Results 24,641-24,660 of 26,766 for speaker:David Cullinane

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Skills Development: Discussion with Skillnets (26 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: I welcome the witnesses. I am very supportive of the work that is being done in this area. It is very important, given our current situation. There is a role for a former agency that deals with developing skills in the employers group and the businesses themselves. That is very important. What is missing in Ireland, although some European countries are excellent at it, is fostering the...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: The section deals with capital gains. First, I welcome the increase. It was one of the positive intiatives in the budget, but we wanted the Government to go further. In our alternative budget submission to the Government we called for an increase to 40%, a return to the rate that existed before Charlie McCreevy cut it to 20%. The Minister often asks us for alternatives when we criticise...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: There were a number of recommendations ruled out of order and there was a discussion in the Dáil between my party and the Government. The recommendations would simply tighten the criteria for the operation of the section.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: I am speaking to the section. We wanted to ensure that the people who should benefit see that benefit.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: One of the impediments will be the size of the airport and its ability to deliver. The Minister mentioned earlier that some parts of the country are struggling and underperforming in comparison to other parts. We have problems everywhere. There is no doubt that those problems are magnified in Waterford and the south east. The same is true of Limerick and other areas. The importance of...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: The Minister mentioned regional airports. I will be so bold as to remind him there will be an application from Waterford Airport to extend and expand its runway. The Minister mentioned the importance of having runways of a particular size to ensure there is sufficient capacity for larger numbers of aircraft, perhaps up to 100. A lot of investment has been made in the south east, including...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: The problem with this scheme is that it is far too narrow. Yesterday, on the Order of Business, we had a number of calls from Senators in the House for a debate on town and city centres generally that would look at creative interventions that could be made to help regenerate towns, villages and cities across the State. I am currently doing some work for the Joint Oireachtas Committee on...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: Four years ago this week a motion was tabled in the Dáil, supported by Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Sinn Féin, calling on the then Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government to reduce bankers' pay, bonuses and pensions to ¤250,000. The only people who opposed the motion were Deputies Micheál Martin and Michael McGrath and the now Senator Thomas Byrne, members of Fianna Fáil and the Green...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: I support the call made by Senator Darragh O'Brien for a debate on town and village centres. A pop-up policy has been put in place in Carlow which looks at encouraging enterprises to take up opportunities in vacant properties. It is a pilot scheme and is worthy of debate. I call for a debate on the whole issue of public and private debt, the significant issue which has not been sorted out...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: Several points were raised. Some were general points and not questions, but the Minister has failed to respond to any of them. The Minister responded, in the way that other Ministers respond to questions from Sinn Féin, by pointing north, which is the stock response. We can have a discussion and debate on political representation in the North but obviously it is completely different.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: We are consistent. As the Minister well knows, we are trying to compare apples and oranges. For a moment, let us deal with the issue at hand. The Minister is an elected representative, as am I, and we have a job to do in respect of the Bill before us.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: That is a very strong charge to make-----

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: -----and the Minister might regret it. I would be very careful if I was accusing any party in the North of trying to gerrymander the vote. What the Minister is doing is playing into the hands of a section of the Unionist community who will seize on what he said for their own ends. I think it is an appalling thing for the Minister to say. It is beneath him. It is not something a Minister...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: If the Minister thinks that is true, it says more about him than about the issue itself. I think the Minister will deeply regret what he has said. It will be used in a sinister way by people. The point I put to the Minister-----

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: With respect, the Minister is trying to be smart but he is not being smart. He is trying to be funny and he is not funny.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: Nobody is issuing threats. When I said it would be used in a sinister way, it will be used in a sinister way by people within the Unionist constituency who will seize on what has been said. I think the Minister will regret saying it for those reasons, but that is a matter for himself. The Minister can stand over what he says. The central premise of what the Minister is doing is to save...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister. I, too, am opposed to section 3 because, essentially, it gives effect to the legislation.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: The Minister has created a whole set of problems in doing that. If he really wants a debate on the merger in Waterford, I can have that with him but I want to stick to section 3. I agree with the arguments the speaker from Fianna Fáil made. We are against the reduction in the number of Deputies just for the sake of having a reduction in numbers. Essentially, this is about saving money....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Retail Sector Report: Discussion with RGDATA (12 Mar 2013)

David Cullinane: I thank the three witnesses for their interesting presentations. I agree with most of what was said and disagree with some parts. I agree to an extent with regard to the car parking issue. It is a big problem. When people go to shop they need car parking space. We all accept it is more difficult to provide free parking in city and town centres and easier in out-of-town centres. Part of...