Results 7,301-7,320 of 26,897 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Some of us believe that this Bill will turn a housing disaster into a complete catastrophe for social housing and homelessness. The Minister of State obviously disputes that and believes it is workable. I do not see how it can be workable, when all the evidence points in the opposite direction, to move towards reliance on private landlords who are jacking up rents and running away from...

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are not getting the straight reality of what this legislation means. I acknowledge it is positive that people will go on to a differential rent scheme. It is preferable to the sham fiasco and waste of money that is rent allowance. However, the Minister of State is arguing that being in a HAPS arrangement, where one is a tenant of a private landlord, albeit in a deferential rent scheme,...

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This Bill states that one will be deemed to be appropriately housed.

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Section 37 states that the provision of housing assistance under this Part shall be deemed to be an appropriate form of social housing support for a household.

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister of State's departmental officials confirmed to the committee today that people in that situation will be off the housing list. She tried to cover over that by saying they can apply for a transfer but one can only apply to a local authority for a transfer if one is deemed to be in overcrowded accommodation or to have a medical priority. One cannot apply for a transfer because...

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: How?

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: How does one apply to transfer-----

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Every person will apply to be on the transfer list.

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On what basis can these people apply?

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I welcome the reversal by the Government of its proposal to impose a guillotine on this debate. Will the Minister of State and the Government seriously consider the fact that quite a number of Deputies have raised very serious questions and concerns about this Bill which should give the Government pause for thought? If the Minister of State, as she indicated, wants to reach a solution over...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Homeless Accommodation Provision (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 95. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the short-term emergency measures and longer term measures he is proposing to deal with the current homelessness and social housing crisis in view of the chronic shortage of affordable private rental accommodation, social housing and emergency accommodation; the way he will deal with these problems in cases involving...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payments Administration (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 106. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the date on which he expects the transition from the current rent allowance system to the new housing assistance payments scheme which will be administered by local authorities to be completed and functioning; the way he will deal with the staffing requirements of administering the new system within local authorities;...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Current Housing Demand: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is Mr. Layde aware of the shock people who have been on a housing waiting list for 12 or 15 years will feel when they discover that because they have been included in the HAP scheme they have been removed from the list? People have a right to feel very angry and cheated when they are removed from a housing list on which they have been for 12 years and have no chance of getting a council...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Current Housing Demand: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The difference is that they will be off the housing waiting list. A person on the list in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown has a number and knows where he or she is on the list. Although a person with a number between 300 and 500 is consigned to ten years of waiting, he or she knows that at the end of it he or she will rise up the list and receive a council house. If a person is included in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Current Housing Demand: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I do not mean to be confrontational, but I have very little time. I understand all of the points Mr. Layde has made. I accept that the council having some obligation to tenants is better. Let us call a spade a spade. People who have been on the housing waiting list for years and who previously had an entitlement to a council house will be removed from the list and no longer have that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Current Housing Demand: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: In a situation where rents are going through the roof and landlords are pulling out of RAS arrangements when the terms are up or even before, what on earth makes Mr. Layde think thousands of them will sign up to permanent or semi-permanent arrangements with local authorities at the lower rents the HAP will require? Is that not a cloud cuckoo land fantasy?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Assessment of Measures Relating to Corporation Tax in Ireland: Discussion (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank both witnesses for their attendance and highly illuminating submissions. Is Ms O'Brien's argument not that we are being held hostage by multinational companies and we have no choice but to submit to their blackmail? Is it reasonable or sustainable for an economy to operate in such a manner and that, out of fear that multinational companies will up sticks and leave, we must tread...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Assessment of Measures Relating to Corporation Tax in Ireland: Discussion (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Ms O'Brien made that point very well already. If I were to translate the technical language she uses into layman's language, is she not stating that we are submitting to blackmail out of fear that companies will leg it if we try to force them to make a slightly greater contribution to the economy? Is that not really what is taking place? Is it not the case that if one submits in this way,...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Assessment of Measures Relating to Corporation Tax in Ireland: Discussion (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: To draw an analogy, is that not like the argument about nuclear disarmament: we are all in favour of it and will get involved in a long process of negotiating it but meanwhile we had better build as many nuclear weapons as we can? We are talking about getting a new international framework but there is a race to the bottom in respect of corporate tax, to the advantage of the multinationals.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Assessment of Measures Relating to Corporation Tax in Ireland: Discussion (17 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am not as optimistic as Ms O'Brien. The G8 was dealing with global poverty and inequality ten or 15 years ago. We have not seen much movement on that front. I admire Ms O’Brien’s optimism. I commend Professor Stewart on challenging the consensus in this area. What he has said today is very important. It runs counter to everything that is being asserted by mainstream...