Results 5,241-5,260 of 26,843 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They were not elected on a platform of selling off our forests.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am not annoyed-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The situation is that the Minister is still holding open the possibility for privatisation but his plans in that regard have been stopped for now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is absolutely clear from what he said. However, we shall leave it at that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Chairman, the Minister is cutting across me.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: In regard to the potential sale of other State assets, I would make the same argument. Does the Minister agree that selling off the profitable parts of Bord Gáis, for example, to an entity such as Blackstone, the United States investment fund which I understand has expressed an interest in purchasing them, for the rumoured price tag of €1 billion, will inevitably put pressure on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I agree that the deficit of jobs is the greatest problem for our economy, but I do not see how selling off profitable parts of State enterprises will create jobs. In fact, doing so will merely put pressure on what is left of the company in public ownership to be privatised. That was one of the reasons for my opposition to the sale of Coillte's harvesting rights, and the same danger arises...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Disposal of State Assets and Quarterly Review: Discussion with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (19 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I said "profitable", not "strategic".

Order of Business (20 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Government has had on its legislative programme almost from the beginning of its term of office reference to a housing Bill. We are now two years on, and the housing crisis is worsening daily for the 100,000 or so families on the housing list with virtually no prospect of getting a home because of waiting lists which are 12, 13 or even 15 years in many cases. This week alone in my...

Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Second Stage (20 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This debate and this legislation are at least 20 years too late. Given the tragic circumstance surrounding the X case, when a 14 year old rape victim was denied the right to have an abortion in this country, and initially denied the right to travel to Britain for an abortion, who then became suicidal, and only as a result of public outrage was the Supreme Court finally forced to acknowledge...

An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As far as I am concerned, the Seanad must be abolished. There is no justification for the current set-up, which is elitist, is not representative of the majority of people and has not had any serious political function on behalf of the citizens. Consequently, it must go. Most Members, in one way or other, have accepted this in the course of the debate. While there is a question before...

An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister should not be smug about it because that-----

An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Does the Minister not think they feel that anger? He is living in cloud cuckoo land if he does not think they feel that anger.

An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: He goes on to state:Parliamentary Democracy gives [people] the right to a voice in the selection of [their] rulers but insists that [they] shall bend as a subject to be ruled.In arguing for the alternative he states:[We need a democracy that] will change the choice of rulers which we have to-day into the choice of administrators of laws voted upon directly by the people; and...substitute for...

An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister is contemptuous.

An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The present system is working so well, is it not?

An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister will be saying that as the political system sinks further into-----

An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If that is the manner in which the Minister treats the debate, we are going nowhere. The Minister does not understand how angry people are. The principle on which the Seanad was set up was on the basis of different sectors, but the problem was that the sectors were representative of elites.

An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They should be representative of all sectors of society and if they were elected at local level from among the disabled, young people, student groups and so on, they would be accountable to those groups at local level. They could then select people to go forward to a national assembly that would be accountable to assemblies at local level. People could have a real say in the laws that are...

Other Questions: Public Sector Staff Issues (20 Jun 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the Minister for his answer. I raised this issue with him on a number of occasions. It would be useful to conduct an overall study of this. In the first year I got into the Dáil I asked about the relative cost of direct labour as against outsourcing to agencies, consultants or whatever. I submitted one question but got more than 50 answers - a considerable thick file spread...