Results 1,301-1,320 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: He has raised an extra €9,000 since the general election in 2002 from every household in the country. I am sure the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, would be interested in the pledge that only 20% of people would be on the top rate of tax. A year from the end of the term, what figure is it? According to the Minister's announcement it is 32.6%.

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: There will now be 250,000 taxpayers.

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: The Government has reneged on its commitment. Far from reducing the number of people paying tax at the top rate the number is increasing every year and the Minister knows that because it is in his own tables today. The Minister has taken a number of people on the minimum wage out of the tax net by raising the threshold to €15,600, approximately €300 over the minimum wage for the year. By...

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, told us the billions in waste the Government has committed to was just as nought. The Minister should concentrate on his own area of responsibility. The billions in waste were just small change as far as he is concerned.

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: This approach to Government spending has meant that the Government has not been able to index allowances and bands over the years since the general election and this has hurt ordinary families. An ordinary married couple with one earner has lost, through the failure to index tax bands and credits, €1,300 since 2002. How much of that is restored today? It is €20 per week, less than...

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: How can the Minister for Finance present this budget as meeting the needs of families when he does that to people trying to cope on one income? The Government deserves no credit for very belatedly closing down various tax reliefs and capping others.

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: Indeed, it is a phased, delayed approach. In truth I have been trying for the past three years to persuade the Minister and his predecessor to accept the need to cap these allowances and bring an end to a system where some people pay no tax. Some 80 people earning more than €250,000 paid no tax this year. Where is the justice in that?

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: Where is the justice in the fact that 116 people derive €1 million a year each from these credits and will continue to do so because most of them will continue for 13 or 14 years to come? They are not closed because all those people with the big rent books will just move on to private hospitals or private nursing homes. The Minister has closed one door but opened another and that is not...

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: The truth is——

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: ——this Government has been screwing families who find it hard to get by because of the tax take and we do not need Eddie Hobbs to tell us the reality. The Government's tax take on an ordinary house costing €300,000 is almost €100,000. The Government's tax take on a car that costs €22,000 is €8,500 and its take from €40 of petrol is €25.

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: There is no suggestion of abolishing them but why has the Government asked every household in the country to pay €4,000 extra in taxation? Why has the Government only been able to give €20 a week to people who have had to pay such money in extra tax? The Government has become soft and comfortable, it does not heed waste or value for money in public spending and that is why people have to...

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: Too little attention has been paid to saving money and using it prudently. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has been guilty of waste, with the price he is willing to pay for land.

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: He wasted €300 million, a drop in the ocean in Government terms, but it could have funded medical cards for children under five, subsidised 20,000 new child care places, put in place 5 million extra home help hours or carried out 20,000 extra inpatient operations.

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: Instead the money is wasted on e-voting machines, Media Lab Europe, paying top prices for land; the list goes on and on.

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: The Minister announced a concession of €19.20 a week to parents who need child care. To pay for child care in Dublin, a working mother must earn €300 a week, €15,500 per year, even after the Minister's concession in today's budget. How does she have a second child when she needs €30,000 a year in pre-tax income before she gets a penny for herself? That is the reality facing parents....

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: Every Deputy was canvassed by Barnardos to deal with child poverty and there was a legitimate expectation this budget would address the issue. I am alarmed that nothing has been done to get to grips with child poverty. Over 100,000 live in consistent poverty but nothing has been done to increase the child dependant allowance, the lowest rate of payment for people in serious hardship on...

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: Where is the justice for older people, who have served this country so well for so many years, when the Government treats them in this despicable way? There has been nothing but disappointment for the old in this country. I wish the Tánaiste well in attempting to address this. She told us some years ago that all of the saving on the SSIAs —€600 million — would go towards the...

Budget Statement 2005. (7 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: The Minister has not rolled back the tide. I am disappointed that at a time householders and businesses have doubled their borrowings and are exposed to significant pressure from increasing interest rates, more has not been done to address the serious financial issues against which the State must protect. The SSIAs should have been used to copperfasten the financial soundness of ordinary...

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (8 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: Question 68: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food her plans to address concerns regarding the implementation of the nitrates directive; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37727/05]

Written Answers — Food Industry: Food Industry (8 Dec 2005)

Richard Bruton: Question 51: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of meetings of the Food Agency Co-Operation Council in 2004 and to date in 2005; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37726/05]