Results 25,561-25,580 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: I had intended to ask the Minister to end the uncertainty and draw a line under the issue one way or another because this is what retailers and those who invest in property have been seeking for months. The line has been drawn under it, but it also has been drawn firmly under another broken promise by Fine Gael and the Labour Party.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: On the €100 household charge, the Bill has been published by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan. However, it raises more questions than answers. In the detail of the document accompanying the Minister for Finance's statement today, I note the site valuation-based tax is now not proposed to come into effect until 2014. Consequently, it...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: Amendments will be tabled and Members will find out how the Government reacts to them. How much time remains?

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: I have a lot more to say.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: I will be brief.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: This is a socially regressive budget. Its impact will be felt hardest by low and middle income families with children, young people with disabilities, vulnerable elderly people and students trying to chart a better future. The Government had the option of closing loopholes, a measure that was promised, and targeting higher income earners. Instead, it has played its trump card by increasing...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Minister for Finance for his comments about our late colleague, Brian Lenihan, and I want to honour the memory of my predecessor as Fianna Fáil finance spokesperson, former deputy leader of our party and the man who, as Minister for Finance, introduced the last budget one year ago tomorrow. We can all agree that Brian's patriotism and courage in the face of the greatest possible...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: -----and the EU and IMF did not tell the Government to breach its self-imposed pay cap for special advisers to the tune of €35,000. These were political choices made by Fine Gael and the Labour Party. Fianna Fáil has committed itself to a positive approach to opposition. We will not oppose measures for the sake of it, nor have we done so. If we agree with what the Government is doing,...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: Various people who now sit around the Cabinet table have described this country as being banjaxed, as an economic corpse and as a country in a pawn shop. As a true republican party, we will not adopt such a negative, self-serving, corrosive style of opposition.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: I know that Government Deputies would rather there were no Opposition Members in this House but there is an Opposition. We may be small in number but we will make our voices heard, increasingly so from now on. We will call it as we see it but we will never portray this country in a light that is unfair or that will undermine the efforts to improve life for our people. This is a great...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: Over the coming days, people will come to terms with the detail of the cuts and taxation measures announced yesterday and today. They will find many unpleasant surprises buried in the detail of the announcements that have been made, including social welfare rate cuts. For example, for pensions with less than an average of 48 weeks' contributions per year - basically anyone who left the...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: The Government is increasing the number of years' contributions required to qualify for a widow's pension from three years to ten years. One parent family payment is also being cut by bringing the qualifying age of a child to seven. These are rate cuts; they can be dressed up whatever way the Government wants but they are what they are and the people will know it when they get their welfare...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: The Government pretends that rates are being maintained but for many welfare claimants, weekly income will be substantially cut. In the cold light of day, and I hope the Minister reflects on this, there are some measures that should be reconsidered. The cuts the Minister is imposing on young people with disabilities are deeply unfair.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: It is a heartless and cruel cut. Cutting up to €88 per week from young people going on disability allowance, some of whom have severe and profound disabilities, is totally unnecessary and should be reversed.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: Young people with disabilities look forward to having an income of their own. They look forward to the independence it gives them and the quality of life it brings with it. Last year the Minister rounded on Fianna Fáil and the Green Party in Government for imposing a cut on the blind pension and I believe he was right; it was the wrong thing to do.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: What the Minister proposes today on cutting the disability allowance for young people up to the age of 24 is also the wrong thing to do and it should be reversed.

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: The Minister certainly has the backbenchers to drown us out, he has the numbers to bulldoze through whatever measures he wants; he does not need the support of Fianna Fáil or anyone else in Opposition but for the sake of the €7 million saved with this cut, he should have a second look. In education, the changes announced will effectively mean some schools will no longer provide guidance...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: This cut, along with the further cut to student grants and the 20% cut to the fund for students with disabilities at third level-----

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: -----will save a miserly €15 million. Postgraduate education should not be the preserve of the wealthy and if the Minister goes ahead with these cuts, that is exactly what the outcome will be. When that information is placed alongside the report in today's The Irish Times that there are 200 people in the third level sector earning €150,000 and more, with 100 of them earning more than...

Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)

Michael McGrath: On coming into office nine months ago, this Government asked to be judged on its success in tackling the jobs crisis. If it succeeds, I and my party will be the first to congratulate it. The retention of existing jobs and the creation of new jobs must be the number one priority for all of us. We can all accept that making inroads into Ireland's unemployment rate will help to solve so many...