Results 6,461-6,480 of 7,082 for speaker:John Paul Phelan

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: The Senator does not know what she is talking about. She should read it a little more closely.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: The Minister did not know.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: They have not been. Most of them were out of the tax net already.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: It is easy for Senator Daly to make such a remark when he did not hear what was said by the Fine Gael Senators in this House.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: They are still sceptical.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. He will not be surprised to learn that I am not as enthusiastic about the budget as he expects Senators to be.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: They did not, which is surprising.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: I welcome a number of the measures contained in the budget, which have been highlighted by the Minister of State. I welcome the changes in services to people with disabilities. The Minister of State referred to yesterday's debate in this House on decentralisation. Last year, decentralisation was the budget. I listened today to hear what its equivalent would be in this year's budget. There are...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: It will not be completely for nothing but it will not achieve the objectives the Government is trying to portray it as having accomplished.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: No reference was made in today's budget to those people who continue to pay no income tax. The time has now come for the Minister for Finance — I would be interested in the Minister of State's——

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: Perhaps it was mentioned, although I did not see it. Nothing has been done, however, to redress the balance to deal with those who continuously get away with not paying any income tax. Under this budget they will continue to do so. It is wrong and I would like to hear the Minister of State's views on the issue. Reference was made in the Lower House to the changes made last year by the...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: Schools throughout the country have problems in getting special needs assistants for those children who require them. There was nothing in today's Budget Statement to offer any hope for families whose children require special educational needs. Child care is referred to every time we discuss the economy. I do not know if the Minister mentioned it in passing but he certainly did not deliver...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: Most of those tax relief schemes have served their purpose at this stage. We have heard woolly talk before from the Minister, Deputy Cowen, about initiating a review. I was hoping that some significant changes would be announced in that regard today. We heard nothing either about any reduction in stealth charges that were imposed last year, such as increases in bank charges and the cost of...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: Is it to promote competition? Most people would acknowledge that we have a drink problem in this country. For the Minister for Finance to promote the idea of competition in the brewing industry — he used that sentence in his Budget Statement — was shocking.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: I do not think we need more competition in the brewing industry.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: There are lots of areas in which we need more competition but there is already significant competition in the brewing industry. The Minister should not have referred to it today and neither should the Minister of State.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: No mention was made in today's Budget Statement of beleaguered motorists. There was a reference to hybrid engines getting special treatment for VRT. However, given the fuel and road tax increases we have seen in the past few budgets, something tangible should have been provided for motorists.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: I also want to register my disappointment that there was no apparent reference to justice matters, including the extra 2,000 gardaí we were promised. Justice was not mentioned.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: The provision of extra funding for new justice initiatives was not even mentioned by the Minister.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (1 Dec 2004)

John Paul Phelan: I was very disappointed.