Results 12,661-12,680 of 15,268 for speaker:Kathleen Lynch
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: Not all of us bought into it.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: There are people who lived very meagre lives on meagre incomes and who now find themselves unemployed. The same people sent money into the Exchequer at a time when the Government could not get its figures right at any time of the year and underestimated the total every year. These people are now hit by the downturn. Deputy Gogarty has indicated it is only a small cut in the social welfare...
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: The price will be higher again, so that half a bag of coal might be the difference between a person being warm from Thursday to Friday or even Saturday if that person is very careful. Some - although not many - people in this House have lived off social welfare or had very low wages at one time. Only people who have lived in such circumstances should make the type of cuts we are now looking at.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: It costs more to live for a person with a disability because he or she cannot cut the grass or clean windows and needs additional heat and clothing. A person with a disability cannot get a car or a taxi because we do not have the appropriate regulations to ensure they are out there, despite giving tax breaks to that end.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: Living costs are greater for a person with a disability and such people have had their allowances cut.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: Nobody should preach to me about the small cuts in social welfare because the small cut to social welfare is the equivalent of the 5% cut that this Minister and the rest of us are taking. Attempts were made to imply that Ministers were taking a 15% cut when they were not. It is mean to cut social welfare when the big boys are still getting away with it. We created enormous wealth in this...
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: I expected more from the Green Party.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: I expect more from you.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: I will discuss the outrageous way that the public workers and Civil Service in this country have been vilified. I dug out an article written in November 2008 around the time the attack on the public service started.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: It began with an argument that we did not get value for benchmarking. All of a sudden people said public service workers were overpaid, underworked and useless. We will live to regret the type of division created in this country. A friend was out doing some shopping last weekend and had a few messages in her hand coming out of a supermarket. Her neighbour attacked her for being a civil...
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: We will regret that type of behaviour.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: Some things must be put on record. Very few people know exactly how many people work for us in this country as our servants. The gross is approximately 369,000, of whom 91,000 are pensioners, so the net is approximately 280,000. Some 38,000 form the Garda, the Prison Service and the Defence Forces. Some 100,000 work in education, although I am sure that number is smaller now with the cuts...
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: Some 143,000 work in the HSE, 6,000 in the Revenue Commissioners and there are 1,000 in the Courts Service. Which one of these should be fired? Should we have fewer gardaÃ, nurses, doctors, teachers or classroom assistants? We should not.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: As for there being no cuts to education-----
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: I would ask the teachers if they consider that there has been a cut to education. We have been cutting education for the past 18 months. There have been cuts to class sizes and special needs assistants for children who need help. Those children will now be at the back of the classroom but we will have to support them into the future. With the disability allowance being cut every year,...
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: The Deputy got 20 minutes and would not take it so he should be quiet.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: The Deputy should be quiet.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: The Deputy should be quiet.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: People have been vilified in this country in order to create an atmosphere where wages can be driven down. That is what the agenda is about and we heard about it tonight.
- Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)
Kathleen Lynch: Drive it down.