Results 25,981-26,000 of 26,685 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: I think people should understand clearly what this motion is calling for. We are calling for the social inclusion division of the Department of Social Protection to carry out a poverty impact analysis study. We are essentially calling on the Government to start poverty proofing policies. There is nothing wrong with that. We could have a whole raft of anti-poverty organisations - people...

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: I am just making the point that this is the purpose of what we are trying to do. Senator Bradford asked whether Sinn Féin was serious about this amendment. We are absolutely serious about it. We are absolutely serious about dealing with poverty.

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: It is the main reason I got involved in politics. I can see people, including children, who are living in poverty. I deal with it every single day of the week and it motivates me to come into this House when I know that people are struggling out there. I hear politicians say that €100 is only €2 per week but that may be the case for somebody on €70,000, €80,000, €100,000 or...

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Or €75,000. That is a separate issue and I will deal with that in a moment. For people living in poverty, €2 per week is a huge amount of money. In a previous debate today, we had a discussion about the pay and pensions of very senior civil servants and Ministers. I made all those points about difficult times, the hard decisions that had to be made and that we had to find the money...

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Senator Landy is getting very worried. His Dáil aspirations are gone.

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: I have a number of points. I like to enlighten people from the Government parties when they have queries and questions. They sometimes make it very easy for us.

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: The first point I would make on the amendments under discussion is that we cannot table a simple amendment which calls for the complete abolition of the €100 charge because it would be ruled out of order. That is why we have looked at mitigating the worst excesses of the charge and ways in which we can protect people on welfare, including old age pensioners, and those who earn under...

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: I appreciate it is very painful and difficult for Labour Party members at present as they are in very real trouble given they are trying to defend the indefensible and have broken so many promises in regard to their own manifestoes-----

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: -----that they were reduced to clutching at straws, and picking up on this misinformation in newspapers to throw at the Sinn Féin representatives. I know they are scraping the bottom of the barrel but-----

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: -----with respect, they should not make it that easy for us. On another point, the whole purpose of this charge is to raise revenue. Why are people being asked to pay this €100? The Government said there was to be no increase in income tax and that an increase in income tax would hurt people. Yet, many people are being asked to pay this €100 charge, which is €2 per week. It is a...

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: I am dealing with the charge of €100.

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: I am dealing with the €100 charge. The Government is saying anybody on mortgage interest relief is okay. In the budget, it increased the mortgage interest relief to 30% for certain people who are in very real difficulty with their mortgages. While the Government is affording them this welcome relief, it is also taking €100 per week from them. There is no logic to this. The point I am...

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Is the €2 per week coming from the trees?

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Where does the money come from?

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: The problem is that nobody is buying what the Government is selling. People who are to pay the €100 are saying the weekly €2 must come from their income. When I hear the nonsense from Fine Gael and the Labour Party that people are not paying any more income tax, I contend I am paying more taxes. This is a tax.

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: It is in German also.

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: I move amendment No. 1: In page 6, to delete lines 18 to 44 and substitute the following: "(a) in the case of the Taoiseach, a 64 per cent reduction of remuneration in lieu of a reduction of 25 per cent of remuneration; (b) in the case of the Tánaiste, a 59 per cent reduction of remuneration in lieu of a reduction of 19.5 per cent of remuneration; (c) in the case of a Minister of the...

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: It would have an impact. We are entitled to table amendments.

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: If it was irrelevant it would have been ruled out of order.

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (7 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: People talk about point scoring and then refer to the salary of a Deputy and former MP. Sinn Féin is the largest party in the North of Ireland because we are abstentionist. People vote for us on that basis. Deputy Sheahan is factually wrong-----