Results 6,161-6,180 of 26,843 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: No, I am just stating the obvious.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: No, I am just stating the obvious. Some of us believe in the concept of universal provision. Before throwing stones about populism and being electoral, the Minister should look to Fine Gael and the initiative taken by it to cover its back in respect of the nastier cuts it directed towards people with discretionary medical cards or the elderly from whom they are being withdrawn. On the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They have 44% of the wealth.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What is the rationale for this section?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I did not ask for the memorandum. I asked for an explanation from the Minister but thank him for his assistance.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I ask the Minister to explain the rationale.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: To cut a long story short, is it being done to encourage private investment in Irish Water?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am not in favour of the measure.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I wish to express my concern about the matter and will possibly return to it on Report Stage. As the Minister will know, I am entirely against the setting up of Irish Water for privatisation. I do not favour any measure that encourages private investment in what is essentially the people's resource. The Government is moving fast towards privatisation but charging people for something that...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I wish to come back in after the Deputy.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is a stepping stone to the marketisation of water, as far as I am concerned. I do not favour that development in any shape or form. It is the oldest trick in the book to mention water shortages. It has been used to justify the privatisation of every single asset, service and piece of infrastructure at local, national or international levels. The target is run down to the point where...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There is. They are half privatised already.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Most of the points have been made. My position on the scheme is similar to my position on home renovation measures in that I consider the objective of this scheme to be very good. If it works, it will be great and I can think of many places in Dublin city centre and Dún Laoghaire which fit into this category. Given the role property based tax incentives had in creating the bubble and...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I oppose the section. It amounts to yet another bailout for the banks. If there was a 50% restriction it is because the Government recognises, notwithstanding its decisions to endlessly bail out these financial institutions which have wrecked the economy, that the amount of the losses they incurred, because of their own actions, that could be written off against tax in future years should...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister has pointed to the fact that we effectively own AIB and have a substantial share in Bank of Ireland as part of the rationale for doing this. He implies it is in the public interest to do this and to create a level playing field for the banks in which we have a stake in the wider banking market. I would put it completely differently. These banks were making astronomical profits...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Much of my objection is to how this frames a relationship with the banks in general, and the different rules that applied to banks, and for that matter, to corporations, because a more general aspect to this is the capacity of private corporations to bring forward losses from previous years. Many people here bought houses just to put a roof over their head at the top of the property bubble,...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If only ordinary workers could get such a tax break we would be flying.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It goes to show that if one kicks up a bit of a fuss about something, it can produce some movement. As the Minister knows, I have been kicking up for some time about the scandalous situation where corporations which make vast profits every year in this country pay little or no tax. The provision is welcome in that context, but it is slightly alarming that the Minister has put off its...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: God forbid these companies might decide to pay a little more tax somewhere, perhaps even in Ireland. I know that would be unthinkable for them and perhaps for the Minister also.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am very glad that is starting to be said. It is a major sea change and well past time that it should happen. I will be pleasantly surprised if real action to move matters in that direction which matches the rhetoric to that which we have been treated is forthcoming. Let us hope we are moving in a positive direction. Members wanted representatives from the companies in question to come...