55 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance the estimated increase in revenue to the Exchequer if a third rate of income tax of 55% was imposed on all income above €100,000; and if he has given consideration to establishing such a rate.
[38139/11]
52 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance if he will give serious consideration in budget 2012 to abolishing the tax write-off to which Ministers are entitled for the cost of having their clothing dry cleaned; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[38121/11]
76 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans for adult literacy education within SOLAS when it is formed to replace FÁS.
[37995/11]
75 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the need to prioritise literacy education and, in particular, to work on the literacy of parents in order that they can better support their children; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[37994/11]
74 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills the financial supports available for the National Adult Literacy Strategy; and the medium-term plans for funding this organisation.
[37993/11]
541 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Health if he will consider including Crohn’s disease on the list of illnesses covered under the long-term illness scheme, in view of the fact that the incidence of the disease has increased in Europe over the past number of years; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[37406/11]
540 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Health if he will consider including HIV-AIDS on the list of illnesses covered under the long-term illness scheme, in view of the fact that most people with this illness now live with it for a number of years; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[37405/11]
539 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Health his plans for, and progress on, reviewing the long-term illness scheme as part of the extension of free primary care to persons covered under this scheme.
[37404/11]
523 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Health, in the situation in which a medical speciality required is not available in the hospital assigned to the catchment area, to which hospital patients from Lucan, County Dublin, should be assigned.
[37179/11]
522 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Health, in the situation in which a medical speciality required is not available in the hospital assigned to the catchment area, to which hospital patients from Clondalkin, Dublin 22, should be assigned.
[37178/11]
509 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Health if he is following up with the persons in the Dublin area whose psychiatric medication was being paid for by the Health Service Executive until 1 November to ensure that cost does not prevent them from taking their medication; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[37044/11]
421 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the reasons that to date there have been no prosecutions for the offence of human trafficking for labour exploitation in this country; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[37544/11]
357 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide an update on the progress made toward a national bin waiver scheme.
[37189/11]
351 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding the proposed pilot scheme of a mortgage-to-rent system; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[37028/11]
245 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason the maximum rate of jobseeker’s allowance for persons under 25 years is less than that for persons over 25 years.
[37032/11]
234 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Social Protection the expense to the State in the past three years for which records are available from refunding redundancy payments to multinational companies which have made Irish staff redundant; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[37545/11]
199 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has been able to overcome the obstacles which have prevented professional civil servants from applying for administrative posts in the Civil Service; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[37031/11]
198 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which he has been able to recruit outside experts into the public service; and how he intends to make progress on this front.
[37030/11]
133 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance if he will look into restricting the dual income standard rate increase in terms of income tax to couples who are on low to moderate incomes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[37577/11]
125 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance his plans to regulate firms engaged in personal finance which are not banks or building societies (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[37462/11]
99 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance when the strategic development fund will come on stream; the functions of same; the amount of capital it will have at its disposal; and the persons or companies who are likely to benefit from same.
[37029/11]
130 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance the checks that are carried out on the tax reduction expenditure declared by multinational companies to ensure that each item is legitimate bona fide expenditure which reduces profits made in Ireland.
[37548/11]
94 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance the expenditure by multinational groups in respect of their operations outside Ireland which are considered bona fide for the purposes of calculating their tax liability here; and if this includes expenditure on services which were being carried out by the multinational here at an earlier stage.
[37546/11]
685 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will ensure that there is no cut to the subsidy for Dublin Bus next year, and could he make economies elsewhere.
[35916/11]
565 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the position regarding the implementation of recommendations contained in the Ferns Report, 2005, and the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, 2009
[36241/11]
493 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide up-to-date figures on the extent of forced labour that he is aware of nationally; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[36242/11]
376 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding the motor tax issue discussed as a matter on the Adjournment on 1 June 2011, namely the current practice of declaring vehicles as off the road for tax purposes.
[36240/11]
333 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in view of the projected increases in oil and gas prices expected over coming years due to increasing demand from developing nations and reduced sources of reliable supply, if consideration has been given to delaying the exploitation of Ireland’s oil and gas resources until a time of higher gas and oil prices than those currently found in the market in order to maximise the benefit to the State.
[36234/11]
220 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he would review the Casual Trading Act in regard to the sale of illegal cigarettes as the current fine for selling them at markets is only €63.
[35913/11]
127 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider eliminating the discrepancy that exists between the duty paid on different kinds of tobacco product, in particular cigarettes versus loose tobacco for hand-rolling, by imposing extra tax on products other than cigarettes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[35915/11]
126 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider not imposing extra tax on cigarettes on the grounds that it may encourage further tobacco smuggling.
[35914/11]
125 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance if Ireland will apply to the European Union Hercules Fund to help fund x-ray screening machines for detecting illegal tobacco imports in view of the fact that currently there are only two here; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[35912/11]
124 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider imposing a significant minimum fine of €10,000 for tobacco smuggling on the basis that in the second quarter of 2011, the average fine imposed was only €1,600.
[35911/11]
387 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, in view of recent examples of bad practice, if he intends to bring in legislation to introduce robust building regulations; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[34317/11]
201 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of Protestant students receiving their secondary school education in non-Protestant schools.
[34475/11]
200 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of the students in public Protestant secondary schools who are Protestant; the number who are Roman Catholic; the number of other religious persuasion; and the number of no religious persuasion.
[34473/11]
199 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of Protestants being educated in non-Protestant primary schools.
[34472/11]
198 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of Roman Catholics, children from non-Christian religions and those with no religious affiliation being educated in Protestant primary schools.
[34471/11]
197 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of Protestants being educated in Protestant — that is, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist — primary schools.
[34470/11]
172 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent of support he gives to the yellow flag programme for schools; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Irish Traveller Movement is unable to run the programme in all 16 schools which qualified this year owing to a lack of funding, and cannot source charitable funding for the programme for 2012 until Exchequer funding has been secured; and if further support will be given.
[34028/11]
97 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance his views on the dominant positions which the German Chancellor and the French President have taken in terms of working out the problems of the European Union and euro area; and the way he envisages the problems relating to the euro being sorted out.
[34482/11]
143 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prosecutions for white collar crime that have been brought by the Garda for each of the past ten years.
[33765/11]
347 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will consider the introduction of a robust construction inspection regime, including mandatory inspections after the completion of every phase of building work, to ensure that standards in construction are improved and that scenarios such as that in Priory Hall, Dublin are never allowed to occur again.
[33281/11]
161 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Health the position regarding funding for community supports in respect of persons with multiple sclerosis, which in the past have facilitated hospital appointments, day trips and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[32603/11]
65 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which the 10% of resource teacher posts that were held in reserve have been allocated; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[32602/11]
64 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which the 10% of special needs assistant posts that were held in reserve have been allocated; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[32601/11]
63 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans on the appointment of school psychologists; and the progress that has been made in providing psychologists in schools.
[32600/11]
51 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Finance the situation regarding distressed mortgages which are held by a lender other than the two pillar banks; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[32599/11]