Results 6,021-6,040 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Card Applications (14 Mar 2013)

Alex White: The Health Service Executive has been asked to examine this matter and to reply to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: Deputy Denis Naughten's amendment proposes the deletion of section 83 which provides for the new rates of health insurance levy to pay for risk equalisation credits which were introduced under the Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2012. These credits replace the previous system of age-related income tax credits which were in place from 2009 to 2012 and which were temporary arrangements. If...

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I can indicate to the Deputy and the House that my information is that where a person moves from one operator to another, a second levy is chargeable. This issue relates to the payment of levies by the insurance companies, not the insured person, in order to enable the community rating system to work. It is important that this be clarified for the House. Are we proposing to conclude the...

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: The Minister for Finance has agreed rates with the Minister for Health which seek to strike a balance between supporting older and less health people and sustaining the private health insurance market. The rates set must also take account of the ageing market profile and claims inflation. I am pleased to note in this regard that the Health Insurance Consultative Forum, having been...

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I have nothing to add.

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: The Deputy mentioned the risk of penalising families required to purchase family sized cars on Committee Stage. He believes such vehicles are, in the main, in the higher tax bands. The Minister has examined the matter further since Committee Stage and discovered a range of vehicles, including hybrids for which there are tax concessions, that satisfy the family requirement and are in the...

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I hope that helps Deputy Pearse Doherty. The issue he raised on Committee Stage has been examined and an answer has been provided.

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I do not think the Minister for Finance is in that business.

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: The section the Deputies seek to have deleted makes a number of changes in preparation for the introduction of a solid fuel carbon tax from 1 May 2013. The section provides for the application of the carbon tax to solid fuels as announced in the budget. It is the last element outstanding in the application of the carbon tax. To alleviate the impact on lower income households, the tax will...

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I notice the Deputy has offered no suggestions as to how we might circumvent the greatest difficulty in this regard, namely, the fact that the expected yield from the increases in question is €180 million in a full year. If there is a serious proposal to the effect that these increases should be removed, there would have to be at least some marginal effort on the part of the Deputy -...

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I am very aware of the VAT issue to which Deputy Róisín Shortall refers. I suspect that she and I are quite close in our views on the matter. I am very interested in pursuing this issue. I am standing in for the Minister for Finance, but, in my capacity as Minister of State at the Department of Health, I assure the Deputy and the House that I am aware of and propose to pursue...

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I am replying to amendment No. 19, although I am aware that a number of amendments have been grouped together.

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I thank the Deputy. A "qualifying transport operator" for the purposes of the repayments scheme, as Deputy Sean Fleming has outlined, is defined in subsection (1), by reference to the provisions of national and EU law, under which transport operators are required to be licensed. The proposed amendment No. 19 would add two EU regulations, as outlined by Deputy Sean Fleming, in the areas of...

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: The issues that have been raised about public health are very fair. Several public health initiatives are being taken in the area of cigarette smoking. The Minister for Health has made a number of announcements and I support very much, as I am sure we all do, the measures it is intended to take in regard to cigarettes, in particular with regard to packaging. Cigarette smoking is a public...

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I am quite happy to do so. I will take Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly's suggestion on board. I have an appreciation of the issues being raised, having served not too long ago as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform. I heard the well made points of Deputies Stephen S. Donnelly and Pearse Doherty and others when I followed the debate on my screen earlier.

Finance Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: This section of the Bill confirms the budget increases in the rates of tobacco products tax. When VAT is included, the increases amount to 10 cent on a packet of 20 cigarettes with pro rata increases on other tobacco products, with an additional 50 cent increase on a 25g pack of roll-your-own tobacco. As a result of the budget increases, the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes in the most...

Topical Issue Debate: Traffic Management (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: As Deputy Keating said, we first met when we were both members of South Dublin County Council. It is an excellent local authority but, as was acknowledged by the Deputy, it must operate within the constraints that face it, and all of us. In so far as it is regarded as a priority by South Dublin County Council - the Deputy said that was the case, and I have no doubt it is a priority - there...

Topical Issue Debate: Traffic Management (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar. The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities own resources, supplemented by State...

Topical Issue Debate: Pension Provisions (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection. The sustainability of the pension system is a particular concern because of the demographic challenges Ireland faces, the associated increases in pension and other age-related costs and the deterioration in the public finances. The findings of the recently published actuarial review...

Topical Issue Debate: Pension Provisions (13 Mar 2013)

Alex White: I cannot say any more about the matter than I have in the Minister's response other than to draw the Deputy's attention to the working group which could and perhaps should consider the issues raised by the Deputy, including some form of plan. Any particular proposal as to what such a plan might contain should be put to that working group. I understand the issue raised by the Deputy but the...