Results 501-520 of 47,691 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: The Deputy came in here and said that we were giving billions for completed apartments.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: We are not. That is misinformation.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: The total package is millions. The proportion that will go to completed apartments is presumably a very small fraction of that.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: It is nowhere near billions. Accuracy matters when one is talking about taxpayers' money.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: After disagreeing with Deputy Healy earlier, I find myself more in agreement with him in relation to this matter. As the Deputy knows and has alluded to, we have allocated extra money for the disabled person's grant in the budget. The question he is asking is a fair one, namely, whether we can do anything between now and the end of the year in relation to Tipperary. We always keep these...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy O'Flynn very much. I heard the Minister for justice comment on the issue regarding podcasters recently and he expressed his surprise and, perhaps, displeasure in that regard. I will ask him to come back to the Deputy on each specific issue he has raised. The Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is putting a real focus on increasing prison capacity and has worked very hard to secure...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: Please do not mislead carers. Family carers deserve to know the truth and this is the truth. We have frozen VAT at 9% for gas and electricity for the next five years and we are making sure an extra 50,000 households throughout the country will benefit from the fuel allowance. We are extending the renter's tax credit. We have the back of Irish people and the back of businesses....

Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Neville for raising this issue. It is fair to say he raises these issues on a very ongoing basis. Recently I was at Kildare Chamber of Commerce with Deputy Neville and the Minister, Deputy Heydon, where we had a good chance to sit down and talk with the Kildare Chamber of Commerce. What I heard very clearly from it was the growing frustration that the county, not dissimilar...

Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: I agree with Deputy Neville. It is important that local government, national government and State agencies work in partnership to try to drive forward the delivery of this infrastructure which is much needed in north Kildare. It is stark when Deputy Neville makes the point that when we look at Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth together there is a population of 53,000 people. As he says, it...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: We are already acting. That is why it is important that parents know. If the Deputy is saying that parents do not follow this, then I completely disagree. Let parents watching know this: the budget we just delivered provided funding for 35,000-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: The Deputy said that people do not read election manifestoes in detail but I think people watch these things very closely.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: The Irish electorate are sophisticated. Funding for an additional 35,000 places has been provided. A cap will be put in place for next September for those with the highest fees. We are extending the footwear and clothing allowance for the first time to children in preschool. I am sure this is something that the Social Democrats must support but did not fund in their alternative budget....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: They listened when the leader of the Social Democrats promised that VAT for the hospitality sector would be set at 9% and then walked away from it.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: This is because the Social Democrats do not believe that cafés in my constituency - in Greystones, Delgany or Bray - deserve the VAT cut that they promised during the election and which they are now walking away from. There is a pub-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: I can produce the image. The Social Democrats are going to vote against a measure to help with jobs in towns and villages across Ireland and I do not think that was very good thing to do.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: I will not accept that at all. I will accept that we will do what we promised the people we were going to do to in the general election. Not too many of us in here, including myself, have had to lie awake at night wondering how we are going to pay the wage bill. Not many of us have to wonder that if we get sick and cannot run the café where our income is going to come from. Not too...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: We have very different economic ideology and I will not debate that in the two minutes available to me. As the Deputy rightly said, 75% of the businesses in the hospitality sector employ fewer than ten people. If I walked around the Deputy's constituency with him, which I would be happy to do some time, it would be a brave politician who stood on the floor of the shop, café, restaurant...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: No, it would not. To be clear in case Deputy Newsome Drennan has not read her own party's alternative budget, Sinn Féin proposed this as well, so Sinn Féin is in favour of this and agrees with us on this one. The rate of 9% is supported by Sinn Féin as well, so I thank her for that support. Deputy Healy does not support it and that is his right. On balance, we think this...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: We are not going to agree on this, so no, the Government does not intend to reverse the commitment it gave and is delivering on, but it needs to be seen in context. This is an important measure to back business and jobs in regional and rural Ireland. It is also just one of a number of measures. The budget allocated a hell of a lot more to childcare, disability, education and health than it...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2025)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy. I accept the Government needs to make a timely decision on this and I accept it is an issue that has gone on for many years. In fairness to the Minister for Health, she is proactively engaging on this issue. The point the Deputy makes about population is really key. He is correct that the population of the mid-west region is growing faster than the population of many...