Results 1,381-1,400 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: Thank you. With regard to the recommendation, I would prefer if the report could be prepared within one month rather than three but it is welcome that the Minister has seen fit to accept the amendment which was proposed by Deputy Burton in the Dáil and is willing to produce such a report. It is interesting to note that the preparation of a report by the Government does not of itself...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: On a point of order, it does not, in fact, do that. What the Acting Chairman has just said is inaccurate. It calls for the preparation of a report.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: There seems to be a misunderstanding. I raise a point of order pursuant to Standing Order 40. With respect, there is a misunderstanding on the part of the Cathaoirleach because this is not a proposal for a Tobin tax, rather, it is a proposal that a report be prepared. There are seven other recommendations before the House, from my party and others, calling for reports to be prepared. In...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: That is very helpful. I wish to establish that there will not now be another reason why the recommendations cannot be raised on Report Stage, as they have not been moved on Committee Stage.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: That is very helpful, but I am concerned it could be a dead letter. In normal circumstances, an amendment which is not moved on Committee Stage cannot be moved on Report Stage. Another obstacle has now been created.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: I support the recommendation and the idea behind it. It is important to make the distinction between the principle of introducing staged payments in, say, personal injuries accidents and the tax treatment of such payments. Although they are linked, these are slightly different. What I understand as being proposed is a very sensible progressive means of ensuring the tax treatment of such...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: I raise this matter for the purposes of information. I refer to the change to the age-related tax credit for health insurance premiums. I am not raising a query in the sense that I am not opposing this measure and I do not have any basis for opposing it. On the face of it, this looks quite acceptable. However, I have two questions. What is the policy rationale for this, in terms of...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: I have listened carefully and with great interest to the debate. There are fundamental questions that arise in the course of the discussion that deserve lengthier treatment, perhaps on another occasion. Senator O'Toole is correct to raise the overarching policy implications of what is proposed. On the face of it, what is proposed has an attraction. However, there is one aspect on which...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: No one said that.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: I move recommendation No. 29: In page 160, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following subsection: "(2) The Minister shall within one month from the passing of this Act prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the estimate of the VAT likely to be charged by local and public authorities annually under this section and an estimate of the amount such authorities will be likely to...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: The recommendation did not seek the information today and I accept the Minister's point that it is not easily ascertainable. Given the complexities she just set out, I even accept it might not be possible to ascertain the information in a month. I would be amenable to a suggestion similar to the Minister's earlier recommendation for a provision from one to three or more months to ascertain...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: I move recommendation No. 35: In page 210, before section 149, to insert the following new section: 149.—The following section is inserted in the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009 after section 1: "1A.—(1) For the purposes of this Act, 'the Oversight Committee' shall mean a committee of the Houses of the Oireachtas, or a sub-committee thereof so enjoined and appointed by a...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: I am a reasonably active Member of the Oireachtas and I have not spotted any oversight going on around here in the past three months. If anybody else has seen any they might speak up because I have not seen a single item of oversight of NAMA in a committee or on the floor of this House, and there has not been any in the other House. That is my response to the Minister's first point about...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Committee Stage. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: I move recommendation No. 36: In page 210, before section 149, to insert the following new section: 149.---The following section is inserted in the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009 after section 2: "2A.---Every 6 months NAMA shall report to the Houses of the Oireachtas setting out details of its operation including the identities of the owners of, and particulars (including value)...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Report and Final Stages. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: On a point of order, I ask the Cathaoirleach to reconsider his ruling or if he is not prepared to do so - in which case I will respect his ruling - to indicate the basis for it. I note that two Committee Stage recommendations were drafted in precisely the same terms, that the Minister should within a particular period from the passing of the Bill "prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Report and Final Stages. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: There is no proposal for the introduction of such a tax. That is a misreading of the recommendation.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Report and Final Stages. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: It might have been better if perhaps the decision had been communicated in those terms earlier. Recommendation No. 1 not moved.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2010 (Certified Money Bill): Report and Final Stages. (25 Mar 2010)

Alex White: I second recommendation No. 2.

Seanad: Banking: Statements (31 Mar 2010)

Alex White: It is always a pleasure to follow my namesake. There is no doubt that Anglo Irish Bank has poisoned the well of this country's banking sector and also its economy. What happened at that bank led to the making of the decisions that were announced yesterday in the Dáil. I do not accept, however, that this issue can be reduced to alleging wrongdoing on the part of certain named individuals....

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (31 Mar 2010)

Alex White: I wish to record my strong support for this important amendment tabled by Senator Fitzgerald and it will be interesting to hear the Minister of State's response. This is a relatively new area of policy delivery and a number of reports have been prepared. While not all the information available is universally positive, there definitely have been improvements that it is important to...