Results 9,941-9,960 of 36,764 for speaker:Enda Kenny

Order of Business (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: Gabh mo leithscéal.

Order of Business (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: Beidh Acht na dteangacha oifigiúla ag teacht isteach roimh deireadh an seisiúin seo. The gender recognition Bill has been through the pre-legislative stage and is progressing very well. I am informed that we expect it to be brought before the House before the end of this session. No compulsion can be imposed on Members to attend the Chamber. We cannot require the Deputy to be...

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: The Deputy asked if there was an election on the way. There is always an election on the way and the next one is due in spring 2016. At that stage, I hope the Government will have introduced its fifth and final budget of its term of office.

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: I hope we will continue the progress made in securing the recovery for the future, getting our deficit below 3%, having more than 100,000 new jobs created, giving the opportunity for prosperity and confidence to our people and restoring us to where we should be. Deputy Adams asked me not to rubbish Sinn Féin and I will not do so. I will give him some facts. Yesterday's budget dealt...

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: The Sinn Féin finance spokesman came in and made a claim and the Sinn Féin deputy leader ran out of words halfway through and had to evacuate the House because her script was not long enough. Anything for an excuse to get out of the place. In fairness, Sinn Féin said it was providing €300 million to reverse domestic water charges. What it did not do was recognise the...

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: Sinn Féin wants to introduce a third rate of income tax, leaving the top rate at income tax at 59% with USC and PRSI. Sinn Féin wants to increase employer PRSI, which is a tax on new jobs, to 15.75%. The additional taxes proposed amount to a 12% increase in taxes on jobs.

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: Deputy Pearse Doherty, who is an articulate young man, accepted that €6 billion worth of consolidation measures had been introduced over the past number of years but could not say which ones he accepted. Sinn Féin wants to tax the middle group through the back door. Where a son or daughter inherits a house worth €250,000, he or she would pay a further €15,250 in tax.

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: Sinn Féin wants to abolish the marginal rate of tax relief on pension contributions. When Deputy Adams goes back to Louth, he should talk to the garda married to the nurse who are on a salary of €40,000. They would lose a further €800 according to the Sinn Féin proposition. I am not rubbishing Sinn Féin but giving back its figures with a little interest.

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: We have no intention of abolishing water charges. The setting up of Irish Water to deal with the provision of water to everyone, including business and consumers, with proper standards and infrastructure has been neglected for far too long. The Government has provided a subsidy to Irish Water of between €550 million and €600 million, which is for every household in the...

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: That is why the priority of the Government has been to focus on middle and lower income earners, from €70,000 down, and why the rate of tax was changed. The band has been changed and we have taken another 80,000 people from the universal social charge, USC, net completely. That means that 410,000 people do not have to pay the USC. Two rates of USC have been reduced to help lower paid...

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: I have already pointed for Deputy Micheál Martin to the plan we have set out to change the burden of 52% tax imposed on people. Deputy Micheál Martin is aware that this is the first step in this and the next two budgets to reduce the 52% level of tax. The increase in the threshold above which the universal service charge, USC, becomes payable, at €12,000, will remove a...

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: Over 400,000 people will now have no liability for the USC. A further 33,000 will be removed from the higher rate of income tax as a result of the increase in the bands introduced yesterday. The 1% cut in the 52% tax rate will benefit 635,000 middle income earners. For earnings above €70,000 and €100,000, two new rates of USC have been introduced. While everyone benefits...

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: The emphasis has been on lower paid workers and middle income workers from €70,000 down.

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: That is where the priority is. For two middle income public servants, the saving will be about €100 per month.

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: The billing process for Irish Water will commence from October. There will be a surge in applications to be registered before the end of October. Until we have the absolute numbers registered for the household charge, as a consequence, we cannot determine what the actual level of income will be from Irish Water until the bills are issued and paid.

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: Yes.

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: The Deputy has lost the measure of credibility. He has come into the Chamber time and again with his budgetary proposals which have a €550 million hole in them. Yesterday, he called for property tax and water charges to be abolished, but he had no proposition for how these services would be provided other than increasing corporation tax and introducing a 78% rate of income tax.

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: He should not come in here to talk about credibility or being convincing. He presented his budget propositions with a massive black hole in the middle of them. He goes around the country saying, "Pay for nothing; all these services should be free of charge." In its budget proposals, the Government has set out how it will deal with the questions of poverty, unemployment and employment....

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: This is the first year of three in which we intend to apply it. I believe that is fair.

Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2014)

Enda Kenny: We signalled very clearly that the mandate given to Government was to fix our finances and get our country working. As far back as early summer, we indicated that the priority in respect of tax was to deal with the crushing burden of 52% imposed on workers through a combination of dealing with the tax band, the USC and PRSI. Deputy Martin asked me if it is fair. It is very fair to say that...