Results 32,761-32,780 of 35,959 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister's answer may be clever, but there was no fiction about the person who telephoned "Liveline". Under the Minister's watch in 2012, a man stole so that his children could have breakfast in the morning.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: He existed. He exists today under the Minister's watch.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister may claim that such people did not exist under British rule at the time of the Famine. Of course they existed, and they still exist. They are very real today. That is the Minister's legacy. There is no equality or poverty proofing of these measures. The Minister must admit that a man who shoplifted so that his children could have the bare necessities was convicted for doing so.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 6: In page 7, subsection (2)(a), line 6, after "achieved" to insert the following:"in a manner consistent with paragraph (a)".

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 7: In page 7, subsection (2), between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following:"(e) outline how revenue and expenditure measures will contribute to the objectives of greater income equality, social inclusion and poverty reduction.".

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 8: In page 7, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following subsection:"(3) All revenue and expenditure measures contained in the plan must be subject to equality and anti-poverty impact assessments the details of which will be published as appendices to the plan.".

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 9: In page 7, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following subsection:"(3) The plan shall only be adopted following approval of the Oireachtas.".

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: I have tabled a number of amendments and I will try to deal with them. The Minister mentioned an adjustment plan could most likely result in unpalatable choices. This would not be in line with the amendment I tabled, which is that the plan should prioritise economic growth, job creation and high-quality public services. Perhaps we should prioritise the plan we are in at present. As...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: Is it after 2015 in terms of the structural deficit because that is the key point? My understanding is that we have three years in which to reach the structural deficit target.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: I have the information in my office.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 5: In page 7, subsection (2), between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following: "(a) prioritise the generation of economic growth, job creation and delivery of high quality public services,".This amendment relates to the warning from the Commission and the requirement for the Government to lay before the Dáil within two months a plan specifying what it proposes to do...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: Amendment No. 6 specifies that the budget rule be achieved in a manner that is in compliance with economic growth, job creation and the delivery of high-quality public services. Amendment No. 7 stipulates that the plan shall outline how any revenue and expenditure measures will contribute to the objectives of greater income equality, social inclusion and poverty reduction. This echoes what...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: Section 4 does not include the condition in section 3 which allows the budgetary rule to be waived in exceptional circumstances. There is no such provision in respect of the debt rule. Even in the event of exceptional circumstances involving significant increases in debt, slow growth or contraction of the economy we would still have to comply with the one 20th rule. We all hope there will...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: Assumptions can be very dangerous. We are enshrining these provisions in domestic legislation and they will apply not just between 2019 and 2021 but indefinitely. We do not know what will happen to the economy or what type of exceptional circumstances will arise. I question the Minister’s judgment in regard to whether we will get more flexibility because it is not written into the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: I understand the difficulties that are inherent to long-term forecasts but the IMF has produced long-term forecasts on the structural deficit for the years after 2015. I do not have the figures to hand but it has suggested that the structural deficit in 2016 and 2017 will be considerable. Could the Minister comment on that? I know it is contrary to other advice and the Minister mentioned...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: The structural deficit is central to this section.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: That is fair enough.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: Will the Minister answer the question? How will we calculate the structural deficit? Section 2 refers to compliance with "the requirement imposed by section 4 (the debt rule)," and the budgetary rule. How will the Government calculate them? If the Minister does not know how he will calculate the structural deficit, he need only tell us. I do not want to replay the referendum but this is...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: Section 4 requires us, in line with the treaty, to reduce that portion of debt above 60% of GDP by one-twentieth each year. My understanding is that this rule would come into force in 2018. Has the Department calculated projections of the growth rates and inflation that would be required for Ireland not to impose additional austerity budgets on the people? What level of growth is required...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: I am disappointed that the amendments have been ruled out of order. This goes to the crux of the Bill, regarding the requirements contained therein to enshrine in domestic law the austere rules contained within the austerity treaty. I had tabled a proposal that instead of committing the Government to imposing such budgetary rules, in the future it would have an option to impose them. This...