Results 32,781-32,800 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: I query the reason amendment No. 2 has been ruled out of order and seek an explanation.

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

Pearse Doherty: The legislation goes further than implementation of the rules of the austerity treaty. As members are aware, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council is part of it, as the reporting mechanism and what the Government would be obliged to do in responding to the advice of the council also are included. I am not questioning the ruling but simply seeking clarification of the rules. However, the...

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

Pearse Doherty: My question was directed to the Minister.

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

Pearse Doherty: By not including the text that we would implement the rules only if it was conducive to the social and economic development of the State, it is an admission that we will implement them regardless of whether it is conducive to the social and economic development of the State. This is a big problem concerning the path the Government has been following. We have been focused very much on...

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

Pearse Doherty: My final point-----

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

Pearse Doherty: I accept that, but I am speaking to section 2, not the proposed amendments. The Minister has said the purpose of section 2 is to bind this and future Governments to rules in order that we do not go crazy in the future. There is no doubt that there was an element of craziness to what happened during the boom time. The Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government inflated the property bubble....

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

Pearse Doherty: This goes to the core of the section which, as the Minister said, will stop the craziness. Up to 2008, before the economic collapse, the State was in compliance with the rules enshrined in domestic legislation. The Minister has a valid point in questioning whether there was an actual structural surplus at the time, given the volume of transactional taxes. The figures were accepted by the...

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

Pearse Doherty: My question was how would we define the model to be used in calculating the structural deficit. Will it be defined by the Department of Finance or will the European model be used? Will the Minister publicise how the structural deficit will be defined? The Minister has suggested that the structural deficit, in how it was calculated in 2007 and previous years, was probably inaccurate. He is...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Network (18 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to complete the Western Arc project before the end of this Government’s term [45132/12]

Home Help and Home Care Services: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (17 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: I am very conscious that we are talking about figures - 450,000 here, a 4% cut there and savings of €8 million. However, behind every one of those figures is an individual with a particular need for care. Many of these individuals have been in receipt of home help support for many years. As the HSE on the Government's instruction has decided to cut more hours, they have been assessed...

Home Help and Home Care Services: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (17 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: I do not know who the Minister is trying to kid with his last statement. It is a bit rich for him as Minister for Health to come to this House and state this is his guiding policy while at the same time overseeing the removal of 1 million hours of home care support from these very vulnerable people. It is an appalling decision by the Government and the parties which will support the...

Topical Issue Debate: Garda Strength (17 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: I have a couple of points to make to the Minister. His last comments show that he fails to understand rural areas. It is not about the size of the station but about the presence and service it provides. Culdaff, Dunkineely and Doochary are wee villages and do not need a massive Garda station, but they need the service. The service was taken away from them by the Government. The Minister...

Topical Issue Debate: Garda Strength (17 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: Last Saturday evening in the town of Kincasslagh in County Donegal, which is probably best known throughout the country for being the home town of Daniel O'Donnell, over 200 local residents turned up for a public meeting. It was a meeting to voice their concerns about the ongoing and escalating anti-social behaviour and criminal activity occurring in the area. This activity culminated in a...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Aid (17 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide further details on his senior level meeting with the World Bank; and if it will signal any change in Ireland's economic engagement with developing countries. [44818/12]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Aid Provision (17 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade following his public commitment to reaching the UN target of development aid spending of 0.7 of GNP, if he will specify a timescale for reaching this target; and in view of this public commitment if he will ensure that Budget 2013 will not cut official development assistance; and if he will make a statement on the matter....

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs Cost (17 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will set out in tabular form the cost to the Exchequer of reducing the excise rate on fuel per litre by one cent; two cent; three cent; four cent; five cent; six cent; seven cent; eight cent; nine cent and ten cent. [45105/12]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Intellectual Property (17 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: To ask the Minister for Finance further to a report in a British publication which claims that a company (details supplied) has transferred US$7 billion of costs for intellectual property from Switzerland via Luxemburg to this State and is being given tax relief in this State equivalent to US$7 billion overtime, if the Revenue Commissioners are aware of same and have approved any such scheme....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Job Statistics (16 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she has investigated and sought to quantify the link between social welfare cuts and job losses in view of the fact that there has been a net loss of 33,400 jobs since the publication of her Pathways to Work. [44557/12]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to Education Allowance Payments (16 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will amend operational guidelines on the back to education allowance to allow consideration to be given to awarding the back to education allowance when it can be demonstrated that a lower or equivalent level qualification is required to secure progression or employment. [44558/12]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector Issues (16 Oct 2012)

Pearse Doherty: To ask the Minister for Finance pursuant to the approval by the Competition Commissioner at the European Commission, of the State-aid provided to Bank of Ireland in 2009 and 2010, and specifically pursuant to paragraph 140 of the Decision N546/2009, if he will confirm the current market shares of Bank of Ireland in each of the four markets referred to in paragraph 140. [44281/12]