Results 4,301-4,320 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I recall an advertisement featuring Ronnie Delany winning his gold medal in the Melbourne Olympics, in which the advertisement stated that if one could remember that event, one had better take out health insurance. That advertisement was geared to people who were aged 70 and above.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: Members will leave these discussions on the nature of advertising to another day. I thank the Minister.

Seanad: Prisons Bill 2015: Second Stage (7 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister and support the Bill. There is an irony in calling a juvenile prison "St. Patrick's". After all, we kidnapped him in Britain and held him against his will on Slemish Mountain and made him do forced labour. It is hardly something we would wish to celebrate and I am delighted the Minister is shutting down the institution that is so unaptly named. I note that in the...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I pay tribute to Fr. Gerry Reynolds who died in Belfast this day last week. He was an architect of the peace process, promoting cross community links in Belfast, in particular with the Fitzroy Presbyterian community of the Reverend Ken Newell. He crossed the peace line to worship with Presbyterians, Methodists and members of the Church of Ireland to make Clonard the cradle of the peace...

Seanad: Harbours Bill 2015: Second Stage (8 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister to the House. It has been of interest to see how policy in this area has developed. When I served on the Culliton committee in the early 1980s, the issue then was to reproduce the efficiency of Larne at ports in this State, and I think that was substantially accomplished. Competition between ports had an impact then, and a substantial impact on the lack of efficiency...

Seanad: Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (8 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State. Pyrite was a problem in Canada, as well as in Ireland. We gave some papers to the then Minister, Mr. Hogan, when he was dealing with the issue. What happened was that builders there sued the quarries that h ad supplied them with the defective materials to build houses. That is how the money was recouped. I do not know how the State became involved in...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (8 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: We need stricter rules for trustees. Some seem to want to have a bigger hole in their pension funds than others. When Senator Darragh O'Brien raised this issue first, he said, to his credit, that this was part of the sale of Aer Lingus and that the company was being fattened up. I regret that I did not take those comments more seriously at the time because the major beneficiary is now...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: Should the system whereby all of a person's income is liable to USC when they pass the exemption limit be reconsidered?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. The system whereby USC becomes payable on every cent earned once the person goes over the limit is quite unusual in the Irish tax code. Usually an exemption is an exemption, as it is in the case of exemption from PAYE. When people go over the exemption limit, has consideration been given to just applying the tax to the amount by which they...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State. In the literature, that is called a poverty trap. If somebody gets an income over that limit and then all the earlier income is taken into the tax net, it gives a very high marginal tax rate which should be avoided. I agree with the Minister of State's emphasis in his response.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I tried to research the estimate of €70 million per production and found completely contradictory estimates, some as low as €4.5 million and some much higher. It is a 40% increase, from €50 million to €70 million, when money is not exactly growing on trees. How did we get to the figure of €70 million and do we know whether we will get value for that money?...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State. I thought €70 million was for the lot for the year. It is a gamble. We hope it will work, but it seems to be very generous.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: As the Minister noted on the last day, section 35 replaces the existing capital gains relief applying to disposals of qualifying business assets by individual entrepreneurs and business people with a simplified relief that will apply from 1 January 2016 and the new rate is 20% rather than 33%. The concern I expressed on the last day in respect of section 35 is that it is a subsidy to...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: Should I speak later?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I apologise to Senator Reilly and the Minister of State for speaking prematurely during the previous debate. Section 35 replaces existing capital gains tax relief applying to the disposal of qualifying assets by individual entrepreneurs and business people with a simplified relief of 20% rather than 33%. In the section the qualifying business refers to activities such as development land...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister.

Seanad: Gradam an Uachtaráin Bill 2015: Second Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is an honour to second what has been said by Senator Quinn. On Monday, in Dublin Castle, the President presented 47 Gaisce awards to young people like those who are visiting us this afternoon and are seated in the Visitors Gallery. They are very welcome. The Gaisce scheme applies to people aged up to 25 years. The recipients of the awards...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Burglary of Dwellings) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State who is a regular visitor to the House these days. I welcome Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú's generous response to the Bill and the Minister of State will receive the same support throughout the House. As Mr. Justice Hardiman said, the offence of burglary, committed in a dwelling house, is an act of aggression and an attack on the personal rights of...

Seanad: Prisons Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 1:In page 7, between lines 30 and 31, to insert the following:"(9) No place of detention shall henceforth be titled St. Patrick's". I welcome the Minister of State. While I am aware he said he was here for the day, I hope I am not the cause of delaying him unnecessarily. This amendment is about the closure of St. Patrick's which, of course, was warmly welcomed after...

Seanad: Prisons Bill 2015: Committee and Remaining Stages (11 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, and the Minister for the reply. In the spirit of things we are ad idem. The institution, the name and so on will not recur. I wish them well and every success in these reforms.