Results 7,321-7,340 of 26,897 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

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: Is Professor Stewart saying that the people advising the Department of Finance in this area are people who have a vested interest in interpretation?

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: Three cheers for that perspective. I could not agree more with Professor Stewart. We make one law for domestic industries and another for multinationals in the area of tax liability. Does this also apply to the taxes registered in Ireland, for example, those on the Department’s tables which show a pre-tax profit of €70 billion and €4 billion paid in tax? There is some...

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: If one can afford, which few can, to hire high-powered accountants and tax experts to minimise one’s tax liability, one can do very well.

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: There is an important cross-over between what is declared and what is not liable for tax because it is not resident here, in the money paid as administrative expenses to shelf companies for the use of patents and software and so on. Can Professor Stewart give us his opinion on how to tackle that? Professor Stewart says the law is very straightforward most of the time, in that if a company...

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 cut a long story short, there has been a very heated debate on the issue of the effective rate. In Professor Stewart's opinion as an expert in this area, the effective rate more reasonably calculated and studied is closer to the 2% that has been alleged than the 11.9% being claimed by the Government.

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: That is quite a different view from that articulated by Ms O'Brien. A reasonable assessment of the effective rate would actually put it closer because the normal rule is if a company is incorporated in a place, it is taxed there. While it can be interpreted as that is what the Government and the Department of Finance are doing, if one is being consistent

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: In Ms O'Brien's view is the way we are defining residency reasonable?

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: Does Ms O'Brien seriously believe that these companies we are discussing are managed and controlled from the Cayman Islands?

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: In the case of one of the companies at the centre of much discussion at the weekend it was discovered it does not even have offices in the alleged place. However, Ms O'Brien thinks it is a reasonable proposition to suggest that a company that does not have offices in a place is actually managed and controlled from that place.

Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (18 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister might be one of those who has a jet ski.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Shannon Airport Landings: Discussion (18 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I apologise for having had to leave to take a call. I welcome all the witnesses to the committee and I commend them for their tremendous work and commitment over many years. Ms D'Arcy may be doing this work for the longest time but Dr. John Lannon and Dr. Edward Horgan have gone above and beyond the call of duty in trying to safeguard, as they see it, and I agree with them, our neutrality...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Shannon Airport Landings: Discussion (18 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There are two other points I would like to make. The motion that was passed in the Dáil at the time essentially gave a green light to Irish facilitation of the US military machine. The arguments put forward in that regard have been absolutely exposed, because the preamble to the motion which concludes the arrangements that facilitate this should continue is all about Iraq's failure to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Shannon Airport Landings: Discussion (18 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have one follow-up question on that. The current claim is that these landings are authorised because these troops are not involved in any military operations. Is that the Government's current claim?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Shannon Airport Landings: Discussion (18 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is it possible to find out if a substantial number of those planes are going to Afghanistan, for example?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Shannon Airport Landings: Discussion (18 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If they are going to Afghanistan, that would seem to put a coach and horses through any claim they are not involved in combat operations. Do we know for a fact they are going on to Afghanistan?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Shannon Airport Landings: Discussion (18 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am aware that in a different area of law relating to council house repossessions cases were taken against certain policies of local authorities. Those policies contravened the European Convention on Human Rights and legislation has recently passed through the Dáil to address the fact that the policies were in breach of our commitments under that convention. Could we similarly prove a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Shannon Airport Landings: Discussion (18 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Government should ensure compliance with the numerous conventions and treaties already mentioned.

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (19 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is not possible.

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (19 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Even in areas with lists, people will not get a transfer.

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Afforestation Programme (19 Jun 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 11. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to deal with the consistent failure to meet afforestation targets here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25917/14]