Results 3,721-3,740 of 5,216 for speaker:Mick Barry

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 May 2022)

Mick Barry: It is interesting the Tánaiste has gone back half a century and used the 1970s for his analysis of inflation. He did not engage with the examples I gave him. They are real, new, fresh and are coming from the US and Europe, including from members of the executive board of the ECB. That in itself says much, as the Tánaiste engages with the Minister, about the weakness of his line...

Transport, Accelerating Sustainable Mobility: Statements (31 May 2022)

Mick Barry: A debate is under way in Cork city on the issue of the proposals for BusConnects Cork and the shape the final plan might take. I will use this opportunity to state my views on the matter. The BusConnects proposals have many positive elements I fully support, including more bus lanes and cycle lanes and a significant cut to bus travel times. I have some concerns about the prospect of plans...

Rising Food Prices: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (31 May 2022)

Mick Barry: That is right.

Rising Food Prices: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (31 May 2022)

Mick Barry: I will start with some questions. Will the cost-of-living crisis lead to an increase in the number of people who steal food from shops in order to eat or provide for their families? If so, how will the law react? Will people be prosecuted? In Britain, there is public debate around this question. Why is there no such debate here? Earlier this month, the new chief inspector of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Mick Barry: I will pick up where Deputy Mairéad Farrell left off there. So as I am clear on what is being said here, I take from the last exchange the following: a time will come when they have to sell non-performing loans, those loans can be sold to debt collection agencies and that is unlikely to happen until next year. This is one of the stories of this hearing so far. One would not know it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Mick Barry: I thank the witnesses. My follow-on question is, given that representatives of both banks have indicated that the numbers that might be involved in this scenario are on the lower side, something that I am not fully convinced of given the cost-of-living crisis and the financial pressures bearing down on ordinary people at present, can we get a guarantee from the representatives of each of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Mick Barry: I will move on from that particular line of questioning. I note that when I asked the question about debt collection agencies being ruled out, I did not hear the word "Yes" from either of the representatives of the two banks. I will move on. This is again a question for the representatives of each of the banks. Their mortgage books are being transferred but credit cards and current...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Mick Barry: Sorry, I meant to ask about current accounts.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Mick Barry: I suspect that many observers might say it has less to do with customer choice than making decisions that are profitable for the banks. I have limited time so I will move on to the issue of the shedding of jobs and the closure of branches. I am not speaking about the future but about what has happened in the past. It seems this is making it more difficult to be able to carry out this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Mick Barry: Any serious strategist will hope for the best but prepare for the worst. The witnesses have expressed their hopes they will be able to carry out these changes in the timeframe outlined. There are serious observers, including in the Central Bank and on the committee, who are doubtful the process can be completed within the timescale. The question then arises as to what happens in that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market: Engagement with Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland (18 May 2022)

Mick Barry: Mr. Jansen did have the opportunity to have those customers and he chose to leave those customers behind. There is real pressure on them as a result of this. No doubt the committee will engage again on this in the months ahead. A key takeaway of the discussion we have had so far is the indication from the banks that they will at a certain point next year sell non-performing loans. They...

Adaption Grants for Older People and People with a Disability: Motion [Private Members] (1 Jun 2022)

Mick Barry: On housing adaptation grants, 13% of the people who live in County Cork have at least one disability. This is an important issue, nationally and locally. Last year, 228 households in Cork city were on the local authority's waiting list for adaptations to private houses. Of those households, 142 were of people with disabilities, 44 were of people with mobility issues and 42 were of elderly...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (1 Jun 2022)

Mick Barry: More than 300 jobs were axed in Blanchardstown and Dundalk last week by PayPal, which plans to outsource work and relocate positions to low-wage economies. Did the Taoiseach know that the workers who participated in the redundancy negotiations were those who volunteered themselves but whose names were then picked from a laundry basket by a representative of company management? While PayPal...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (1 Jun 2022)

Mick Barry: If the Tánaiste met the workers he could easily see the detail.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (1 Jun 2022)

Mick Barry: 17. To ask the Taoiseach the mechanism by which his Department will review progress made in implementing the programme for Government. [24936/22]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Programme for Government (1 Jun 2022)

Mick Barry: Approximately 50 households have been or are being evicted from the Shannon Arms apartment complex in Limerick city centre. The notices to quit were issued to households that include a woman who is eight months pregnant, a person with terminal cancer and a family with five kids. Several landlords are involved in issuing the totality of these notices to quit. One of them is the Supermac's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market (Resumed): Engagement with Financial Services Union and Electric Ireland (25 May 2022)

Mick Barry: I thank the representatives of the FSU. The information provided has been very interesting. The information from the Ireland Thinks poll of the union's membership is particularly interesting. I will start with that mental crisis within the workforce of the banks. The poll indicates that 88% of the FSU's members who responded regularly or very regularly feel stressed at work. It also...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market (Resumed): Engagement with Financial Services Union and Electric Ireland (25 May 2022)

Mick Barry: I thank Mr. O’Connell. The banks appeared before us last week and laid heavy emphasis on how they were recruiting extra staff to deal with the increased pressures resulting from the exit of the two banks. Mr. O’Connell has provided interesting information about people coming in one door and others going out the other. He even raised the possibility of staffing levels...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Withdrawal from Irish Banking Market (Resumed): Engagement with Financial Services Union and Electric Ireland (25 May 2022)

Mick Barry: That is an important point to come from this meeting, in that, despite the banks pointing to the recruitment of people that is taking place, people are also leaving, numbers may be continuing to decline overall and the Financial Services Union has voiced its support for the idea of a moratorium on those job losses, at least until such time as the exit by KBC and Ulster Bank has been...