Results 1-20 of 250 for far speaker:Gerald Nash

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Nomination of Member of Government: Motion (26 Jun 2024)

Gerald Nash: ...core spending. Do not insult the intelligence of this House and its citizens. Account for it in the way it should be. I ask Deputy Chambers to take seriously the work of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare. Two years on, this Government continues to blank the commission's report. Show that commission the respect its work deserves and start implementing its measures. Our tax...

Hospitality and Tourism Sector: Motion [Private Members] (19 Jun 2024)

Gerald Nash: ...when I first entered this House 13 years ago. The fiscal crash meant we had an unemployment rate of 16% and businesses were closing at unprecedented rates. We had one job and that job, as far as I was concerned, was to get people back to work and fix the economy. Crucial innovation in 2011 was the targeted VAT rate cut to stimulate the hospitality sector. At a time of high...

Business Support Package: Statements (23 May 2024)

Gerald Nash: ...and the fact that 2.7 million people are now in work. This is a record. There were 90,000 new net jobs in quarter 3 of 2023. That trend has continued into 2024. VAT receipts are up 6.3% so far this year. There are at least three interest rate cuts due that will benefit aggregate demand and businesses. Business failures in 2023 were 27 per 10,000. The figure for 2019 was 36 per...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Living Wage (18 Apr 2024)

Gerald Nash: .... This is unacceptable to me and I hope it is unacceptable to the Minister. I would like the Minister to put on record his views on the proposition that some employer bodies are saying that, as far as they are concerned, the minimum wage should not increase by any more than the rate of inflation. What is the Minister's position on this proposition?

Nature Restoration Law: Statements (7 Mar 2024)

Gerald Nash: ..., opposed the nature restoration law. Let us not forget that last July, EPP MEPs submitted amendments for a total boycott of the legislation. They were joined by the European Conservatives and Reformists as well as the far-right Identity and Democracy groups in the Parliament, which tabled amendments calling for the legislation to be rejected entirely. We understand that Fine Gael MEPs...

Housing Targets and Regulations: Motion [Private Members] (6 Mar 2024)

Gerald Nash: ...-owning age group, had dwindled to just 7%. To put that in context, it was 22% in 2011. As my colleagues stated earlier, the Labour Party's assessment is that we require 50,000 new builds over the next ten years, far exceeding the Government's anaemic and lacklustre goal of 30,000. When we articulated our assessment at the time, it was utterly sneered at by the Government. It said...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Impact of Climate on Public Finances: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (28 Feb 2024)

Gerald Nash: I accept Professor McMahon is not a climate expert or, indeed, an agricultural scientist, as far as I am aware.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Impact of Climate on Public Finances: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (28 Feb 2024)

Gerald Nash: ...fenced for climate and nature. Remarkably and given the obvious deficiencies we have with planning out to 2030 and what is an under resourced national development plan, is it not quite extraordinary that as far as Government is concerned this fund is not capable of being tapped into until 2026? Nobody has given me a sufficient explanation as to why that is the case given that the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Feb 2024)

Gerald Nash: ...and tolerance of pluralism, and that continues. For the vast majority of the people of my town, this was only ever about the loss of key hotel beds. Here is the evidence. On Saturday, the far right organised a protest in my hometown, which 300 people attended. The important point is that 41,000 Droghedians did not. The economic impact of this decision is very real, and evidence shows...

Housing and Homeless Prevention: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (23 Jan 2024)

Gerald Nash: .... This is insufficient and is a paltry increase given the scale we need. Less than two weeks ago the Economic and Social Research Institute concurred that targets need to be significantly increased by far more than the Government is now proposing, while the Irish Institutional Property organisation, hardly a bunch of unreconstructed lefties, estimates that the target needs to be closer...

Organisation of Working Time (Reproductive Health Related Leave) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (18 Jan 2024)

Gerald Nash: ...rights of women. Pregnancy loss is utterly cruel. It is deeply personal, harrowing and physical and has a lasting emotional impact. For a woman who is going through that cruel loss, it is often far too painful to even discuss. It is not an illness or a sickness, however, and we should not treat it as such. It certainly should not be the case that a woman would be forced to produce the...

Investment Funds Trading in the Residential Property Market: Motion [Private Members] (17 Jan 2024)

Gerald Nash: ...months unless the Government decides that this ends here and a penal surcharge is introduced to force a change in behaviour. New figures released today to Deputy Doherty really expose the problem. Far from stopping this objectionable behaviour, in terms of the initiative the Government took in 2021, if we can call it an initiative, the Government has succeeded in ensuring the practice...

Digital Services Bill 2023: Second Stage (13 Dec 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...a safe, predictable and trustworthy online environment and for allowing Union citizens and other persons to exercise their fundamental rights ... We in the Labour Party could not agree more. Far too often, as Members will know, providers fall below the standards right-thinking people across this country and the EU would expect. They also fall well short in far too many instances in...

Appropriation Bill 2023: Second Stage (12 Dec 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...in recent years, with the creation of the budgetary oversight committee, the Parliamentary Budget Office and, arguably, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. I say all of this in the context of the damaging farce that is the process to agree an Estimate for the Department of Health for 2024. Strictly speaking, we are discussing resources for this year, but the same applies to the fictional...

Capital Supply Service and Purpose Report Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) [Private Members] (29 Nov 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...help with regular reviews of how we tender and procure, and it will help prevent lowballing and the need for mediation for contract disputes that causes delays and overruns, the cost of which can often far exceed what had been budgeted for initially. Good cost control is good and responsible government and governance. It is far too often the case that the first time we might learn of...

Home Care Workers and Home Support Scheme: Motion [Private Members] (8 Nov 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...bargaining. No one will be struck by lightning for uttering those words. The legislation is rock solid. Incredibly, the only recommendation made in the report published last year that has been implemented thus far is the one on employment permits for home support workers. That is the easy option. It is not the transformational one. The easy option is to revise the permit system and...

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Second Stage (24 Oct 2023)

Gerald Nash: .... This legislation gives effect to many of the proposals announced in budget 2024 two weeks ago, including the important changes to the corporation tax code, which are the most significant and far-reaching since 1997. While the finance Bill, by definition, focuses on the taxation changes, many of which were articulated in the budget, it is important that we take a step back and look...

Competition and Consumer Protection (Unfair Prices) Bill 2023: First Stage (24 Oct 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...has been outpacing the general rate of inflation for some time. Wage growth is slow and is being outrun by the high cost of living. The euro in people's pocket simply does not stretch as far as it did two years ago. All the while, corporate profits in Ireland and throughout the EU are at an all-time high. From CSO data to research by the European Central Bank, there is evidence of...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...this time last year. The Government would not need to spend so much today if they got things right then. Those who are most in need are still paying the price for below inflation social welfare increases last year. I remind everyone that there were no increases to child benefit or the living alone allowance last year. The €2.7 billion being allocated in another so-called...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Budget Statement 2024 (10 Oct 2023)

Gerald Nash: ...for the right kind of recruit, this is what she needs to do, and she needs to do it now. We get a real sense of this Government’s priorities when we look at the social protection package. It is incredible that the tax cut and the 2024 welfare package are more or less the same size. However, on digging a little deeper, they are not. The tax package amounts to €1.3 billion...