Results 7,201-7,220 of 7,604 for speaker:James Bannon

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: Provision should have been made in the Bill for a more equitable system for disabled drivers.

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: There is no provision in the Bill to encourage people to reduce mileage.

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: I support the amendment.

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: I am most definitely aware of it.

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: On a point of order, the Minister of State stands to be corrected. The contribution by my local authority was over €800,000.

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: The Minister of State referred to the input by my local authority. I requested a figure of €800,000 and that is the amount that was contributed by my local authority to our roads programme. As the Minister of State is aware, Longford is a poor and impoverished county and recent figures from the Central Statistics Office confirm this. Having regard to the disposable income per head of...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: I contributed to the debate on improving tax relief for disabled drivers when it was at local authority level.

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: I move amendment No. 2: In page 4, line 15, to delete "30" and substitute "25". This amendment relates to the rate for duty so prescribed for licence for a vehicle for a quarter of the year only. The Bill states that this shall not exceed 30% of the full annual duty and I want to reduce this to 25%. There have been cruel increases already at a time when inflation is between 4% and 6% and I am...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: The Minister of State and I, as well as many others, can afford to renew our motor tax annually. Mainly we do this for convenience because we do not want to queue to pay our motor tax as many as four times a year. Does the Minister of State have statistics on the number of people who pay quarterly tax? Young people, particularly those under 25 years, should be offered special facilities as...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: I move amendment No. 3: In page 4, lines 20 to 22, to delete all words from and including "substituting" in line 20 down to and including "Schedule" in line 22 and substitute the following: "increasing the figures contained in Part 1 (inserted by the Act of 2001) of the first-mentioned Schedule by 5 per cent". The purpose of the amendment is to keep the figure in line with inflation. The...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: There are no additional services for motorists, despite the tax increases of 12%. Several people have approached me with regard to their cars being robbed or burgled. Some protection should be given to motorists who are annoyed about their cars being robbed. The Minister of State referred to the reduction in funding for roads but we were conned by the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, in...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: I thank the Minister of State for being with us while carrying this legislation through the House. We have had our political differences on this Bill and many other issues but I have always found him very approachable, even prior to my election to the Seanad. He is a good friend of local authorities and was the first local authority representative from Donegal when the Local Authority Members...

Seanad: Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq: Statements. (2 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: Clearly Saddam Hussein is a dangerous leader. He is a military dictator in charge of a large country and he wants to have weapons of mass destruction, although no evidence has been shown to date that he possesses them. Two weeks ago, President Bush stated that the US and Britain would have a quick military success and that Iraq would be liberated. However, the war has gone on for a fortnight...

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: That is the first evidence of serious cracks in the Government. It is about to crumble and fall and the quicker, the better.

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: Last week a nuclear expert in Brussels stated Sellafield was Europe's top terrorist target. This is of great concern to Irish people. Several constituents contacted me about the issue over the last ten days or so. It is important to have a debate on security at Sellafield. Since the war started it has become Europe's top target. Dublin would be within a 100 mile radius of any consequential...

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: Senator Leyden has seen the light.

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: Who brought them about?

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (1 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: I, too, welcome the Chinese ambassador and delegation to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery and the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Gallagher.

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (1 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: The Senator will know if he travels the roads to Galway.

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (1 Apr 2003)

James Bannon: Apart from the increase in motor tax being an extension of the Government's "we screw up, and you pay" policy, where is the logic? Given environmental considerations and attempts to promote public transport, surely it would have made more sense for the increase to have been put on motor fuel. A fuel tax would ensure the more people drive, the more they would pay. Such an equitable arrangement...