Results 2,241-2,260 of 4,465 for speaker:Jim Walsh

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: I would like to share two minutes of my time with Senator Cullinane.

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: I welcome the Minister to the House and congratulate him on his appointment. We served together in the past.

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: I am conscious that he has the intellectual capacity to undertake the task he has been given.

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: That is not acceptable. We should be allowed to at least finish this element of it. It will only run over for a couple of minutes.

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: I welcome the initiative the Minister took in recent days in the area of pay in the public service and also in the semi-State sector. More important than pay is the quality and leadership skills of people in these senior positions. The NTMA, since it was established under the leadership of former Minister for Finance, Mr. Ray MacSharry, and former Taoiseach, the late Mr. Charles Haughey,...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: I advise the Minister to take as much external advice as he possibly can garner. Last year when the budget was published and the figures and prognosis were predicated on a 2.75% GDP growth rate this year, I stated that we would be fortunate to get anywhere near half of it. From speaking to the Minister, I am aware that he expects growth of 2.5% next year. Budgets should be based on a...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: I suggest Mr. Michael O'Leary.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: On a point of order, the Leader should request that Ministers facilitate the House rather than have the House facilitate Ministers. It is important to point out that it is the obligation of Ministers to come to this House.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: It is a point of order for the House.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: I support Senator O'Donovan's call for the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to come to the House for a debate on mariculture and aquaculture. The size of that industry here is less than one tenth of that in Scotland, which illustrates how we have failed to exploit the resource the sea represents for us. Our shipping, fishing, mariculture and aquaculture sectors are a pale reflection of what they...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: This means they are getting multiple amounts compared with people working full-time for the State and doing much more important work. It is continuing with gay abandon and is disgraceful. I ask the Leader for an early debate on the matter. It is one of the big failures of the previous Government, which should have tackled it. I hope the current Government will not drag its feet in that...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: I second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by Senator Daly, who has been consistent in raising this issue. I thought the Taoiseach's statement was courageous but I was concerned to hear him backtrack under pressure from officialdom. Many of the economic and fiscal difficulties we are encountering arose because people within the public service were not giving the advice that...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: -----but also the EU itself will be seriously challenged. I ask the leader to arrange a debate on this issue at an early date.

Seanad: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: It is a wealth tax.

Seanad: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: That highlights the real inequity of this measure. It goes back to the point made by Senator Darragh O'Brien at the start of his contribution - that the levy on the portion of somebody who is a relatively new member, quantum wise, will be small. That is because his fund will be small, unlike somebody who is almost at the end of his working life and who may well have shipped considerable...

Seanad: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: It is very much part of the overall debate.

Seanad: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: Will it be on a percentage, for example?

Seanad: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: It is a deferred tax.

Seanad: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: On specifically what the Minister of State has said, people who invested, many of them in their earlier years, would have been on the standard rate-----

Seanad: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2011 (Certified Money Bill): Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Jun 2011)

Jim Walsh: -----and, as they progressed with their careers, would have gone on to the top rate. In fact, every amount that they put in plus any increase - in this instance, they may well be looking at decreases - will be taxed now at their marginal rate, which, in most instances, will be the top rate of tax. All one is doing is deferring tax. If the Government did not provide that incentive, there...