Results 21,961-21,980 of 27,080 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (7 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 2. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures that he is putting in place to address student poverty; if he will consider introducing free public transport, investing in ensuring student accommodation is affordable and subsidising IT; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36967/22]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (7 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Following on neatly from the previous discussion, student poverty last year was rampant, with accommodation costs being a key element. Public transport costs and all the cost-of-living issues are now going to hit students. What is the Minister going to do about this? Will he consider bringing in free public transport for everybody in higher education? What are we going to do to bring down...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (7 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: These are very small changes. We need to go a lot further. There needs to be a complete change of mindset. Accessing further and higher education should be seen in the same light as primary or secondary education. We want as many people to access further and higher education as possible, and we need to remove all barriers in order to facilitate that. We have the highest fees in Europe....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (7 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Maybe it has gone up slightly, but the vast majority do not get grants. The new student accommodation being built on the UCD campus will cost students €1,400 to rent. Even as a temporary measure, all third level students should get the housing assistance payment, HAP. I do not really like HAP but at least it reduces the cost of rent. That is a temporary measure the Government could...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (7 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: For some.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (7 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Although the student unions do not have all the figures, I spoke to them this morning and they reckon that more people dropped out of college last year than ever before because of accommodation costs and the cost-of-living crisis. That is their estimate. In University College Cork last year, there were record numbers of students going to food banks at the beginning of term. Such were the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (7 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is still a majority.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (7 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We will check the figures.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (7 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 9. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the discussions that he has had with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in relation to the student accommodation crisis that will hit in early September 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36668/22]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (7 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Last year, there was an absolutely dire student accommodation crisis, to the point were many students were paying up to €400 a week for hotel accommodation. Some could not even get that. What is going to be different this year? Student union leaders believe that we are going to face the same student accommodation crisis this year, as last year. What has the Minister done, and what...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (7 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The cheapest student accommodation at UCD is more than €8,000 for the college term. The new student accommodation that is going to be provided at UCD costs €14,000 a year. That is just insanity. It is not acceptable. To be honest, the Government should intervene immediately to ensure that students and their families are not being screwed with that level of rent. It is not...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (7 Jul 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The problem is that rather than the Government making a decision that we have to have the necessary student accommodation to avoid a student accommodation crisis and to make it affordable, the onus is being put on the colleges to provide it. The result is that we are getting accommodation such as that being offered at UCD, which costs €14,000 a year. I made a general suggestion to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Tax Expenditures Review: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have loads of questions but we are going to get a second round, are we not?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Tax Expenditures Review: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Okay. I have a couple of general questions but mostly I want to ask about the film tax credit. In the case of the research and development credit, what market failure is being addressed? It is supposed to address a market failure and it seems to me there is not a market failure, especially for those that are the biggest beneficiaries of it. They are companies that have enormous wealth and...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Tax Expenditures Review: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Okay, but it is primarily going to those big multinational companies. The bulk of the value of this thing is going to big, very wealthy, very profitable multinational corporations and the threat is if we do not give them this tax break they will do that research and development elsewhere. The contrast I always draw is if we put €700 million into our public universities for research...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Tax Expenditures Review: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Okay. One of the things the PBO, in looking at all this, is saying, and I am in agreement, is we are not having a proper evaluation on a regular enough basis of these things and hearing from stakeholders as to the arguments and pros and cons of this. I do not think we are. Ms Donaghy can put that case and I am sure people will put that case but then I think of the fact that educational...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Tax Expenditures Review: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have read it. I am probably out of time.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Tax Expenditures Review: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Fair enough.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Tax Expenditures Review: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am pre-empting a bit.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Tax Expenditures Review: Discussion (22 Jun 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Apologies.