Results 7,761-7,780 of 15,491 for speaker:Eamon Gilmore

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: I wish to raise two matters. First, Deputy Shortall asked the Minister for Finance to correct the record of the House relating to the statement he made during his Budget Statement that people on the new national minimum wage would not be brought into the tax net. It is clear from the way in which the universal social charge is being applied that it is a tax and that as a result, people on...

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: -----in the new year. Is that the case? Will the Tánaiste confirm what Deputy Gogarty is telling us, namely, that there will be no other legislation in the new year-----

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: -----and that the Green Party will be withdrawing from Government, as it had indicated, in January?

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: I am trying to find out what is going on. I do not care who answers. The only thing I care about is that we can rely on the answer this time. We got an answer on 22 November that the Greens were going to pull out of Government and that there would be a general election in January. Is that still the case?

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: That is different.

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: Arising from that, what are the arrangements for dealing with the Finance Bill?

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: I want-----

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: To clarify, when will the Finance Bill be published? When we come back at the beginning of January, will the Finance Bill be the first item of business the House will deal with?

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: Before we deal with any of the business today, we need to get clarity from the Government with regard to its own future. On 22 November the Green Party announced that it intended to withdraw from Government after the budget and the associated financial legislation was passed, and that there would be a general election at the end of January.

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: The Taoiseach subsequently said it was his intention to dissolve the Dáil when the budgetary measures had been enacted and that therefore there would be an election, presumably, in February. From news reports this morning it would appear that the Green Party Members have changed their minds again and have now found a new basis on which to prolong the life of the Fianna Fáil-led Government.

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: What is the exact position here? When will the Government be brought to a conclusion? When will the general election-----

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: Can the Tánaiste tell us to what planet the Green Party Members are wired today?

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: There is a serious-----

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: We have a new date for the general election, called 2011. We know from experience-----

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: -----that when the Government states 2011, it usually means the end of 2011.

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: The Labour Party is opposed to guillotining the debate on the Social Welfare Bill at 2 p.m. today. It is bad enough that this Government is cutting the payments and allowances that are being made to people who are blind, widows, people who are out of work, people with disabilities and people who are caring for members of their families. It is bad enough that those cuts are being brought in...

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: For example, the one Deputy Shortall highlighted yesterday whereby working widows and widowers are being hit three times in three different ways by three different measures in this-----

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: No, that is the reason. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for drawing attention to this because it is the reason I am opposing this measure. We will not have an opportunity, as he said, to debate all these matters because the proposal from the Government is to guillotine the debate on it. On top of the insult that is being added to injury, this morning we learned that the senior executives in...

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: It was difficult to listen to the Minister for Social Protection, God help us, this morning, on the one hand trying to explain to people why their allowances and payments under social welfare were being cut-----

Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Eamon Gilmore: -----and then offering post-hoc justification as to why these bonuses will be paid. What did they get the bonuses for?