Results 5,881-5,900 of 7,975 for speaker:Joe Higgins

Oireachtas Europe Day: Statements (9 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: There has been an air of utter unreality about the contributions of the establishment parties and the Commissioner. They should have begun with a frank acknowledgement that this Government and its predecessors have reduced themselves to being merely cat's paws for the diktats of the European Commission and the ECB, which are dictating, in turn, the demands of the European financial markets....

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: No.

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: We could pay pensions if we were not paying tens of billions to European bankers.

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: I had been scheduled to speak on this matter next week but events have moved forward somewhat.

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: This is an exercise in profound humiliation-----

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: -----for the Irish Parliament, Dáil Éireann, a supposedly sovereign Parliament elected by the people of Ireland, and yet the document before us, the Programme of Financial Support for Ireland and the report on the first and second quarters, addressed to Jean-Claude Juncker, the Eurogroup President of the Financial Ministry, Olli Rehn, the Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs,...

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: -----for the real nature of capitalism and of the financial markets.

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: No, Minister. You are caught in the iron laws of the capitalist financial markets of Europe-----

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: -----before which you bow down in adoration. It is the wild speculation and the profiteering in those markets by unaccountable, unelected, faceless entities - hedge fund operators, vampire banks, etc. - and those who connived with them for profits that has reduced many countries in Europe, including this country, to the position we are in today. We welcome that people are living longer-----

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: -----but people should not be forced against their will to work till they drop. How many thousands more will not even see retirement? That is the reality of the situation. That is what the Minister is doing. Can he tell me what this means otherwise?

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: What is a pension? We consider that people who have worked all their working life should have dignity and security when they retire.

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: So.

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: No, that is-----

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: I welcome that but the fact is that society as a whole can create enough wealth that will keep everybody in reasonable comfort-----

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: -----both working and when they move out of work to retirement, if that is their wish. It should be voluntary. The problem is that the wealth is apportioned unequally in our society and that is the reason the Minister's Government, under the edict of the EU-IMF and the ECB, which are in turn under the edict of the financial markets, which are the real dictatorship, is dictating that working...

EU-IMF Programme: Statements (Resumed) (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: Yes, the hedge funds, big banks and major conglomerates should be taken into public ownership. They should be put under the democratic control of the majority, thus using their resources to develop society and create further wealth. That would advance solidarity and society, so we would have an entirely different situation. We would not have an Irish Government humiliating itself in order...

Order of Business (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government made a statement yesterday that will have serious legislative implications. For the first time we heard that a utility charge to pay for the installation of water meters in each home will be introduced.

Order of Business (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: It is to do with legislation.

Order of Business (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: Yes. Can the Tánaiste be precise and tell us the Government's legislative proposals with regard to the issue of a water tax? The Labour Party said it was opposed to it and that meters would be a waste of investment. Will the Tánaiste now renegue on all that and have a utility charge to add insult to the injury of taxation that is already being levied on people?

Order of Business (5 May 2011)

Joe Higgins: It is a complete negation of everything the Labour Party promised during the election.