Results 37,241-37,260 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Health Service Budget: Health Service Budget (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: Question 126: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the amount of the overall health budget that currently comes from health insurance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9291/08]

Written Answers — Tax Code: Tax Code (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: Question 156: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the position where parents or others assist a first time buyer to acquire a house; if this can have implications for first-time buyer's relief; if so, under what conditions; and the checks the Revenue Commissioners carry out to check that FTB rules are adhered to. [9544/08]

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: Question 204: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to the important service (details supplied) in Dublin 15 to support families with children under five; her views on whether the maintenance of this service is important for the Dublin 15 area; the past commitments given to support this service with mainstream funding; if her attention has been further...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: Question 285: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when she expects work to commence on the proposed extension to a school (detail supplied) in Dublin 15; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the board of management has agreed to facilitate higher enrolment numbers on foot of promises made by her and her Department to provide urgently needed classrooms and other...

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: There is no reason the Revenue Commissioners could not provide tax relief at source in respect of environmental and waste collection charges. After all, service charges for waste collection, be it by public or private operators, are normally set once or, at most, twice a year. There is some certainty associated with them, which makes it very easy to calculate how much is to be paid and the...

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: The Deputy missed the topic of the debate. He was not here earlier.

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: Deputy Finneran has the wrong end.

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: Has the Tánaiste received any advice from his officials in addressing the issue of management company fees? Young people, in particular, pay these fees which include service charges, the accounts or receipts for which they cannot access. Therefore, they cannot obtain this tax relief. I do not know whether the Tánaiste has taken an interest in the phenomenon of management companies and...

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: Absolutely.

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. 10: In page 17, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following: 14.—Tax relief at source shall be available for environmental service charges.".

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. 13: In page 17, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following: 14.—Where an employer provides a childcare facility directly to an employee, or pays the childcare costs of an employee to a third party, the provision or payment shall not constitute a taxable benefit-in-kind.". I recommended this amendment to the Minister previously. It follows from our general...

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: I understand where the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance is coming from. However, providing child care has become such a complex jigsaw that it is very difficult to understand it fully. A whole series of issues need to be examined because of the anomalies in and unfairness of the system. A new system of charging for community-based child care facilities will be introduced by the Minister...

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. 14: In page 17, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following: 14.—Where an employer provides training to an employee, or pays the training costs of an employee to a third party, the provision or payment shall not constitute a taxable benefit-in-kind.". I moved this amendment on Committee Stage and thank the Minister for responding to it. When employers provide...

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: The flexibility offered by the amendment would greatly be improved if the Minister changed the period from six months to 12. However, I do not believe it is possible to amend it on the floor of the House. This issue was drawn to my attention by some of the workers and union officials associated with Drogheda Concentrates, the plant of Coca-Cola, which, unfortunately, is closing down....

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: I am delighted the Tánaiste has tabled the amendment in response to the issues I raised, for which I thank him. Paragraph (iii) requires that the training must be "completed within 6 months of the termination of employment". It would be better if it could be completed within 12 months, to provide extra flexibility. Many workers, particularly those being made redundant by multinationals,...

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: It is right that the State should, as far as possible, promote people's ownership of their own houses. I remind Deputy Mansergh, who is something of a historian, that in 1973 the then Labour Party Minister for the Environment, Jimmy Tully, gave people the right to buy council houses. There has been cross-party agreement that the right to access home ownership is a social good. I suppose we...

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: The time has come for the Minister to examine this provision thoroughly. I had a long discussion with the Minister when he introduced it and I hoped that it would help some people providing child care. Many value this service, particularly those who can come home early from work and have a half day's child care every day. It has not worked, however, for various reasons. Some of the...

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: What Deputy Mansergh has said is the clearest evidence of the reason individualisation and its social consequences should be examined in detail. Nobody suggested tax policy was easy. It is always about balancing competing interests. Unfortunately, the commission established by the Tánaiste is very similar to the Cheney commission on the environment in America which was loaded down with...

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: Today is 5 March and International Women's Day is celebrated on 8 March. I can understand that perhaps men in Government and in the Government parties are of the view that women are rather contrarian. I have to admit we want it all. We want to be able to be part of the paid workforce and when we have children or responsibilities to elderly relatives we also want to be able to spend time...

Finance Bill 2008: Report Stage (5 Mar 2008)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. 2: In page 11, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: "PART 1 COMMISSION ON TAXATION 1.—The Minister shall in establishing the commission on taxation include in its terms of reference the following matters: (a) to examine anomalies arising from the tax treatment of married persons where one spouse remains out of paid employment in order to attend to child...