Results 81-100 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 36:In page 27, line 22, after "may" to insert the following:", not less than one year following publication of an independent cost-benefit analysis of Bantry Bay Harbour as an independent entity, as part of the Port of Cork Company or as part of Cork County Council". The control of two ports is jumping from one alternative form of governance to another. The first of...

Seanad: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister for describing those two sets of developments in Dundalk and Bantry. I will not press amendments Nos. 36 and 37.

Seanad: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 38:In page 33, line 41, to delete “public administration” and substitute “harbour management”. This amendment goes back to our old friend, the harbour master, and the skills that role requires. The Bill currently reads:In considering whether to appoint a person to be a director of a company (not being a director to whom the requirements of...

Seanad: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister for his response. I will not press the amendment.

Seanad: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: Schedule 1 reads "COMPANIES TO WHICH AN ORDER UNDER SECTION 8OR 28MAY REFER" and I see it as death row. Section 8 provides for the transfer of shareholdings of a company while section 28 provides for the transfer and dissolution of a company. In examining the ports listed, I believe there is no need to have Drogheda there. It made half a million euro and its volumes have returned to...

Seanad: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister for his patience and for this fine discussion on ports policy. I would not wish to be under section 28, but in the context of the harmonious discussion we have had I will not press the matter. If the provisions in section 28, which provide for the transfer and dissolution of a company, were in the legislation referring to Trinity College I would be worried. I have less...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the climate change agreement reached by 195 countries. It will require compliance and quantification, not just having regard to the legislation. Both of those elements were missing from the climate change legislation we debated in this House. I also welcome the support from all sides to the effect that the Seanad should have a role in these matters. The original Bill specified...

Seanad: Appropriation Bill 2015: Second and Subsequent Stages (15 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Harris, back from Bandon, Skibbereen and the places where he was featuring. It was valuable for the Minister of State to be with people and hear from the shopkeepers themselves. We saw him on television going in and accumulating all of that information. There are some interesting points in the Appropriation Bill. The Minister of State stated that...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Burglary of Dwellings) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State who is a regular visitor to the House these days. I welcome Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú's generous response to the Bill and the Minister of State will receive the same support throughout the House. As Mr. Justice Hardiman said, the offence of burglary, committed in a dwelling house, is an act of aggression and an attack on the personal rights of...

Seanad: Prisons Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 1:In page 7, between lines 30 and 31, to insert the following:"(9) No place of detention shall henceforth be titled St. Patrick's". I welcome the Minister of State. While I am aware he said he was here for the day, I hope I am not the cause of delaying him unnecessarily. This amendment is about the closure of St. Patrick's which, of course, was warmly welcomed after...

Seanad: Prisons Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, and the Minister for the reply. In the spirit of things we are ad idem. The institution, the name and so on will not recur. I wish them well and every success in these reforms.

Seanad: Prisons Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I agree with what Senator van Turnhout has said. We are ending the detention of children in prisons. It is also the day when the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Reilly, has signed the enactment order ending the chastisement of children. It is a good day for people in this House, in particular, for Senators Bacik and van Turnhout, who have campaigned for children's rights....

Seanad: Courts Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 1:In page 3, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “PART 2 QUALIFICATION OF JUDGESQualifying legal academic 2. (1) In this Part, “qualifying legal academic” means a full-time, permanent member of the academic staff of an educational establishment mentioned in subsection (2) who has the qualifications mentioned in subsection (3). (2) For...

Seanad: Courts Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I can confirm that the Senator is not guilty in this case.

Seanad: Courts Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I second what the Minister of State has said. We will send our thoughts on these matters to the legal appointments review body. In general, I thank the Minister of State for his open-minded response to the amendments before him. We hope to respond in the same friendly way to the review body and we will send stuff from our offices to the body. Once again, the thanks of the House are due to...

Seanad: Courts Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: On this issue, the retirement age in Ireland must rise. As life expectancy increases, the pension burden to which the Minister of State referred will increase and that is why the troika recommended raising the retirement age. It is an acknowledgement of the way the world is going in that 70 is the new 50. People live longer, they live healthier lives and particularly in the case of...

Seanad: Courts Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: -----and mathematicians peak when they are 25 or thereabouts. However, as lawyers probably improve with age, there would be nothing lost by keeping them there. Moreover, Senator Crown always draws attention to how we have a very popular President and highly successful Minister for Finance, both of whom would be ineligible were any of these rules to be applied. They are highly successful...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: Should the system whereby all of a person's income is liable to USC when they pass the exemption limit be reconsidered?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. The system whereby USC becomes payable on every cent earned once the person goes over the limit is quite unusual in the Irish tax code. Usually an exemption is an exemption, as it is in the case of exemption from PAYE. When people go over the exemption limit, has consideration been given to just applying the tax to the amount by which they...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State. In the literature, that is called a poverty trap. If somebody gets an income over that limit and then all the earlier income is taken into the tax net, it gives a very high marginal tax rate which should be avoided. I agree with the Minister of State's emphasis in his response.