Results 5,161-5,180 of 27,247 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the Ministers for their contributions. One of the issues that I am particularly exercised about is eligibility for social housing and social housing support. We have been repeatedly given commitments on publishing the outcome of a review that has been running for at least five years, which it was reported was concluded in December 2021. It still has not been published or announced...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am very glad to hear that. Has the Minister quantified the cost, because it would have budgetary implications? I believe the thresholds should be raised substantially. That group of people whose income is in excess of €35,000 or perhaps up to €40,000 is still eligible depending on family size, but they are pushed over a cliff. Some of those people are in homeless...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That tells me it is not in the Minister's budget considerations currently. Is that fair to say? It does not figure in how we are going to spend that €2.7 billion, quite a bit of which will go on whatever public sector pay deal is reached. I will get to that in a moment.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I suggest to the Minister that it would be very sensible from a budgetary point of view to start to work out how much it would cost if the threshold went up to €40,000 and, likewise, how much it would cost if the threshold went up to €45,000, €50,000, and so on and so forth. To be honest, I cannot believe that we are not at least beginning to estimate that cost. If the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have one last question on housing. Despite the debates we may have about whether Housing for All is fit for purpose and can actually deliver, does the Minister accept that since Housing for All was published, the situation has deteriorated and that he may need to reconsider the envelope, as it were, of planned expenditure on housing to meet the crisis that we are now facing? I am not just...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have probably said enough on the issue. To my mind, it is the most pressing issue and the one that the Government has indicated is its top priority. If the housing delivery plan for my local authority - which has been signed off by the Department - is anything to go by, after applying a little bit of pressure in trying to extract the figures I know that the local authority's plan for the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes, absolutely. It includes the LDA pipeline. In fact, the first LDA delivery is due to take place in Dún Laoghaire. It is rather telling that four years after the LDA came into existence, it has not delivered one house on that site. That is due to be the first LDA-delivered site and it is not going to be delivered until 2024. It is pretty shocking stuff. I can tell the Minister...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is hard to understand. I am probably out of time, am I?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Well, yes. Very quickly, I will ask the Minister for Finance some questions. I do not want to leave him out.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion (14 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is the Minister considering any additional revenue-raising measures in the current budget? As he is aware, in People Before Profit we are very prudential in our budgeting so that when we argue for substantially increasing expenditure beyond what the Minister is proposing, as we do, we always propose revenue-raising measures such as wealth taxes, increases in employer PRSI rates and increases...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: When the Minister of State gives us those assurances, it is apparent he has been given them by someone else. While I do not doubt that he is honestly relaying what he has been told, it does not satisfy me that we are having a fully rounded and well-interrogated scrutiny of these amendments that relate to large-scale residential developments and large-scale industrial infrastructure that will...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: A resolution of the European Parliament was sent to me which was agreed on 1 June 2021. It relates to the impact of offshore renewable energy on fishers and the marine environment. This resolution was adopted and recommended by the rapporteur. To cut a long story short, what it basically states is, notwithstanding the commitment of the European Union to develop its offshore renewable...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That was as clear as mud.

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I want my question to be absolutely clear. I think it is a similar question to Deputy Ó Broin’s, although the Minister of State is not quite getting it. As I read it, for the next six months, if someone advertises a short-term residential tenancy for which they do not have permission for a change of use or an exemption, they will be breaking the law and they will be fined and,...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This is one of these substantial last-minute amendments the Government has brought in, the purpose of which we agree with. As well as some of the questions I have already heard asked, as I alluded to in my opening contribution, I want to understand clearly what is being done here. It is not legal to offer for short-term let properties that do not have the planning permission to do so or...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister of State did not answer my question.

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister of State would go a long way to convince us that is true if, in the same way he withdrew amendment No. 25, he would withdraw amendments Nos. 12, 13, 40, 41, 42 and 47. Maybe he could let us know if he is serious about that and save us the bother of having a needless debate because otherwise this is going to be guillotined through. We are not going to reach most of the...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It fell down is what I said.

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes.

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: No, I said it fell down.