Results 26,641-26,660 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Committee and Remaining Stage (17 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: -----insisting on a Whip which does not allow for mature debate.

Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Second Stage (17 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: This is one of the rare occasions when we get the opportunity to ask pretty fundamental questions about ourselves and whether politics in Ireland is fit for purpose. It is a very important question at the moment, because so much change needs to be made in this country that politics alone can lead. It is a unique situation whereby getting ourselves out of the economic and social problems we...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: Question 306: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food his expenditure on public relations, advertising, consultancies, conferences and away days in the period before and after the decision to halve expenditure on these activities; if he is satisfied that every effort is made to minimise expenditure that does not have a direct impact on the Department's key performance...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: I was intrigued by the Minister's statement last night when he was explaining what he was doing and why he was excluding certain commercial bodies. He said it was because the pay of those bodies is funded through their own commercial efforts. That is some explanation as to why Anglo Irish Bank is being excluded. Anglo Irish Bank is on a drip-feed from the taxpayer. It would not be in...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: It is hard to credit the arguments we are being offered to explain the exclusion of Anglo Irish Bank and NAMA from the obligations here. It raises a wider issue, which is that we are singling out the public service for pay cuts. The Government has decided that it will not address the commercial State bodies because it feels their industrial relations muscle is too great to take on. Is the...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: It is the context for this. The chief executive of the Central Bank, which is listed among these agencies which are exempt, has decided that there is an emergency in this country and that he will ask his staff to take a cut. It is not just himself and the director of the Financial Regulator - he is taking himself right out of the exemption limit that was available. The Minister will be...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: How many commercial loans did Anglo Irish Bank give this year?

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: That was part of the grey area.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: For the outsider looking in, having a good pedigree has got much to do with whether one is on or off this list. The judges are off it as they have excellent pedigree. We are expected to believe the reason the National Treasury Management Agency is exempt is because it has secrecy in what it pays itself. It sets its own rates in secret and the Oireachtas does not oversee it so it cannot cut...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: I know, unfortunately, we are straying from this and we do not have a chance to reach the substance of the Bill. Although the Ceann Comhairle made this ruling, we tried to stay within the order of the House by offering savings in one area to exempt the low paid. We were informed the amendment was out of order even though it would have secured more than enough to prevent the cuts for...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: I would have liked an opportunity to vote on an amendment that would have exempted the low paid.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: Perhaps the Leas-Cheann Comhairle could raise it on my behalf.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: Was there consultation on the second round?

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 3: In page 4, line 13, to delete ", a member of the judiciary".

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: Context.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: I signalled my wish to speak on the amendments.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: Amendment No. 3 is in my name.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: I am happy to go on the end of the list.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: I am not content with the Minister of State's response. Basically, he accepts that the judges should take a cut in their pay, he cites the remuneration group as evidence in support of that, and he states he will facilitate a voluntary cut in the Finance Bill. Deputy Charles Flanagan, who I thought the Minister of State was including in his praise for persons with a legal background, made the...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2009)

Richard Bruton: I wish to make a single comment.