Results 21,261-21,280 of 27,080 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Carbon Tax: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Supposedly one of the central pillars of the just transition we need to address the climate crisis is the idea that it will be a just transition. I do not know how many times I have heard the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and other Ministers in the Government wax lyrical about how if we seriously address the climate crisis, it can be a win-win situation. This is what it should be. If we address...

Carbon Tax: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They are right on the last point.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 8. To ask the Minister for Finance if he is considering further tax measures to alleviate the severe burden of heating and energy price increases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10105/22]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister knows, and it has been discussed at length in this Chamber in recent weeks, that people are being crucified by the rising cost of energy and heat for their homes. Another report was published today, on a survey by Amárach, which shows that people are cutting back on food, meals and essentials because of the rising cost of heating and energy, a basic necessity to keep...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am afraid it is just not enough. Heating and energy bills are set to increase by approximately €800. For many people, it will be more than that if their homes are badly insulated. In most cases, they have little control over that if they are tenants, public or private, or do not have the money to retrofit their homes. Who will make up the gap between the very small measures, such...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Between the wars, climate destruction and inequality that capitalism generates, it will not need me to help it collapse. It will be more likely to do it itself. I do want taxes put on those who are doing well from the current inflation crisis. As I pointed out to the Minister, why will he not consider taxes on the excessive profits of energy companies? Energia's profits were up by 46%...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 15. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will now consider establishing an escalating tax on the owners of multiple properties given the role that property investment funds and entities are now playing in dominating the housing market and contributing to unaffordable rents and limiting housing options for ordinary persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9675/22]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: People Before Profit has always opposed the tax that is imposed on the family home because it is an unjust and regressive form of taxation. 8 o’clock We think there is an added case, however, given the role the vulture funds, cuckoo funds, buy-to-rent property investors or whatever name one wants to give them who are now controlling and dominating the housing sector are playing in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That sounds good but it is just not what is happening on the ground. We are going to have to blow this fantasy out of the water. As I have pointed out on several occasions, zero council houses were built last year in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. We just got the figures. Next year, five will be built. There is a lot of construction going on in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. The Minister...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: My constituency colleague being sent in to mark me is an interesting new phenomenon. This is a new tactic on the part of Fine Gael. It does not matter.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have a public office that is visited by people who are homeless and cannot afford stuff; the Deputy does not. I have to deal with------

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have to deal with the families who are being thrown off the housing list.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The rents in the places the Deputy is talking about are €2,200. They are not affordable for the people on the housing list and that is why people are ending up in homeless accommodation. There are 5,000 families on the various housing lists. They have been waiting 15 to 20 years because all the construction workers are building developments for profit. We get a tiny proportion of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have noticed the new tactic. Fair enough. It is all politics.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am not objecting; I am just pointing it out.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is not feigned at all.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is real anger.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Every week, I come in here enraged by the housing crisis in my area. There is nothing feigned about it.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 24. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on whether taxes on energy and heating fuel such as carbon tax and VAT are now directly contributing to fuel poverty and excessive fuel costs for many households; if he plans to take steps to address this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9671/22]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: People Before Profit has been against the carbon tax from the outset, despite what some Members appeared to be suggesting rather bizarrely earlier. We have been very clear in opposing carbon tax as an unfair, regressive tax. There is no evidence that it has any significant impact on the reduction CO2emissions. However, even if that was always true, it is simply blatantly self-evident that...