Results 16,541-16,560 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I ask Deputies in this House-----

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: -----to accept there is a legal requirement on households to pay €100. I know it is an imposition. I know the pressure households feel. The Deputy opposite knows full well, however, the economic catastrophe-----

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: -----this Government inherited. We need to broaden the tax base beyond the narrow focus on taxing income alone in order to restore a solid income base that will ensure local and ordinary services continue to be provided for the people who need them.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I listened to Deputies, including those on this morning's radio programmes, who indicated they are in favour of a property tax, just not this one.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Whatever property tax is devised, it will be opposed for-base political reasons. Deputy Michael McGrath's party agreed with the troika to have a site valuation tax and this is the first step in doing so. It is a flat rate tax and it needs to be nuanced. We are working on that. It could not be done in any other way this year.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: Deputy McGrath referred to it being done in the course of this year. Local authorities need certainty on their funding and there is no point in telling them their allocation-----

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: There are Deputies opposite who will support no tax, no charge and no cut. It is Darby O'Gill economics by which people will not be fooled.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: People want this economy to recover and they know the path to recovery is a hard path. They will not be fooled by people pretending we can fund local government with magic money. The final point is that we need certainty on this funding.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I ask everyone in this House and those who are obliged to pay this household charge to use mechanisms available between now and Saturday to pay the charge in solidarity with the 500,000 households who have paid, many of whom are not in a great position to pay but know their duty is to pay the charge. I ask people to do so.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: For my personal perspective, there should be a consequence for those well-known people, or not, against whom adverse findings are adduced by a tribunal of inquiry.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: That is my view. It is an important point to bear in mind. The Taoiseach was invited to a particular function, he did not issue invitations. Others were also invited.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: None of us can control the people who are photographed with us. Regarding the invitation to the Global Irish Economic Forum, the invitations issued replicated those who were invited to the first forum.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: There were adverse comments about the attendance of Mr. O'Brien and we must all reflect on that. I saw the glad handing of a former leader of Fianna Fáil at a party conference and we will now see who shuns him. We must all make personal decisions and the Government must make its decisions about any individual against whom adverse findings have been made by a tribunal established by this...

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I will first talk about our reaction to the Mahon tribunal.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I understood the question was about the adverse findings of the Moriarty tribunal and the Mahon tribunal and how we deal with people against whom adverse findings have been made.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I do but I hear a scattergun approach to questions and would like to answer them.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I have outlined my view on Mr. O'Brien and on anyone against whom serious adverse findings have been arrived at by a tribunal of inquiry. The Cabinet has not discussed the list of people to be shunned if that is what Deputy McDonald is asking about. If future invitations are to be issued, I am sure those matters will be discussed at Cabinet.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I might begin by acknowledging Deputy McGrath's final day as leader of the Technical Group. I understand he will be rotating out and handing over the baton to Deputy Pringle in the future.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: I hope the trauma of the loss of leadership will not be too great for him to endure. On the very serious matter Deputy McGrath has raised, there is no right-thinking person in the country who does not acknowledge the debt this State has to Mr. Collins and his family who stood by the institutions of this State at great personal risk.

Leaders' Questions (29 Mar 2012)

Brendan Howlin: It is profoundly sad that he had to come to the conclusion that to live a normal life he had to move out of his home city. That is shocking. I am aware that the Minister for Justice and Equality and this Government has done everything to stand by Mr. Steve Collins and his family and support him in the decision that was best for him and his family. On the broader issue of gangland crime, the...