Results 23,281-23,300 of 27,080 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Functions (1 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Society of St. Vincent de Paul reports today that it got 230,000 requests for help in 2022, 40% of which were about energy costs. While everybody is being hammered by the energy increases and profiteering of energy companies, one cohort is being even worse hit because the inadequate electricity credits the Government has given to people are not being given to this cohort at all. I got...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Functions (1 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They should watch the film about Debenhams.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Functions (1 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Will the Taoiseach get back to us on that?

Ceisteanna - Questions: National Security Committee (1 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 17. To ask the Taoiseach the membership and terms of reference of the national security committee chaired by the Secretary General of his Department. [10250/23]

Ceisteanna - Questions: National Security Committee (1 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Taoiseach and other Government spokespersons have repeatedly justified the review, to use the language they tend to use, of our neutrality in terms of the threat of cyberattacks. Is that a bit of a ruse, given that they are not looking at the lessons of the biggest cyberattack that happened here on 14 May 2021? Far from suggesting that we should abandon neutrality, or whether this has...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (1 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will take up the issue I raised earlier. The Taoiseach said he finds my position on offshore wind confusing. Yet, there is a thing called a "just transition". I know the Taoiseach does not believe in it, because his solution to everything is to let the private developers decide. That is what he has done with offshore wind. On the relevant projects, he gives them a free pass regardless...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (1 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Developers have selected these sites.

Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (1 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I welcome the opportunity to speak to the Bill. Anything that helps develop and supports the credit union movement should be welcomed. The credit union movement is unusual among financial institutions internationally, although not unique, in that it offers a not-for-profit model that is democratic and community orientated and has social and community objectives rather than objectives of...

Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (1 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: To be honest, successive Governments seem to have been very slow in taking them up on an important offer. I appreciate there is a bit more money in the Government coffers at the moment but it still seems odd that credit unions were often forced, or at least that was the story they relayed to me, to deposit their money with commercial banks when they would very much rather have invested in...

Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (1 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Okay. I certainly hope it will be done and I do not know all the details as to why it has not been fully utilised. Perhaps that is a question to put out there, but the Irish League of Credit Unions was clear in making the case a number of years ago, when I was a member of the finance committee, that credit unions wanted to assist in addressing the housing crisis. The Bill includes a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff (2 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 103. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will outline how he intends to ensure the crucial posts across the public sector are filled, in particular in the cities, given the unaffordability of housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10594/23]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff (2 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, has sanctioned a campaign of industrial action due to the unsafe staffing levels we are facing in our hospitals, as it has been saying it would do for several years. The situation has been getting worse and worse. Patient safety is being put at risk. Staff morale is on the floor. This is all to do with the inability to recruit and retain...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff (2 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The problem is that there is no sense from the Government about the emergency we are facing. The INMO does not take industrial action lightly. According to its statements, the reason nurses and midwives feel compelled to take industrial action is that 10,000 patients were left waiting on trolleys during the month of February. They make this absolutely clear. For example, the president of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff (2 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What good is it if people cannot afford it?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff (2 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: At that price.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff (2 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: At that price.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff (2 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This deserves a longer debate but let us at least start the debate. If labour, which is in short supply, is busy building a private development that will cost €3,000 in rent per month, it means the short-supply labour is not building the public and affordable housing. That is what it means in reality when we do not have enough construction workers. We are getting investor-led,...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Assisted Human Reproduction (1 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 171. To ask the Minister for Health if he will outline what the eligibility criteria will be for publicly funded fertility care, as outlined in the programme for Government, in terms of age, relationship status, sexuality and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10381/23]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Taxi Licences (2 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 10. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will ensure the National Transport Authority regulations regarding renewal of taxi licences incorporate some leeway on deadlines; if he will provide an update on the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4807/23]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Sector Staff (2 Mar 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 116. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will report on efforts being made to fill posts across the public sector, given the difficulties currently being experienced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10593/23]