Results 16,241-16,260 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: It cut the actual fuel allowance amount by €3.90, it cut their gas and electricity units allowance by 25%, it abolished the telephone allowance and imposed the local property tax and water charges on elderly people with no account taken of ability to pay. The Government promised to abolish their prescription charges but multiplied them by five. It increased the cost of a bag of coal...

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: In addition, the Government has cut thousands of hours of home help.

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: On top of all that, the Minister's announcement of an increase of €3 will ring hollow for many people because in 2012, the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, introduced sneaky changes to the eligibility criteria for the State pension-----

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: -----by changing the yearly average contribution bands. A lady from my constituency wrote to me last week.

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: Her yearly average band came in at more than 20 weeks per annum-----

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: -----and under the old regime, at €225, her pension would have been €5 short of the full pension. Instead, €34 has been cut from the pension she otherwise would have received.

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: That is the reality and many people are only now beginning to realise, as they reach the age of 66-----

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: -----that the eligibility criteria for the State pension has changed fundamentally. The Minister's comments on housing and accommodation were nothing short of pathetic. He would have been better off saying nothing than what he actually said. There has been no increase in rent supplement. It was flagged and leaked repeatedly that rent certainty would be introduced but there is no rent...

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: -----but there has been no such tax relief.

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: There were to be grants for builders who sold houses at below the market value. Apparently, Members are told, the Minister, Deputy Noonan and the Minister, Deputy Kelly, could not reach agreement on the package of measures to help people trying to put a roof over their heads. Is it not amazing the Ministers did manage to reach agreement on giving themselves a €900 tax cut? However,...

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: Is the Government not aware of what the Simon Community found in its recent report? In the areas it studied, which included all the major population centres, 93% of properties available for rent were outside of the rent supplement cap. In the five major cities, the Simon Community could not find a single property available for rent that was within the rent cap for a single person.

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: Not a single property and not a word about it in the budget today, which is an absolute disgrace-----

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: -----because apparently, the Government cannot reach agreement on all of that. It is an absolute disgrace.

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: In responding to budgets, I have stated consistently that Fianna Fáil wants to see this country recover.

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: However, I have a duty to analyse critically that recovery. The economy is recovering, that recovery is broadening and its pace has almost surprised everyone. I agree the task now is to make sure it is a sustainable recovery. There is a general air of self-congratulation about the Government's pronouncements on the state of the economy. Ireland remains vulnerable to a change in...

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: This budget is the final roll of the dice from a Government that has run out of ideas and is about to run out of road. This budget presented a golden opportunity to the Government to make a statement about our values as a country and to set out a vision for our Republic as we approach a series of centenary commemorations. It was an opportunity to make the right choices. The decision the...

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: -----who defied the odds and not only survived but are now driving the recovery. The Government is delusional if it believes that decisions made on Merrion Street during its tenure have brought about this recovery. Having broken promise after promise over the past four and a half years, this budget is an attempt by the Government to take a short cut to popularity, but the people will not be...

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: With every budget this Government has passed, it has made Ireland a more unequal place. Fine Gael and the Labour Party seem intent on creating deeper and deeper divisions in society. The way the Government targeted lone parents, women and the elderly will live long in the memory. This Government does not like independent analysis very much, but the analysis of the Government's approach to...

Financial Resolutions 2016 - Budget Statement 2016 (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: It is little wonder the Government wants another few months in office before facing the people, but it will make no difference. Back in 2011 the Government was swept to power with a record mandate and the overwhelming goodwill of the Irish people to be bold and reforming, but it has utterly failed to deliver in so many areas. Political reform, which was demanded by voters in 2011 has been...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Foreign Earnings Deduction (13 Oct 2015)

Michael McGrath: 67. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 281 of 6 October 2015, if a person who is employed by a company, is a director of the company and owns the company, in full or in part, can potentially benefit from the foreign earnings deduction scheme, if the other conditions are met; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35765/15]