Results 1,801-1,820 of 7,986 for speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice

Heritage Bill 2016 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Is Deputy Connolly suggesting farmers are to blame?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I move amendment No. 64: In page 53, to delete line 10 and substitute the following: “(i) in paragraph (4), by substituting “2 per cent of stamp duty for the first €300,000, 4 per cent from €300,000 to €500,000, and 6 per cent from €500,000 thereafter on non-residential holdings” for “6 per cent”, and”. The rate...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I am not an experienced politician but I back Deputy Burton up because I was informed a few days after the budget that an organisation in Dublin was told on the Friday before the budget. That is what I heard and I claim that what I say is the truth. In the line of what the Minister of State has said, we all need clarification on this transition period. There is no point coming out of a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the Minister for his offer of a meeting, which is urgently required. In the past three weeks, I have seen a tenfold increase in the number of actions taken by these faceless vulture funds.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Yes. Last week, I drove to Belfast to meet people because it is not possible to meet the vulture funds. Capita, a company which operates in different parts of Ireland, is dealing with the issue. To cite one case with which I dealt, a man who is suffering from cancer had a loan on which €33,000 was owed. The figure had increased to €40,000 when Capita bought the loan with...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: We will not put this to a vote, but we will table it on Report Stage when we will push it to a vote. This section is anti-rural. I have outlined the issue already. I appreciate that the Minister of State rather than the Minister was present for the discussion, but we have not received clarification around the ambiguity concerning the matter to which Deputies Burke, Martin Kenny and Michael...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Deputy Burke may come in on this point, as he outlined it clearly. There is a problem with getting money from the banks if a person does not have the certificate. Will the Minister address that situation?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I move amendment No. 67: In page 53, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: “(2) For the consolidation of farms a 1 per cent stamp duty should be applied.”. This amendment deals with the consolidation of farms. Some farmers might have land ten, 20 or 30 miles away from the principal farm, perhaps through marriage or getting land from an aunt or an uncle. We...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the Minister for his reply. I welcome his response and because he said that he will address the issue, we will withdraw the amendments. We are thankful to him.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I welcome the Minister's commitment to meet Deputies to discuss the vulture funds, in respect of which the amendments sought to introduce a high rate of stamp duty. I note and understand amendment No. 68 has been ruled out of order because a member of the Opposition cannot raise a tax on a person, but a company is not a person. We will redraft the amendment before Report Stage. The...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement Staff (14 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 197. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will request the Garda Commissioner to ensure that the detective inspector post at the Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement is filled as a matter of urgency in view of the fact that this post has been vacant for the past 14 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47672/17]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointments Status (14 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 275. To ask the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) will be admitted to the National Rehabilitation Hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47670/17]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Card Applications (14 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 327. To ask the Minister for Health when a decision will be made regarding a medical card application by a person (details supplied); his views on whether it is correct for an application to take seven months to be processed despite having received all information; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48024/17]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Scheme Payments (14 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 356. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the information technology system issue that is holding up payments to agricultural planners for GLAS courses (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47661/17]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Services Provision (14 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: 422. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will request Iarnród Éireann to increase the frequency of the Dublin to Sligo train service in each direction at the weekends; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47674/17]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I believe the farming organisations, Deputies in rural areas and the Department have the biggest sequestration area in the country. Rural Ireland is what sequesters a lot of carbon and it is taking the biggest hit for everything that goes wrong. It is not the planes, the lorries or the transport. It is rural Ireland. It is their cows. We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: I wish to know that figure. How accurate are the figures that are being given out? To whom can we talk to ascertain how this debt is compiled? The then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, said last year there would be a review. We were not happy with some of the ways the carbon figure was being added up in Ireland. Are we basically just taking figures from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Although we have got good, it still is said that the national herd should be slaughtered, that we should get rid of farmers and those farmers should not live. To be blunt, I would call those who are coming out with this stuff idiots. What went on in the Citizen's Assembly was misguided information. If the head of the Citizen's Assembly had any respect for the people of Ireland, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Mr. Callanan mentioned Pillar 1 and Pillar 2. Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 were introduced to ensure that the food produced is affordable This was the first aim of the EU. Without that support, food production would be more expensive and farmers would not be able to survive. Ireland is a net contributor to the EU such that money provided for Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 is our own money. As I said,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Issues: Discussion (14 Nov 2017)

Michael Fitzmaurice: Is it 175 kg for a dairy cow?