Results 5,941-5,960 of 12,590 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: It does not reveal that many people are leaving the workforce. As Dan O'Brien noted in an article in The Irish Times last Monday, one measures the participation rate, which is the true measure of unemployment. Moreover, it does not take into account the fact that people are hiding out in the education system and in all the training schemes and nor does it take into account that, if my...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: In that case, I will not dwell on social welfare because I will have plenty of time to talk about it next week while debating the Social Welfare Bill, on which I will have much to say.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: In conclusion, as a result of these savage social welfare cuts and as a result of another regressive budget on top of the one which preceded it-----

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: -----Ireland now is a tale of two countries. On the one hand, there are the rich and the exempted, whose privileges are protected and preserved intact, while on the other hand, 750,000 people are living below the internationally-recognised poverty line in a population of slightly more than 4 million. In other words, 750,000 people are living below what is regarded as the international...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: Deputy Brian Hayes has an intellectual giant beside him.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: This budget is first and foremost an arithmetical exercise, as all budgets are, designed to bring in a certain amount of tax, spend a certain amount of money and come to a final result at the end of the day. A budget also needs to be more than just an exercise in mathematics, but the problem is that this one is not. A budget needs to be part of an overall strategy and must have a certain...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: I did not interrupt anybody here and I expect at least the same courtesy from the Minister of State.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: The mansion tax is a phantom, a chimera and a shameless fig leaf to conceal the naked capitulation of the Labour Party to the demands of Fine Gael. How can a party that calls itself Labour and claims descent from Connolly and Larkin sign up to consecutive cuts to the clothing and footwear allowance? In addition, there have been cuts to the back-to-education allowance, respite care grant,...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: The discussions on how this matter was played out between both parties, which got a lot of coverage in the national newspapers, is most interesting. In last Monday's Irish Independent, a Labour source - and Labour was part of the Government the last time I checked - said: "We feel Fine Gael are out of touch and decided to throw welfare cuts into the pot ... It reveals the priority of our...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: In the same edition of the Irish Independent, a Labour Party Deputy - somebody who is keeping the Government in office and will probably vote for this budget also - said: "They [Fine Gael] don't care about the ordinary punter ... We're furious." Not furious enough obviously, although we will see next week. I notice that a lot of them are wrestling with their consciences. I have been here a...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: It said that the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, wanted to have even more savage cuts. He said: "We were ... irked that she [Deputy Burton] put herself out as the protector of the oppressed when she had put forward this package." She actually had to be talked out of a couple of cuts, including to the bereavement grant and some other aspects of social welfare. It is...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: In his budget speech last year, the Minister for Finance said "The core [mission] of this Government is to get Ireland working again". Therefore the core mission and unifying aim of the Government was to bring down unemployment. As the Minister has set the yardstick, Members should consider how he measures up to it. When the Government took office, the unemployment rate was 14.1% and it now...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: That would be to the Department of Finance.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: Attila the hen.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: What happened there?

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: The Government cannot even keep the promises it made after the election, let alone before.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: The Government will have to reverse the cut.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: For heaven's sake.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: The Minister of State, Deputy Costello, is a Labour Deputy.

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Financial Resolution No. 15: General (Resumed) (6 Dec 2012)

Willie O'Dea: The Government should reverse it.