Results 10,761-10,780 of 11,968 for speaker:Paul Murphy

Finance Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: The Government got the headlines it wanted for the budget. The minor spat with Professor John McHale did it no harm in that respect. The budget was described widely as a giveaway budget, including by members of the Opposition. Unfortunately for the Government, that is not how it is perceived by the majority of ordinary people. Certainly, the indications in the opinion poll are that people...

Other Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: 6. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans for local authority housing in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38323/15]

Other Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: What are the Minister's plans for local authority housing in the coming year? What is the number of homes proposed to be built? Do those figures not badly contradict the notion that this will be the largest social housing programme in the history of the State, instead indicating that this is the usual approach of pretending to do something about a real crisis while being a completely...

Other Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: Will the Minister go through those "over 17,000" houses and explain to people what they are? These are not over 17,000 local authority homes; 10,000 of them are transfers to housing assistance payment, meaning it is a simple transfer from the rent allowance scheme to HAP, with people remaining with private landlords. There are 3,000 units leased from developers and landlords, with 1,000...

Other Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: I am not asking the Minister for a magic want but rather a political commitment and a decision to build homes. We do not have that. This year, the number of homes due to be built or acquired was 1,400 and next year, it is 1,500. That is our great response to this housing crisis that has put politicians under so much pressure. That is a question of supply but because of an absence of...

Other Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: Read the figures.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation (5 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: 32. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the steps he is taking to provide an adequate number of high quality Traveller-specific accommodation units; the findings of the local authorities in their inspections of the health and safety of halting sites; if he will ensure there are no evictions of Travellers as a result of the findings; and if he will make a...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Data (5 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: 108. To ask the Minister for Finance the estimated cost to the Exchequer from the changes to the tax treatment of the expenses of non-resident, non-executive directors, as envisaged in the Finance Bill 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38879/15]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Traveller Community (5 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: 147. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her views on the recognition of the Traveller community as an ethnic minority; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38838/15]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Tax Yield (5 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: 249. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the anticipated additional revenue that his Department estimates will arise from the introduction of the petroleum production tax, as outlined in the Finance Bill 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38878/15]

Social Welfare Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: I want to take up where Deputy Tom Fleming finished, which is the notion that this Social Welfare Bill is part of the fifth regressive budget in a row. It takes some doing by the Labour Party to stand over five budgets throughout the course of a crisis that managed to increase the gap between rich and poor and, in reality, increase the gap between the rich and the rest and transfer wealth to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: Let me tell the Minister about some reality. In my constituency a number of places in a vocational training opportunities scheme, VTOS, which is a further education scheme, were cut and instead we have extensive use of the Gateway scheme whereby hundreds of peoples have been working for €1 for 20 hours a week for almost two years. They are involved in protests against the scheme,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: 5. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on the implementation of the Action Plan for Jobs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37226/15]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: I ask the Minister to report on the Action Plan for Jobs. Does he agree that it is not an action plan for decent jobs or work but instead a plan for driving down working conditions, normalising people working for free, driving an agenda of tax cuts for big business and increasing corporate welfare?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Action Plan for Jobs (4 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: The Minister's use of the phrase "improving the business environment" gives the game away. The approach of the Fine Gael Party, to which the Labour Party has unfortunately acquiesced, is based on the idea that the State cannot create jobs but can only create the environment in which big business can create them. To achieve this end, businesses must be incentivised. This approach lies at...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (4 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: 3. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will report on the negotiations between the European Union and the United States of America on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37225/15]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (4 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: I ask the Minister to report on the negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, between the EU and the USA, particularly in light of the large and unprecedented protest in Berlin, involving 250,000 people, which reflects the growing understanding that, as John Hilary put it, "TTIP is correctly understood not as a negotiation between two competing trading partners...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (4 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: The Minister's answer reflects the soporific strategy of the European establishment, which is to refer to large numbers of potential growth that are not based on reality and then to tell us not to worry because none of the concerns that people have will come to pass. Let us consider the question of the environment. In January, we had a concrete promise from the EU to safeguard green laws,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (4 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: I simply do not believe, nor do those watching us, that the right to profit will not take precedence over the right to regulate. The big winners will be large corporations and the losers will be small businesses, consumers, working people and the environment. In the draft text the definition of "expropriation" is being expanded dramatically. We know have terms like "measures...

Northern Ireland: Statements (3 Nov 2015)

Paul Murphy: The Villiers report brings into the open what most people already know, namely, that all the main paramilitary organisations which operated during the Troubles still exist. The report was commissioned in the aftermath of the killing of Kevin McGuigan in east Belfast on 13 August and of Jock Davison in the markets in June. The Anti Austerity Alliance and the Socialist Party condemn both...