Results 2,381-2,400 of 26,843 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Leaders' Questions (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: -----following on EUROSTAT figures and purchasing manager index figures that show the European economy contracting. I ask the Tánaiste to answer the question I put to him. What will be the cost to the State according to the figures that are available to us now in terms of the size of our GDP and the projected size of our national debt in 2015 when we are due to exit the programme?

Leaders' Questions (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The estimates in the public domain suggest that it will require €5 billion annually in cuts to meet the debt-to-GDP ratio targets and approximately €5 billion to €6 billion in cuts to meet the deficit targets after 2015.

Leaders' Questions (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That level of cutting and austerity would devastate our economy and further devastate our society. I ask the Tánaiste to give us the figures because those figures are damning-----

Leaders' Questions (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: -----and will mean a generation of austerity which will cripple the country.

Leaders' Questions (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What will it cost?

Leaders' Questions (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The treaty states-----

Leaders' Questions (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Tánaiste is not answering the question.

Order of Business (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the Ceann Comhairle.

Order of Business (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The point has been made in recent days but again, on this last day, before the guillotine falls, it is absolutely wrong for the Government to impose this guillotine on such important legislation. Yesterday, we spent the best part of three hours debating one section of the Bill that deals with, in our opinion, the disgraceful cuts to lone parents.

Order of Business (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We needed that much time to discuss that section alone and probably could have done with more. We still have an entire rake of sections to discuss that deal with important matters, such as the change in mortgage interest supplement that could cause real problems for mortgage holders in distress and the changes to jobseeker's benefit which will see part-time workers losing €20 or €30 a...

Order of Business (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Lone parents will not be getting those jobs.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This section essentially deals with the phasing in of the abolition of one-parent family payments for lone parents when their children reach the age of seven. The Minister has suggested that the cut in payments to lone parents when their children reach the age of seven is designed to help them become financially independent, that is, to encourage them to get back to work. The truth is that...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Good quality, cheap, affordable child care services.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister deserves a medal for the smokescreen she has created in order to present this regressive legislation as something positive for lone parents. She waxed lyrical about a preposterous vision for a wonderful child care and education system which would make lone parent payments unnecessary. Let us clear the decks of the red herrings. All of us would like the level of public services...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I take the Ceann Comhairle's point but these specific amendments deal -----

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They pertain to the transition from the current age limit of 14 years to seven years. There will be an immediate impact on new applicants who have children aged 12 or 13 years and from next year the measure will affect new applicants with children aged ten years or older. This change will directly affect lone parents' ability to access employment and education. While the Minister is trying...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I think-----

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is an appalling comment.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I did not make any comment about women.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: No, I did not.