Results 1,121-1,140 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: Is this a hit me now with the child in my arms intervention?
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: The third and biggest mistake of the Government is to think that the purpose of all the pain and suffering is to restore Ireland to where it was in Bertie Ahern's time. The dream of restoring a lost Camelot is always a huge mistake. Bertie Ahern's Ireland is dead and gone and it will never be restored. The Galway tent is gone, the FÃS trips to Florida are gone, the subsidised travel from...
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: The flipping of property in the fashionable pubs of Dublin after work on Friday will not happen again. The bubble cannot be re-inflated and the Government policy designed to restore lost times cannot succeed. We need a new Ireland, a lean and more generous Ireland, where we support strong families and strong communities, where volunteerism is again honoured, and where people work hard and...
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: We need a reformed political system and a talented, fit for purpose public service needs to be developed once more. We need new policies to support growth and jobs. A fatal flaw in this budget is that there is nothing in it to get the economy growing again. The Minister will recall that even though his four year plan published two weeks ago is based on a growth rate in 2011 of 1.75%, on 29...
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: More importantly, there were no policy decisions taken to underpin the expenditure cuts.
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: The Taoiseach will be in here tomorrow and I want him to state clearly the policy decisions that will underpin the expenditure cuts registered in the tables at the back of the circulated document. I hope the Government is not faking it. I want the Taoiseach to explain the expenditure cuts. I notice that in the four year plan there is a figure of â¬700 million for the sale of State assets....
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: He made no reference to a reduction in capital spending today but a quick look at the tables at the back of the document suggests the Government is taking approximately â¬1.8 billion out in capital spending. He has not nominated the key projects in those cutbacks. Is metro north proceeding, for example?
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: Where will be the heavy hits? The Deputy will be walking home and will have no metro. He will be walking to Swords.
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: As two thirds of the adjustment to get to â¬6 billion derives from public expenditure cuts, there is an onus on the Government to explain the figures. As the Minister for Finance did not do so, the Taoiseach could come to the House tomorrow morning to spell out the policy decisions taken that will underpin expenditure cuts up to â¬4 billion. The Minister for Finance did not do it today.
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: The income tax adjustments are equally puzzling. The Minister stated he would cut the tax credit by 10%, which is fairly obvious, although the universal social charge is still a mystery. This charge, as those with a long memory recall, comes from an announcement last year by the Minister that he intended to put the health levy, PRSI and the income levy together. When questioned in the...
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: The Department of Finance was of the view that the tax neutral position is now in excess of 9%, and if one wanted to collect extra income one would have to go beyond that. Curiously, the Minister mentioned in today's speech the introduction of a universal social charge but did not nominate the rate at which it would be introduced. That is not fair and when a budget is presented, it must be...
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: It is in the small print.
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: As Deputy Gogarty pointed out, the rate is detailed in the appendix. Is the intent to be revenue-neutral or is the intent to collect extra revenue from the universal social charge?
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: That is a very important policy pronouncement which the Minister should have made in his speech but did not. There are many issues not clear in this budget.
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: The Minister does not have a high regard for carers with his income tax provision, as the tax credit for carers has decreased from â¬900 to â¬810. On top of that, he has cut the carer's allowance and did not exempt it like the old-age pension.
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: Carers have it tough and it is a vulnerable area that should have been protected. The Minister did not do so.
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: I am glad the Minister exempted the contributory and non-contributory old-age pensions from the social welfare cuts but he did not exempt widows.
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: Why would the Minister distinguish between old-age pensions and widows' pensions? What kind of social compass suggests that widows can afford the cut and old-age pensioners cannot?
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: Why would he do this? Why would he cut blind persons' and invalidity pensions, as well as carers' pensions? The only exemption forced on him is the old-age pension. I do not understand why a Government would be so socially blind as to include vulnerable persons where the total tax take is so small anyway. The Minister could have got most of what he wanted from the main social welfare...
- Budget Statement 2011 (7 Dec 2010)
Michael Noonan: The Minister has cut jobseeker's allowance by â¬8 and made no increase in the child dependant allowance in social welfare; it remains the same as last year. Child benefit is down by â¬10 per child for the first and second child. What has the Minister got against third children? In his speech he stated there would be an extra â¬10 cut from the child benefit of the third child only. The...