Results 641-660 of 839 for speaker:Michael Kennedy

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Deputy Durkan should be ashamed to even raise the issue, given that the then Minister, Mr. De Rossa, increased social welfare payments by just £1.50 per week.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Ba mhaith liom labhairt ar an mbuiséad tábhachtach seo. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to speak on this important budget at a critical time for the country's finances. We all know the budget was introduced in the context of a severe economic downturn, with income tax revenues down €6.5 billion in the current year. We must take cognisance of this fact. While...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I should prefer to be on this side rather than on Deputy Broughan's.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Under the measures that have been announced, more than 95% of deserving people will retain their medical cards. The new income thresholds widen the net enormously to take into account the huge proportion of our elderly who deserve our support and have always got it. Under the new arrangements, single people can now earn up to €700 a week, equating to €36,500 in a year. That excludes...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I remind our colleagues in Opposition that not alone has the Minister increased the figure by €7 this year, but it is now €230 per week on top of all the other free items senior citizens are given. We should recognise that Fianna Fáil, in successive Governments over the last number of years, has substantially increased the benefits to our senior citizens. I challenge anybody from Fine...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I certainly made my views known on the matter and believe that today's announcement has resolved the concerns of the vast majority of the people. We now have a much more equitable solution. As a Fianna Fáil Deputy and a life-long supporter of my party, it is my duty to represent the views of close to 11,000 people who gave me their first preferences in the general election of May 2007. I...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Fine Gael is confusing the public and deliberately misconstruing the situation. That is the only point I am making.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: We have to deal with measures to bridge the gap between the State's current income and expected revenue. Some €3 billion is needed to run the country for the next year, and there is no point in denying it or rewriting history. No more than previous Fianna Fáil-led Administrations, Fine Gael-Labour Governments were equally bad in terms of increasing the national debt and creating...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: ——blamed the Government even though his constituents, whether they vote for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Labour Party, etc., were clearly telling him they wanted the metro. No project has ever been so widely welcomed by the public——

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I am only stating the facts. Deputy Broughan and his colleagues would have berated the Minister if he had excluded metro north. It is in this programme. I hope those opposite will acknowledge that because when I read the Northside People and see Deputy Broughan's comments about metro north, sometimes I want to cringe and tell the people what he says at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Metro west will follow. Let us get metro north to the airport so that metro west can come about. Metro west will happen when public finances allow. Again, it is badly needed. Deputy Broughan knows Transport 21 is a substantial €34 billion programme. Most of it is intact. Many of the items in Transport 21 have been delivered. I refer to our new roadway structure. One can drive from...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: We will come to the buses. Let us deal with Transport 21 about which Deputy Broughan is so sceptical. We have delivered on the vast majority of the road programme in recent years ahead of time and ahead of budget.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Deputy Barrett should look at the record. I am talking about recent projects coming in ahead of budget and ahead of schedule. That is a fact. If he doubts it, the Deputy should look at the record. The NRA will confirm that and I am sure Deputy Broughan will do so too because he asked the NRA quite recently about its programmes.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I travel on as many roads as Deputy Broughan. I had the pleasure of driving from Galway to Dublin recently in two and a half hours and it did not involve breaking the speed limit. That is indicative of the progress we are making. In regard to education issues, we all regret an increase in the pupil-teacher ratio but we must live with the reality of the financial constraints. I listened to...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: He never mentioned the 19,000 extra teachers and special needs assistants who have been put into our schools in the past three to four years. He did not even have the guts to admit that there has been a substantial building programme, including in Deputy Broughan's constituency and in my constituency of Dublin North. Major news schools have been announced and, more important, built in the...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I will leave Deputy Broughan to deal with Dublin North-East. There has been a substantial programme. One must be realistic in terms of what we can do at this point. In regard to class sizes, there are exceptions to every rule and I will focus, in particular, on schools with large numbers of foreign national pupils in their midst whose command of English is not too good. We need to put...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I realise Deputy Broughan suffers slight embarrassment at the progress the country has made under Fianna Fáil Governments. I will not give out to him for barracking, because that is all he can do. I am sure he will not have too much to say.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: I will continue with my speech if the Deputy does not mind, but if I have time, I will revert to that later. At this point in time, it was necessary to have a tough budget. It is in the country's interest that we get our public finances back in order and bring competitiveness back into business. We must use every opportunity to educate the public about the current downturn and to warn them...

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: Let me say to Deputy Broughan that the members of his party are hypocrites. They had the chance to wear the green national jersey on that legislation. However, they tried to stop it being introduced.

Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (21 Oct 2008)

Michael Kennedy: At least Fine Gael supported the legislation, because it knew there was no alternative. The stance taken by the Labour Party in voting against the legislation was ridiculous. The Labour Party is proud to be anti-national.