While they cannot all be due to the benefits the sector has experienced following the reduction of its VAT rate, some of them certainly are. There...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Oct 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: Regarding the matter about what some people in the Fine Gael press office have issued, the matter can be very easily addressed with an apology. I would hope that should end the matter for two of my colleagues. I raise another issue. It is amazing that we are into the budgetary arithmetic yet there is no conversation about the budget in two weeks time. I do not know if people saw the...

Seanad: Protected Disclosures Bill 2013: Committee Stage (1 Oct 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: Many volunteers participate on the basis of bodies, such as the Leader companies, which disperse and disseminate EU and State funds. They are volunteers but there are State funds involved. One would hope that no one would need to act as a whistleblower in such circumstances, but if State moneys are involved, perhaps she Minister could review the matter.

Seanad: An Appreciation of the Life and Work of Seamus Heaney: Statements (3 Oct 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: There are many of us here who could also claim that, a Chathaoirligh. I offer my most sincere condolences to Marie and all the family. I met Seamus Heaney once, in New Ross during the summer, at the opening of the Kennedy homestead. It was not the first time I had come across or spoken to him. Somebody very close to me, whose mother died, was reading a poem by Seamus. That person was...

Seanad: County Enterprise Boards (Dissolution) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (3 Oct 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: Like many Members, I came to the House from a local authority background. I speak as a former member of the Wexford County Enterprise Board. I compliment everyone who was involved in that board, from the chairman to the staff, as well as those who participated voluntarily, either as board members or in a mentoring capacity. Their efforts should not be forgotten at a time when we are looking...

Seanad: Political Reform: Statements (8 Oct 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: We do not need to reinvent the wheel. I do not know whether we need to do exhaustive research, as it has all been done. There are up to eleven reports and many people with much knowledge, skill-sets and abilities who can extract what is good and bring forward a conclusive report on which we all agree. Having been in the other House also, the much bigger question of political reform...

Seanad: Budget 2014: Statements (15 Oct 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: The Taoiseach and Tánaiste were there.

Seanad: Budget 2014: Statements (15 Oct 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Listening to Senator MacSharry, it is somewhat akin to picking a football team in that no one would pick the same team or the same slew of cuts and expenditure changes. However, one point that gets lost on each budget day concerns the actual headline figures. According to the explanatory booklet from the Department of Finance, the deficit for...

Seanad: Budget 2014: Statements (15 Oct 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: We need to be inventive in how we reinvigorate those areas that have over-developed too fast. Of that €200 million I am hopeful, before the ink is dry on anything, that instead of it simply going for X, Y and Z as we have itemised we should initiate a number of pilot projects both in urban and rural Ireland in terms of towns and villages that over-developed. The developers are...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Oct 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: I would like to raise the important issue of medical cards. This Chamber could do a service to the people of the country by asking the Minister to come in here for a non-partisan debate on medical cards where we could put information into the public domain in order that people would realise the circumstances and the criteria on which medical cards are or are not allocated. There is a great...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Oct 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: I raise the issue of the home renovation scheme which was announced in the budget and I welcome its commencement tomorrow. There was a concern that projects which were ready to go might have been paused to benefit from the tax rebate. I also raise the issue of unfinished housing estates. The budget provided for €10 million to go towards a pilot project with five local authorities,...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Nov 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: What about your pensions?

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Nov 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: I am calling on the Leader to request a debate with the Minister for Finance on the reputational damage this country has suffered this year by virtue of the rates of corporation tax being paid by some companies in this jurisdiction. I am aware that the Minister is currently speaking in the Dáil on Second Stage of the Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013. In the recent budget, he took the first...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Schools Building Projects Status (7 Nov 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: I hope I will get as comprehensive a reply as the one to the previous matter. My experience with the Department of Education and Skills, however, is that I will not. Premises used by a post-primary school on an interim basis are about to become vacant. Those premises are being made available to a primary school whose facilities are in very poor condition. To my dismay, the board of...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Schools Building Projects Status (7 Nov 2013)

Michael D'Arcy: I realise that it is difficult for the Minister address this matter, as the situation is not clear. She stated, "The Department advised the delegation of the co-educational demand". This does not suggest that it gave a direction, but that it is coercing those who met the Minister on behalf of the school management. My question was clear - is the offer conditional? It has not been answered...