Results 27,861-27,880 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: This amendment deals with the increase in VAT. There is a general sense that this was not the most appropriate move to make at present. It may serve to depress the market, particularly at the present time with Border trade suffering acutely. The gap has widened between the UK's rate, which has decreased to 15%, and the rate that applies in Ireland. It was not the best move in the budget...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: The Minister coughed at the moment he was saying that my amendment would prove to be of high cost to the Exchequer. My understanding was that restricting it would reduce the cost to the Exchequer, by confining it. I could not quite follow the logic of what the Minister was saying. In his elaboration of the cases, where he sees opportunities for this scheme, the only deviation I saw from my...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: I am not really satisfied with the Minister's response. I can see the "suck it and see" argument and accept that the "surrender and regrant" approach has a long tradition, which goes back into the annals of history. People pay the money, in effect, and the concession is regranted. That gives a better hold, as the original inventors of the scheme thought it would, over their fiefdoms. I am...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 16: In page 38, line 18, after "year" to insert the following: "except in the case of persons aged 70 years or over, when it means the highest rate at which they paid tax".

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: I am not exactly clear as to the Government's intention. I understood it proposed a period to allow for the postponement of the purchase of an annuity.

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: That does not seem to be reflected in the Finance Bill as we have seen it. My amendment is a reflection of an amendment I tabled last year and relates to the inequity of the current arrangements whereby people in defined contribution pension schemes are forced to purchase annuities, whereas self-employed people investing money in retirement funds have the flexibility, once they have other...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: The Minister contends I am raising a wider issue; I am not. In two years time, the Minister will be faced with this same issue. As he rightly says, if the market has not recovered he will again force people to buy at low interest rates annuities that will be wholly unsatisfactory. I raise the point that what is good for the self-employed and has applied to the self-employed for a...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 20: In page 50, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following: "16.—Part 30 of the Principal Act shall be amended by inserting a new section: "(785) A person who reaches retirement under a Defined Contribution Pension Scheme shall from 1 March 2009 not be required to purchase an annuity unless they do not have an income equivalent to the Non-Contributory Old Age...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: On a point of order, on Committee Stage a contention was circulated to all members of the Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service to the effect that this amendment would assist only eight out of 95 of the qualifying types of Seveso investments.

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: However, the section was not reached on Committee Stage. I tabled an amendment in the expectation that I could speak on the section because there was no opportunity to address the section on Committee Stage. If the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's order stands, there will be no opportunity at any stage in the debating procedure to address this issue. Consequently, I move: "That the Bill be...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: My understanding is that this section introduces a concession for urban dockland developments where there is a need to move certain activities from such lands to new sites to free the former for wider development. In principle, I can see the merit in a tax relief. However, the Minister will have had sight of the letters sent to the committee in which it has been presented that this...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 18: In page 47, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: "(c) are derived from innovative activities meaning the development of a new technological, telecommunication, scientific or business process". I beg the Acting Chairman's pardon. I was momentarily distracted. This matter came up in the Committee Stage debate when we were discussing the remittance tax...

Written Answers — Private Rented Accommodation: Private Rented Accommodation (16 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: Question 142: To ask the Taoiseach the number of rented properties identified in Dublin city and in each electoral district within the city in the last census; and the number of these rented properties which were bedsits. [45955/08]

Written Answers — Banking Sector Regulation: Banking Sector Regulation (16 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: Question 167: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has examined the difficulties created for people who are on high mortgages at fixed rates and who are receiving no relief from falling rates; if he has raised their plight in his discussions with the banks; and if initiatives for easing their problems have been put forward. [45953/08]

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (16 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: Question 168: To ask the Minister for Finance the way the income tax levy will apply to maintenance payments in the terms of the giver and the receiver; and if protections have been put in place to prevent double taxation. [45954/08]

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (16 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: Question 177: To ask the Minister for Finance if a report has been carried out on the compliance cost of the C2 certification system; if its regulations continue to be required for the protection of tax revenue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46108/08]

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (16 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: Question 238: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if her Department or the Health Service Executive has considered the establishment of a centre of excellence for the support and treatment of persons with rare chromosome disorders of whom there may be as many as 24,000 nationwide; the criteria that would be applied in deciding whether the development of a centre of excellence was...

Written Answers — Garda Disciplinary Proceedings: Garda Disciplinary Proceedings (16 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: Question 287: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a Garda investigation carried out on behalf of the Garda Ombudsman Commission, which results in disciplinary action being taken by the Garda authorities, prevents the Ombudsman Commission from taking further disciplinary action even if it is dissatisfied with the outcome of...

Written Answers — Rented Accommodation: Rented Accommodation (16 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: Question 397: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of bedsit units currently within the public housing stock and the private housing stock; if he has estimated the cost of compliance in the public and in the private sector of achieving the new standards; when the new standards will come into force; and the length of time which will be given to...

Written Answers — Inquiry into Child Abuse: Inquiry into Child Abuse (16 Dec 2008)

Richard Bruton: Question 478: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if it is within the scope of the Commission on Child Abuse to consider court committal cases in which children were sent into institutional care; if not, the reason this element of the abuse was excluded from the scope of the investigation; the extent to which the commitment (details supplied) in 1999 to examine the origin and...