Results 23,081-23,100 of 27,080 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Seanad: Address by H.E. Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament (2 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I welcome President Metsola to Dublin and Ireland. I welcome her commitment to supporting continued peace on this island and to preventing any return to a hard border in this country. I also welcome her comments about the need to address the cost-of-living and housing crises that are gripping Europe and significantly impacting this country. I have to say, however, that it is long past time...

Address by H.E. Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament (2 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I welcome President Metsola to Dublin and Ireland. I welcome her commitment to supporting continued peace on this island and to preventing any return to a hard border in this country. I also welcome her comments about the need to address the cost-of-living and housing crises that are gripping Europe and significantly impacting this country. I have to say, however, that it is long past time...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (2 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 111. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the regulations and guidelines from her Department for primary and post-primary schools with regard to the operation of any private for-profit companies on school grounds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5207/23]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (2 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 127. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide a full report on a school building (details supplied); the details of the reasons for the delay with construction; and if she will outline the plans for September 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5206/23]

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Abuse (2 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 345. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps a person should take and who does not want to go to the police, who wants to divulge a historic child abuse case, that took place in a Dublin boys home in the 1970s; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5284/23]

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Abuse (2 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 346. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when he will publish a report into child sexual abuse (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5307/23]

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Abuse (2 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 347. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps a person should take who wants to divulge a historic child abuse case, that took place in a Dublin boys home in the 1970s; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5283/23]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Gender Equality (8 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: You learn something new every day and I learned something today from a meeting with representatives of housekeeping attendants or domestic attendants in hospitals. They represented people who previously might have been categorised as cleaners in hospitals and they came from University Hospital Limerick, Cork University Hospital and Letterkenny hospital. What I learned was very interesting....

Ceisteanna - Questions: Gender Equality (8 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: -----and on PPE, infection control and a whole range of things. It has become a seriously skilled job, particularly after Covid-19 and especially concerning the whole question of infection control. If we do not have people cleaning places properly and who know how to do it in a professional way, then we will not have safe hospitals. These people had an evaluation done of their jobs. Other...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Gender Equality (8 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The application of this group of cleaners to have their job recategorised was not accepted and they have not seen the evaluation report. I know the Taoiseach will not know the answer to this question but I ask him to look into it on behalf of these workers. The point is the vast majority of them are women.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (8 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 5. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the programme for Government [3405/23]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (8 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As was discussed earlier, far-right elements utterly without justification are trying to target vulnerable immigrants and migrants for the housing crisis. That is why, on 18 February, we need to get out on the Ireland for All demonstration which has been widely backed by trade union and community groups, anti-poverty groups, housing groups and many others. Simultaneously, we need emergency...

Ceisteanna - Questions: National Economic and Social Council (8 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 16. To ask the Taoiseach to report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council. [3406/23]

Ceisteanna - Questions: National Economic and Social Council (8 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Taoiseach stated that NESC was looking into the issues of poverty and inequality. I put it to him that almost everything has changed since some of those reports were done. There needs to be a sort of an emergency response, again, to the shocking levels of poverty that are now becoming apparent. The Barnardos report published today is really shocking. The number of people accessing...

Ceisteanna - Questions: National Economic and Social Council (8 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They are not enough.

Mortgage Interest Relief Scheme: Motion [Private Members] (8 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this motion forward on mortgage interest relief. While there would have to be some debate about whether this is the best way to assist people, it highlights that something has to be done to assist people who are being hit with these increased costs to service their mortgages. I have certainly received quite a few messages and emails from people who have...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Welfare Services (9 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As the Minister knows, huge numbers of families are being hammered with the cost of living, energy costs, food prices and so on, and the centrepiece of the Government's response to that has involved telling people to get exceptional needs payments. Pre-Covid, if you needed something like that, you would have a face-to-face meeting with a community welfare officer, CWO, whereas that is no...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Welfare Services (9 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will give the Minister some examples, the first of which involves a couple in their 60s. The husband, who used to work, developed early-onset Alzheimer's disease. They were on a big top-up arrangement, which people on the housing assistance payment, HAP, should not have to pay, and as a result they fell into arrears, given the cost-of-living hikes. We eventually got an exceptional needs...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Welfare Services (9 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If I can help progress those cases, I will certainly send them to the Minister. My point is that many of the cases of desperate people are complicated. The case of somebody who has fallen into arrears on his rent because he is paying a HAP top-up, that is, someone whose wife has Alzheimer's disease, who used to work and whose HAP tenancy is based on an income he no longer has, is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments (9 Feb 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will continue where I left off because the question is on the same topic. I will further elaborate the problem. The Minister is saying that community welfare officers, CWOs, are there and people can get appointments. I am telling her that is not the experience that is being relayed to us. That is not happening. In the old days, people could go down to the CWO without any prior notice...