Results 61-80 of 406 for speaker:Charlie McCreevy

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: Section 21 extends the power to refuse to confirm or deny the existence of a record to a record containing personal information where the mere acknowledgement of the existence or non-existence of the record concerned could undermine the exemption or reveal the sensitive personal information contained in the record. The Long Title of the existing Freedom of Information Act accepts the need for...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: I am not accepting this amendment in its present form. The issue is being examined by me. Section 3 of the principal Act contains a provision which allows the Minister for Finance to make regulations for the purpose of giving full effect to the Freedom of Information Act in order that the further legal clarification that appears in this provision may permit regulations to be made or to...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: I will not accept this amendment either. This section provides for a period of four weeks from the initiation of third party consultation in burdensome cases. It is believed that in cases involving significant amounts of records or a large number of third parties who need to be consulted under section 29 of the principal Act, two weeks gives an insufficient amount of time for decision makers...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: I admit to being unclear about this amendment which refers, I note with some trepidation, to any necessary modifications. I gather its purpose is to provide for formal third party consultation in accordance with the procedure under section 29 of the principal Act at the internal review stage of making decisions. This issue received considerable attention in the course of the preparation of...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: I will not be accepting this amendment. I understand it relates to an issue raised by the Information Commissioner in his recent report. Further consideration is being given by my Department to the appropriate mechanism for dealing with this issue. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: I do not propose to accept the amendment. The purpose of section 25 is to exclude from the FOI Act records relating to the costing by a public body of proposals by a political party. This is a long-standing agreement between political parties. The section also restricts the principal Act in relation to parliamentary briefing records, including those treated as a brief for parliamentary...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: We debated this issue earlier. The purpose of the relevant provision is to permit the Minister for Finance to prescribe a fee, in regulations, to be charged by a public body in respect of requests for access to a non-personal record under section 7 of the principal Act. There was also a provision for a fee to be prescribed in respect of an application for internal review under section 14, or...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: Did the Senator refer to some of the objections of the Fine Gael members of the Government of which Fine Gael was a part? I must look at the files when I get around to it.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: It was I who christened her.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: The Senator was with me on the major issues.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (20 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: I thank Senators for their contributions and note the Leader's comment that the Bill has been discussed for 27 hours in this House. If an important Bill is before the Seanad next year at the same time as a certain meeting of Irish people abroad, I will endeavour to arrange a suitable tent in that arena in order that Senators can debate the matter there.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2003 [ Certified Money Bill ] : Second Stage. (25 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: The Finance Bill 2003 implements the tax changes announced in the budget last December and includes a range of other measures, many of which are targeted at closing off tax loopholes and updating and modernising the tax system. This year's Bill has 171 sections and I propose to give an outline of the main provisions. Part 1 of the Bill which covers sections 1 to 72 deals with income tax,...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2003 [ Certified Money Bill ] : Second Stage. (25 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: While I did not see that article, I saw the one on the tax breaks for artists.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2003 [ Certified Money Bill ] : Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: Recommendations Nos. 3 and 4 propose to increase the basic personal tax credits from €1,520 to €2,000 for single persons and from €3,040 to €4,000 for married persons. The cost of the increase proposed by the Senator, taking account of the consequential increase in the one-parent family tax credits, would be €557 million in 2003 and €777 million in the full year. This cost...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2003 [ Certified Money Bill ] : Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: I agree.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2003 [ Certified Money Bill ] : Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: I do not have the Fianna Fáil election manifesto with me, but I have a clear recollection of what is in the taxation section. We committed nothing. It stated that whenever resources were available, any scope for taxation cuts would be concentrated on the lower paid. We said the least of all the parties about personal taxation. Senator Higgins's party promised intermediate cuts in tax rates...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2003 [ Certified Money Bill ] : Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: I said we would not increase tax rates. However, we did not give any commitments. We said that any resources we had would be concentrated on that area. As regards the PPF, it stated that over time we would take those on the minimum wage out of the tax net. The last Fianna Fáil election manifesto contained the minimum on taxation.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2003 [ Certified Money Bill ] : Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: As regards the second question, Senator McDowell used the freedom of the House to allude to a policy in which I believe. Everybody should make a little contribution to the State. There should be a mythical box in a computer which shows Joe Smith's contribution during his working life. It might only be 1 cent per week during the times he has worked. I agree with the Senator. It does not mean...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2003 [ Certified Money Bill ] : Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: That will depend on the economic circumstances.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2003 [ Certified Money Bill ] : Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Mar 2003)

Charlie McCreevy: The total personal tax package this year is €186 million. I considered at one stage that I would not do anything in the taxation area. The only two things I did related to the employee credit and to the 65 year old exemption which was increased by an amount that did not cost much. Depending on the economic circumstances next year, I will not have any hesitation in doing the same or less.