Results 641-660 of 1,171,957 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Pat Deering OR speaker:Cian O'Callaghan OR speaker:James Lawless OR speaker:Chris Andrews OR speaker:Simon Coveney OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Chris Andrews6 OR speaker:Alan Farrell OR speaker:Heather Humphreys OR speaker:Danny Healy-Rae OR speaker:Pauline Tully OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:Carol Nolan OR speaker:Verona Murphy OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:David Stanton OR speaker:Pippa Hackett OR speaker:Michael Ring OR speaker:Mattie McGrath OR speaker:John McGuinness OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh OR speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett OR speaker:Seán Canney OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Ciarán Cannon OR speaker:John Brady OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Anne Rabbitte OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Violet-Anne Wynne OR speaker:Jennifer Whitmore OR speaker:Martin Kenny OR speaker:Martin Heydon OR speaker:Eamon Ryan OR speaker:Brian Leddin OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Michael McGrath OR speaker:Fergus O'Dowd OR speaker:Seán Fleming OR speaker:Michael Lowry)

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: It is also necessary, though, to look at inflation. We never signed up to the restrictive Fine Gael 5% spending rule. I believe we have been proven right in relation to inflation. Of the three examples that IFAC gave us in its submission, namely, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden, the first two specifically take inflation into account and look at the increases in spending in real terms....

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: It is less today than it was in 2019 in terms of spending. It is a kind of contradiction in one sense. The concern is that all this highlights some of the risks associated with legislating for the spending rules.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: No, exactly. What we are trying to get at here, however, is to be fiscally responsible but still have enough flexibility to be able to adapt to and respond to external changes that occur. It is about the balance rather than about tying ourselves into something if we were to legislate for the rule.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I thank Dr. Casey for that. The EU fiscal rules state that the medium-term fiscal plans will commit member states to an agreed net expenditure path for a five-year period. The plan will subsequently be endorsed by the Council of the European Union. It is stated that once endorsed by the European Council, it is generally not possible to deviate from the agreed net expenditure path unless...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: It is trying to stop it.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Yes. I think this is crucially important because we are adding an additional national restriction to an economic decision of a democratically-elected government. I think this is extremely serious. IFAC's submission refers to it having an enforcement role in regard to the EU fiscal rules. Will the witnesses expand on this statement? I refer to what IFAC having an additional enforcement...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: What about the decision of the democratically elected Government? I really have concerns about this.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Five years is a long time in politics.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: I thank our guests for coming in today. From a lay person's point of view, we are talking about economies, budgets and five-year plans but a five-year plan is not worth the paper it is written on in the context of what happened in Ukraine or of Covid, for example. Basically, such plans are for an ideal world, if everything was right. When we have a spike in inflation, all kinds of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: If one considers the surplus taxes that we have coming in now and the fact that some of that is being stored away in the so-called rainy day fund, is that the type of action that a good government should be taking so that we have reserves when we need them? An example of an area about which people are very frustrated is that of house building. Private housing is not being built. That...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: What is Mr. Coffey's take on people promising that we are going to build 60,000 houses? How does he see that being done when we cannot even build 30,000 at the moment? That is not a political question. I am asking how the council sees this being done. Will something else have to be sacrificed, for example, retrofitting or something like that? Does Mr. Coffey have any comments on that?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: The way Mr. Coffey describes some of the difficulties in getting foreign workers or getting our own people who have gone abroad to come back is like a chicken-and-egg situation. We have to provide the houses for them to live in to give them the permanency they need. They would want a guarantee that they would get a house here if they came back.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: This is not a loaded question but it relates to the role of IFAC. Do the witnesses find that nobody listens to what they say when they have concerns about fiscal rules or projections and forecasts that are being made? Are they being listened to by governments? Do they feel that their role is effective? People say the Government is composed of the elected representatives of the people and...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: I have one last question. I did my leaving certificate in the mid-1970s and for whatever reason, there were no jobs at the time. When I was in the construction industry there was very little work in the early 1980s, then we had the boom and it was followed by the situation in 2008. Should we be doing specific analysis to generate lessons for the future? I include how we performed during...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Canney: I thank the guests.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Health and Well-being for Persons with Disabilities: Discussion (23 Oct 2024)

Frank Feighan: I thank Mr. Dempsey for the presentation. It was very interesting and informative. I have three questions to ask. First, what proportion of public health clinics and hospitals meet national accessibility standards, including accessible buildings and environment and medical and health equipment? Second, as politicians we have had a lot of problems through the years with medical cards and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Health and Well-being for Persons with Disabilities: Discussion (23 Oct 2024)

Frank Feighan: With regard to people with disabilities, there seems to be a lot of picking and choosing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Health and Well-being for Persons with Disabilities: Discussion (23 Oct 2024)

Pauline Tully: Deputy Feighan referred to accessibility of buildings, and that is extremely important in centres, but accessibility of information is also very important. Do the Department of Health and the HSE incorporate easy-to-read versions on their websites and hard copies of literature? Do they provide ISL to those who require it? Do they provide information through braille? People who are blind...

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

The Dáil went into Committee to consider amendments from the Seanad.