Results 8,661-8,680 of 27,247 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As the Minister will know, I have campaigned very strongly for people who work in the arts, music and live entertainment and for taxi drivers. These people had their incomes and employment possibilities virtually extinguished or dramatically reduced as a result of the Covid measures. This will continue as long as we have any form of restrictions at all. It is not only an issue under levels...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am listening carefully to the debate and the answers given by the Minister. I want to give a special shout-out for the taxi drivers. I do not see why the scheme would not be made available to them. Estimates were done a couple of years ago that suggested a taxi driver, on average, carries fixed costs of approximately €11,000 a year. That varies and can be range anywhere between...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I ask the Minister to reconsider the matter relating to the taxi drivers and a few other categories that have been mentioned. Deputy Doherty has pointed out that the flexibility available to businesses, the service industry and so on, may not be as available as one might think. They are closely linked to a premises that is closed. It is absolutely certain that there is no flexibility for...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have made my case. I will not drag the matter out, but I want the Minister to think seriously about what I said. Many of the arguments I made on behalf of taxi drivers were against a background where it looked as if things were reopening, restrictions were lifting and, while work would be reduced significantly as long as there were any restrictions, there was some prospect of the industry...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Will the Chair provide clarity on the point the Deputy made about time? What time are we finishing the debate?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Amendment No. 104 seeks to have a report produced within four weeks to see whether the Covid restrictions support scheme, whose objectives I broadly support, will provide support to the self-employed and lone traders in sectors such as the taxi industry, music, arts and live entertainment. I have made the argument and genuinely hope that the Minister will consider what I have said. I do not...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 104: In page 26, between lines 30 and 31, to insert the following: "Report on accessibility of Covid Restriction Support Scheme 12.The Minister shall, within four weeks of the passing of this Act, produce a report on whether the Covid Restriction Support Scheme is accessible to, and has provided meaningful financial support for, self-employed/lone traders in...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Amendment No. 8 is our amendment.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I just want clarity on that. Will our amendment No. 8 be taken tomorrow?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We have discussed at length over the past number of years the section 481 tax relief. I want to thank the Minister for his genuine engagement on the issues I have raised over the past few years on behalf of film crew in particular working in the film industry but in terms of the issues I have highlighted there is still a long way to go to resolve them. I want to qualify my comments by...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister has referred to the WRC audit on the particular issue of employment contracts and the role of the designated activity company versus the producer company. The concluding section of that audit which was, I think, section 7, states "The WRC would urge that clarity in relation to this matter be provided". In other words, it acknowledged that there is not clarity around it. That...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Unfortunately, it does not. The problem is that there cannot be a collective agreement, under law, if there is not an employer and an employee. It cannot happen. It has no legal basis. Any collective agreement without an employer and employee is meaningless. That solution is not possible. I will not mention a particular company that is involved. Even the workers who are in dispute with...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will move the amendment.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is Deputy Barry not here?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No 126: In page 40, after line 35, to insert the following: 22.The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the revenue gained from increasing corporation tax to 25 percent for corporations with over €800,000 in profits and in closing loopholes that exist that allow corporations to...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid-19 Pandemic (12 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 41. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his engagement with the proposed new CEO of the IAA; his views on the Covid-19 safety guidelines drawn up by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, EASA, on airline travel; his further views on the future role for the IAA in ensuring passenger safety during the ongoing public health crisis; and if he will make a statement on the...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Taxi Licences (12 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 44. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason for his refusal of the request of taxi representative groups to halt the issuing of new taxi licences in view of the devastating impact of Covid-19 on the industry; the reason for his refusal to dissolve the Taxi Advisory Committee and replace it with a structure more representative of the taxi industry as part of the...

Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020: Second Stage (11 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Boris Johnson is a wrecker. That is clear from his Internal Market Bill and his talk of breaching international agreements, resurrecting the threat of a hard Brexit and resurrecting fears, which must be resisted every inch of the way, of a hard border and so on. More generally, there is the economic damage that would be done as a result of a no-deal Brexit and the advent of tariffs, customs...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Communications (11 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 10. To ask the Taoiseach if he has had recent communications with the US ambassador to Ireland; and if so, if he will report on those communications. [35168/20]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Communications (11 Nov 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The sacking of Mr. Donald Trump by the American people and the rejection of the majority of Americans of his hate-filled, toxic, racist and divisive agenda is a cause for celebration for people across the world. It is a major blow against the forces of the political far right who were emboldened by his toxic agenda, including small but growing forces of the far right in this country. ...