Results 281-300 of 406 for speaker:Charlie McCreevy

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

Charlie McCreevy: I bow to the expertise of the Senator's colleagues regarding the actual negotiations. To my knowledge they did not break on this point. Taxation did not, on this occasion, form a central part of the negotiations. The trade union leadership recognised, before we reached the table, that the days of big tax reductions were gone and that taxation would not form a central part of this agreement,...

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

Charlie McCreevy: Senator O'Toole put forward this interesting idea quite recently in the Irish Examiner. We looked at many ideas in this regard but I am open to having it looked at again and will do so before next year's budget and Finance Bill. The Senator is proposing that we encourage people to save in a particular fund which could only be used for deposit on a house. I am loath to commit myself to another...

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

Charlie McCreevy: Many people on the lower income scale have also contributed. The balance is fairly even throughout the levels of income. Senator McDowell's party felt the scheme would benefit only the better-off. That is not the case and the figures will prove it. It shows the practical commonsense of the Irish people in that when they see a good deal they go for it. There is nothing extraordinary about...

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

Charlie McCreevy: I do not want to go over the housing area again because I had to introduce two additional Finance Bills to deal with the Bacon reports in 1998 and 2000. I said at that time – I said it off script on many occasions and it was lucky that I did – that any interference in the market would cause difficulties. As Senator O'Toole said, we are back to where we started. I think I will be proved...

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

Charlie McCreevy: The price of cattle in a free market.

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

Charlie McCreevy: Greed is the best thing in a free market. It is either that or go broke. If there is enough supply of a product, someone will have to move it.

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

Charlie McCreevy: I estimate that, on average, some 45,000 units per year have been provided for the past five years, including some 50,000 in the past two years. That is enough to meet demand. It will be seen who is correct on this. There is a move to interfere in other areas of the market, but I am loath to do that and I urge caution. It might be popular and might look like the thing to do, but, in this type...

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

Charlie McCreevy: The Senator should look at what it has done.

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

Charlie McCreevy: The intention of this recommendation is to increase the dependent relative tax credit from €60 to €100 per annum. The credit was significant for a long time, until the recent past, not for its monetary value but because it opened up the way for other reliefs, including relief in respect of the medical expenses of a dependent relative and mortgage interest relief in respect of a loan...

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

Charlie McCreevy: I did not bother to do what I said I intended to do in this area because I would have been misrepresented for doing so. I still intend to make the changes, but I did not do so on this occasion because of political circumstances and not economic conditions.

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

Charlie McCreevy: No—

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

Charlie McCreevy: The blind person's allowance, which was not changed for many years, has been substantially increased since I became Minister for Finance.

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

Charlie McCreevy: No, I plan to make changes in relation to smaller allowances. Recommendation, by leave, withdrawn. Section 1 agreed to. NEW SECTION.

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

Charlie McCreevy: The purpose of these recommendations is the indexation of the tax bands and certain tax credits. Such a move would be costly for the Exchequer. For example, if a figure of 4.6%, representing the best available estimate of the rate of growth in the CPI for 2002 over 2001, was to be assumed, the full year cost of indexing the standard rate band would be about €192 million in a full year. In...

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

Charlie McCreevy: I never said the German economy was a basket case. Those are Senator McDowell's words. I did say that the German economy is in some difficulty at present. I am sure the Senator has noted that his Social Democrat colleagues have tabled proposals for change despite loud objections from other wings of their party.

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

Charlie McCreevy: I spent a very pleasant five months as Minister for Finance with my colleague, Mr. Oskar La Fontaine, who was Minister for Finance in the German Republic until he decided to vacate the position. He was a most pleasant individual and we had many interesting talks. I notice that he is making his presence felt again in the German press although many people thought he was going to retire. He has...

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

Charlie McCreevy: Can I just interrupt the Senator to make one point? I as a back bencher was the first Deputy on the Fianna Fáil side at that time to compliment Alan Dukes.

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

Charlie McCreevy: I did it before he was ousted from leadership of the Fine Gael Party and I used the phrase it is a great tradition to say when a person is gone that he was a great man. I did it a long time before he went.

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

Charlie McCreevy: I accept that.

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

Charlie McCreevy: In each of my years as Minister for Finance, I have achieved an overall Exchequer surplus. Debt has been reduced to 34% of GDP, which is the second lowest ratio in the European Union. In the five years of the previous Administration, the Government increased gross public spending by nearly 100% from a figure of roughly €18 billion in 1997. Gross public spending will be of the order of €38...