Results 1-20 of 43 for 5 million speaker:Séamus Healy

Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Second Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2019)

Séamus Healy: I welcome the opportunity to speak to the Bill. I also welcome the measures contained in the Bill such as the Christmas bonus, the increase in the living alone allowance, the 35,000 hot meals to be provided for school children and other similar provdisions. What is contained in a Bill, however, is not always what is most important and this Bill is a classic example. What is not included in...

Finance Bill 2019: Second Stage (23 Oct 2019)

Séamus Healy: ...their formative years in emergency accommodation in this country, which has the fifth largest number of ultra wealthy individuals per capitain the world according to a recent study. A total of 2,055 super-rich people in the State have wealth in excess of $30 million each. They do not pay a ha'penny tax on that. The study shows there are 421 super-rich individuals per 1 million adults in...

Living Wage: Motion [Private Members] (15 Oct 2019)

Séamus Healy: ...least well-off hardest. There is no doubt that Ireland is a low-wage economy with a significant rich-poor divide. The country is awash with money. The financial assets of the wealthiest 10% are €50 billion in excess of those in 2006-07. The country has the fifth-largest number of super-wealthy individuals per capitain the world, ahead of countries such as the USA , the United...

Financial Resolutions - Budget Statement 2020 (8 Oct 2019)

Séamus Healy: ...in their formative years in emergency accommodation, this country has the fifth largest number of ultra wealthy individuals per capitain the world, according to a recent wealth study. A total of 2,055 super rich people in the State have wealth in excess of $30 million each. They do not pay a penny in tax on this wealth. The study shows that there are 421 super rich individuals per 1...

Housing Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members] (13 Nov 2018)

Séamus Healy: ...has worsened significantly since then. Comparing like-with-like figures, by September 2018 the total number of homeless had increased by 1,497 persons including 442 extra adults and a shocking 1,055 extra children, reaching a total of 11,304 persons. Focus Ireland also pointed out that 193 additional children became homeless in September alone. Last week, Professor Eoin...

Financial Resolutions 2019 - Budget Statement 2019 (9 Oct 2018)

Séamus Healy: ...are to ease the burden on those on low and middle incomes. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a budget for the super rich. What happened in this budget? According to the CSO, 1.18 million workers are on incomes of less than €30,000 per year. Some 1 million of them are PAYE workers and 180,000 are self-employed. They comprise 40% of the workforce. There is no...

Social Welfare Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2017)

Séamus Healy: ...and are not included in the Bill. I raised this issue in the budget debate on 10 October. I particularly raised the changes made by Deputy Burton in 2012. These changes affected approximately 25,000 women. Many of their pensions were reduced and some pensions were wiped out altogether. Some women were made dependent on their spouses or partners. It has been suggested that it would...

Financial Resolutions 2018 - Budget Statement 2018 (10 Oct 2017)

Séamus Healy: ...facts. On GDP per head, Ireland is wealthier than Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Italy. Overall, Ireland is ranked eighth in the world. The richest 12 in Ireland have €50 billion in total assets, having gained €6 billion in the last year alone. The top 300 have €100 billion, having gained €12 billion in the last year alone. The...

Summer Economic Statement 2017: Statements (13 Jul 2017)

Séamus Healy: ...us exactly what it means. It calls Ireland an unequal nation with growing gaps in income. It tells us that the top 1% increased their income share by 20% in the last 12 months, and the lowest 50% lost 15% of income share at the same time. That is the situation. There is a failure in this document to tax the wealthy. There is no taxation, for instance, on the huge financial assets of...

Nomination of Taoiseach (Resumed) (14 Jun 2017)

Séamus Healy: .... While there is a recovery, it is a recovery for the rich and its fruits have gone to the rich over and above the disabled, the homeless and the sick. In its previous two budgets, the Government gave €172 million in tax and universal social charge relief to the top 5% in society who are on average annual incomes of €186,000. The 12 richest citizens have assets of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services: Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, and Department of Finance (18 Jan 2017)

Séamus Healy: Yes. Last week Irish Water told us it would save €5 million.

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Second Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2016)

Séamus Healy: ...gap between rich and poor, the increases in payments in the budget and the philosophy of supporting very wealthy people as opposed to low income, middle income and poor families mean? They mean that 750,000 people live in poverty, one in five children lives in a household with an income below the poverty line, 18.7% of children are poor and almost 20% of adults with an income below the...

Public Sector Pay: Motion [Private Members] (8 Nov 2016)

Séamus Healy: ...are being mugged daily. There is a housing crisis and people are on hospital trolleys and waiting lists. They are finding it almost impossible to make ends meet. The 2016 budget gave €120 million to the richest 5% in the country while the 2017 budget gives them another €52 million. At the same time, Social Justice Ireland has said the budget for 2017 disproportionately...

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2016)

Séamus Healy: ..., demonstrably so. He has claimed in the past few days that there is no money available to pay teachers. That is also false. In the last two budgets the Minister for Finance gave back €172 million to the wealthiest 5% in the country, €120 million of which was provided in budget 2016 and €52 million in budget 2017. We know from the Central Bank's report that the...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Budget Statement 2017 (11 Oct 2016)

Séamus Healy: ...create a fairer society. This is dishonest claptrap. The budget maintains and widens the rich-poor gap in our society. Under the tax and the universal social charge changes alone, the wealthiest 5% of people in our society, those on average incomes of €186,000 a year, will get a €15 per week increase and, of course, they will get it from 1 January. They are not subject to...

Road Traffic Bill 2016 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Sep 2016)

Séamus Healy: ...fact, few, if any, changes in that regard have come through local authorities over the years. This option has been available to them since 2014 and the guidelines were updated and reintroduced in 2015 but it is all on the basis of it being an option and encouraging local authorities to do it or recommending that it be done. However, it has not happened in the case of the 30 kp/h limit...

Nomination of Taoiseach (10 Mar 2016)

Séamus Healy: ...to protect the super rich, the bankers and the bondholders. There are now at least 1,600 children in emergency hotel accommodation. The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine claims that between 300 and 350 unnecessary deaths take place each year due to trolley chaos in our hospitals. This is more than the carnage on our roads. Yesterday, for example, there were 32 people on trolleys...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Tax Code (14 Jan 2016)

Séamus Healy: 5. To ask the Minister for Finance if he has read the most recent Credit Suisse global wealth report; if so, his views on the staggering inequalities it suggests in the distribution and concentration of wealth here; if, given this report it is now a matter of urgent priority for the Government to establish a database on wealth distribution and to place a wealth tax on assets of households in...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Séamus Healy: .... The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, said that next year, the debt to GDP ratio will be below the European average. The syndrome of having it both ways is highlighted by the fact that the top 5% of income earners in this country were given €100 million in the recent budget. This legislation is particularly unconstitutional in the area of pensions. Pensions are held by the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Séamus Healy: ...any more. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, tells us that the debt to GDP ratio is going to be less than the European average next year. As I said earlier, the last budget gave €100 million to the top 5% in the country, the highest earners. It gave €10 million to the 10,000 people who have €595,000 per annum or more in income. The provisions amount to the...