Results 501-520 of 2,550 for speaker:Paul Gogarty

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: I am not taking a point of order at this stage.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: No one likes a bad Santa coming and taking stuff back. That is the reality. Do I like it? Absolutely not, but I am going to vote for it-----

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: -----because it is fundamentally the right thing to do. Two months ago-----

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: Two months ago on 9 October I got a telephone call from my parliamentary colleagues asking me why I was not at the parliamentary party meeting. We had not made a few decisions at the time on education. We had not got exactly what we were seeking.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: I said I would go in when there was something to be agreed. I was asked what I was doing and I said I was shaving as I was getting my election photograph taken. On an issue of conscience I would have been prepared to urge the Green Party to go to the country.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: However, we did secure reversals in the cuts to education, which is overwhelmingly protected compared to other areas.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: That is where the money is going, to protect the children.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: On that basis we are prepared to make tough, nasty, unpopular cuts. I fundamentally believe there is no other option.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: The budget is relatively conservative and did not go far enough. The Green Party was pushing for more reform of the taxation sector. We understand that it will be forthcoming next year. I thought more reform should have come this year. We had some reform in April when the higher earners were taxed.-----

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: It is now the case that the top 4% of earners pay 48% of all tax. In this budget it is very welcome that Irish nationals who are not in the country will have to pay €200,000. It is a step in the right direction.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: Taxation could have been reformed more but it was not. I am led to believe that next year's budget will focus on tax reform. As regards the carbon tax and its impact on the social welfare budget, the carbon tax is matched by a fuel allowance for those on lower incomes.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: We have to take into account the impact of carbon emissions, not just on our planet but also in terms of the fines this country will face.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: This was a progressive start. Fine Gael did not think so. Its party members said they believed in carbon taxes but they did not tell the truth. Their party leader said that he never rang the Minister of State, Deputy Sargent, asking him to talk to Deputy Ó Caoláin. That was not the truth either.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: We could have had an alternative coalition.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: When I listen to accusations of corruption and hypocrisy being thrown at me I think about the budget in the early 1980s when John Bruton put VAT on children's shoes.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: The members of Fine Gael believed fundamentally that had to be done. The Deputies are throwing references to the blind and carers at me.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: I do not remember in recent years when social welfare was going up that Deputies were singling out the blind or any other grouping to get more than someone else. The cost of living has fallen by 6% and it will continue to fall.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: In relative terms those on social welfare are doing better than they did five years ago. That does not mean I am happy that money has been taken off them. I am not happy, but where does one make up a third of the budget?

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: Another point of order. Have your fun. Christmas is coming.

Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2009)

Paul Gogarty: I will do my best. How many minutes remain?