Results 30,081-30,100 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Budget Statement 2006 (6 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: We were promised that our children would be in classes of under 20 pupils. What is the reality? Instead, our weakest pupils are struggling to learn and are falling further behind as the Comptroller and Auditor General recently showed us.

Budget Statement 2006 (6 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: A childhood blighted and, perhaps, a whole life blighted. We were promised a metro by 2007 and a modern transport system for our capital city. Instead, we have day long congestion on the M50 and a bus service that has not seen a single new bus in five years.

Budget Statement 2006 (6 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: We were promised affordable homes in sustainable communities. Instead, we have had the inept policies that have abandoned first-time buyers to hopeless lotteries for the so-called affordable homes that have barely arrived and long commutes from distant green field sites where no facilities exist. This is the legacy of ten years. These are not the problems of success; they are the problems...

Budget Statement 2006 (6 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: It has brought tax to 38% as a proportion of national income. It is higher than it was in the early 1990s when the Tánaiste's party was formed. That party has assisted in increasing tax on ordinary people.

Budget Statement 2006 (6 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: This Government has several firsts on its record. This Government is the first ever to make more people pay at the top rate of tax than at the standard rate. This is the first Government to raise more in VAT than in income tax, because it relies on people who are on low incomes to pay tax. Through its tax policies, it is the first to put an average home beyond the reach of ordinary...

Budget Statement 2006 (6 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: The Tánaiste and his Progressive Democrats Party have made much play of tax and their belief on tax. Only one Government in the past four has reduced the proportion of income spent on tax. I will give Members a clue: it did not contain the Progressive Democrats or Fianna Fáil. The one Government that reduced the tax burden comprised Fine Gael, Labour and the Democratic Left.

Budget Statement 2006 (6 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: That is the reality and the Tánaiste needs to learn to get used to it.

Budget Statement 2006 (6 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: The last time we heard from the Tánaiste, did the property market not stagnate?

Budget Statement 2006 (6 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: What of personal taxation? The Government is supposed to have presented something fair to ordinary families who pay tax. Where is the reform in today's package? The reform, such as it is, is a sum total on personal credits of €2.50 per week. What happened to home carers? They get nothing out of the proposed PAYE increase. Home carers who stay at home and look after families get the...

Budget Statement 2006 (6 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: Last year we were told there would be a five-year plan for child care. The five-year plan only lasted for one year. Having searched high and low all I can find for child care is €2.30 per week on child benefit. How is that to cope with the growing cost of child care? It now costs a family €18,000 in pre-tax income to look after just one child. How is a family with two or three...

Written Answers — General Practitioner Services: General Practitioner Services (5 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: Question 53: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the reason investment in general practice development was reduced in 2005; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41396/06]

Written Answers — General Practitioner Services: General Practitioner Services (5 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: Question 156: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the reason general practitioners received an additional €4 million, after the deduction of back pay, bringing total payments in 2005 for general practitioners to €414 million and in the same year administrative costs increased from €15.5 million to €17 million with regard to the national shared services primary care...

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (5 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: Question 207: To ask the Minister for Finance if persons paying tax under PAYE receive relief in respect of the health levy, of standard pension contributions, and AVCs; and if similar concessions apply to the self employed. [41366/06]

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (5 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: Question 238: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if in respect of children who attend special schools in the Dublin area, she will confirm that where such children have an existing speech and language facility provided through various service providers, that that service is then lost to such children when they attend special schools, as her Department states that these schools have...

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (5 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: Question 263: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will request that the Health Service Executive reconsider the catchment area imposed for access to the physiotherapy service of Beaumont Hospital. [41216/06]

Written Answers — Nursing Home Charges: Nursing Home Charges (5 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: Question 292: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the reason the schedules for repaying the illegal nursing home charges are not being met; and if she has received the same flow of complaints from people who are getting repeat requests for information already submitted which this Deputy is receiving. [41507/06]

Written Answers — Health Service Allowances: Health Service Allowances (5 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: Question 293: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will review the conditions under which mobility allowance is granted in order that it would cover conditions such as agoraphobia where persons with this condition have a clear need and would benefit from opportunities for mobility. [41508/06]

Written Answers — Road Network: Road Network (5 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: Question 408: To ask the Minister for Transport the cost of the projects listed in his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 136 of 16 November 2006; and the cost of the projects completed in 2002 and 2003 with their locations and the kilometres of road in each case. [41120/06]

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (5 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: Question 486: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if all special schools in the Dublin area have access to a full time or part time speech and language teacher; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41342/06]

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (5 Dec 2006)

Richard Bruton: Question 487: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of the special schools in the Dublin area that have been granted a part time or full time speech and language teacher by the Health Service Executive, that have been unable to fill such a post due to difficulties in recruitment; her views on allowing such schools to employ speech and language teachers directly through her...