Results 5,421-5,440 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Renewable Energy - Wind, Solar and Biogas: Discussion (4 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: How do we reach a point at which we are not in breach of our ammonia limits? We are in breach of them at present. Maybe we could get some supplementary information on that in written form. I continue to have some concerns in this regard.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Renewable Energy - Wind, Solar and Biogas: Discussion (4 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Any written information on this model would be very useful.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Section 9 deals with the special assignee relief programme, SARP, an income tax relief for some of the highest earners in the State. It is a relief on salaries between €75,000 and €1 million. We know for a fact that some of those who benefit from the scheme have salaries of over €3 million. I recognise that they only get the special tax relief on that part of their...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is concerning that we do not have the 2018 figure when we are considering the budget for 2020. When it comes to smaller-ticket measures that come under the social protection budget, for example, we have to look at their exact impact and prove their benefit up, down and sideways if we want to see them extended or improved slightly. It is a cause for concern that a scheme that cost...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Apparently, we could not afford an increase in the minimum wage this year.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister of State is editorialising.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: You are theorising that this will not help.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With respect, I ask the Minister of State not to editorialise in sweeping generalisations on what he thinks we think and what he believes our beliefs are. We have many specific amendments-----

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am saying the debate will move better if we do not have to go back and forth on those matters. I do not believe any of us is interested in talking about what Sinn Féin and Fine Gael like. Let us focus on the proposals at hand. If I was a shareholder in a company in which the CEO was making decisions on where to locate the company based on his or her salary and income tax, I would...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Government is hollowing out the income taken from higher earners.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Again, the Minister of State-----

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I did not question somebody's patriotism if they went away and came back. I must call on the Acting Chairman.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is not what I said. I referred to where somebody needs a tax relief in order to return.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is actually not what I said.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I do not want to keep going on this. I would just like it to be clarified.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To clarify, I did not question people who leave and come back. I am delighted that people who leave come back. I questioned the narrative that they would come back only if offered a tax relief.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Let us be very clear on it.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That topic was introduced by the Minister of State.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is not a discussion on ideology, wishful thinking and so forth. There is ideology at play across the House, and there is also pragmatism at play on both sides. They entail very different perspectives and we simply disagree but the fact is that it is still the view that a trickle-down effect from investing in the highest earners, for example, will somehow lead to a general effect. That...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: No, leave that aside. What I am speaking to-----