Results 35,241-35,260 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: I thought that but what is a chiropodist?

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: One deals with the whole of the foot and the other is just——

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: Where is Deputy Gogarty now that we need him?

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: Yes.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: What type of person does the Minister have in mind? Is it a consultant doctor on a salary?

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: What does that mean?

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: I would like the Minister for Finance to outline the economic rationale or strategy that underpins this proposal. The chief executive of Allied Irish Banks has emphasised in the bank's various public advertisements that it is important to enable cash and credit to flow through the economy. He has appealed to people and organisations, including Government Departments, to try to pay their...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: I thank my colleagues for moving this amendment. This will put the Bill in line with the 1% income tax levy, where the Minister exempted people with an income of less than €18,304. That made sense on administrative grounds alone. The Minister should do the same here. The administrative burden will be significant anyway and there will be a huge number of anomalies. I welcome what the...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: From the Minister's face I know that this comes as an awful shock and that he would like nothing more than to apply the levy at the top rate to persons in the State owned Anglo Irish Bank. To be honest, it would be a small piece of poetic justice. We know that in a former life the Minister was a skilled senior counsel. I rest my case and wait for him to bring forward an appropriate amendment.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: I remind the Minister that people earning up to €18,000 a year will pay 3% on the first €15,000, which amounts to €450. They will pay 6% on the next €3,000, which amounts to €90. Therefore, somebody on €18,000 a year will pay €540, if I understand correctly the way the levy is structured. This amounts to more than €10 a week for somebody on the very lowest rung of the...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: After that remarkable recent interview with Deputy Gogarty, perhaps tweaking is what happens under the duvet between Fianna Fáil and the Greens. Maybe we are looking in the wrong direction.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. 17a: In page 7, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following subsection: "(6) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, payments which are not reckonable for pension purposes are not to be liable for pension levy deductions under this section.". So many amendments have been ruled out of order, I am surprised this was accepted when resubmitted. Rather...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. 18: In page 7, before section 3, to insert the following new section: "3.—Funds received from the deduction under section 2 shall be paid into a fund under this section, to be known as the Emergency National Pension Levy Fund (separate from the National Pension Reserve Fund), the principal purpose of which is to pre-fund public service pensions.". The purpose of this...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: Not now.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: We drafted the amendment in very general terms because the establishment of such a fund would be complicated and require bipartisan discussion with all parties in the House. What I am putting to the Minister is the principle behind the idea, which is that if the Minister calls this a public service pension levy and asks public servants to accept an extraordinary level of sacrifice — it is...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: We will await the introduction of the legislation to which the Minister refers because, as he will be aware, the markets have become very averse to the notion of warrants and dividend income on preference shares. That is likely to produce a more negative response from the markets — if one follows them. Other governments have begun to change their arrangements in that regard, as I am sure...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: Anglo Irish Bank is neither in nor out.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: That is why we sold Eircom to plug the pensions hole.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. 5: In page 4, line 30, to delete "as amended by" and substitute "inserted by". This is a technical amendment. I am advised that Chapter IVC of Part V of the Defence Act 1954 was inserted by the Defence (Amendment) Act 2007, rather than amended by it. The Bill states that the definition of "public servant" does not include "the President, a member of the judiciary or a...

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2009)

Joan Burton: That is the logical conclusion.