Results 8,061-8,080 of 26,901 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

- Human Rights Budgeting: Motion [Private Members] (25 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I apologise in advance for having to leave the Chamber straight after my contribution but I have to attend a meeting. I also thank Deputies Stephen Donnelly and Finian McGrath for facilitating me in this regard. I commend Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan on bringing forward this timely motion. I am not sure if the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, is aware that 10 December 2014 is...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Records (25 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 363. To ask the Minister for Health how a person can access their own personal medical records in full; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45173/14]

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Charges Administration (25 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 537. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the role he sees landlords playing regarding the collection of water charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45381/14]

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Expenditure (25 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 538. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government when the announcement will be made regarding the €2.2 billion investment in social housing provision: if he will provide a break-down of the allocation and the number of new builds by council yearly to 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45382/14]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 13. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will consider taking the Turkish PKK off the list of terrorist groups in view of its role in defending the city of Kobane against the forces of Islamic State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44953/14]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Middle East Issues (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 33. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is considering any initiatives or whether the EU is considering any initiatives to address the alarming escalation of tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank as a result of continuing illegal Israeli settlements and calls by extreme Zionist groups to encroach on Muslim holy areas on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; and if he will make...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The failure to manage the housing market and the property sector generally led us to the worst economic crisis in the history of the State. I have been alarmed for some time about what is happening in the same area. When Professor Honohan says his role is not to engage in social engineering, is it to keep an eye on this issue and ensure it does not affect the State’s economic and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Does the Central Bank have a responsibility to express concerns if developments in the housing market could lead us down the same road we have been down before or a similarly dangerous road?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I agree with the Governor that at the heart of this is the problem of inflated property prices and people who do not really have the money to pay for property - a roof over their heads - except through the availability of credit. As he points out, even after the fall in prices, property prices are still much higher than in the past. Accordingly, we are in this conundrum that people need a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Let me interrupt as I have very little time. I hear this narrative, but I do not buy it all. I am looking at the private rental sector and rents are astronomical.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I cannot remember a time in recent history when paying rent to a landlord was not much of a drag on people’s income as trying to pay a mortgage. Does a person pay a load of money to a landlord which he or she cannot afford or does he or she take out a mortgage that he or she cannot possibly afford?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is the point I am trying to get to. What we are discussing is at the heart of the bubble and our housing crisis, and is a fundamental and systemic problem around the world. It is at the root of the crash of the global economy, which is still very vulnerable to further crashes. The conundrum is that people's incomes are not sufficient to meet the inflated price of accommodation, be it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: But that does not solve the problem of putting a roof over people's heads.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I put it to Professor Honohan that to resolve this conundrum we must make housing affordable or give people the level of income that will allow them put a roof over their heads. This could be done by controlling prices, increasing incomes or a combination of both. If one of these things is not done the circle cannot be squared, which leads to this conundrum. People feel excluded by the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sorry to interrupt but I would like to make the obvious point, as time is running out. I do not buy the narrative Professor Honohan has laid out because when 300,000 people worked in construction in Ireland and the housing market saw unprecedented supply levels, prices continued to go through the roof.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: May I put an alternative scenario? I think the problem in the housing market is the extraordinary concentration of ownership in a few hands. Has the concentration of ownership intensified in recent years? I suggest that, in recent years, as homes have been repossessed and people have found themselves unable to purchase homes, a greater concentration of ownership has occurred. A small...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: NAMA is mostly selling in job lots to corporate investors.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: How can increasing the concentration of ownership of residential and other properties be anything but a recipe for disaster?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: God forbid they ran our housing sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Central Bank (26 Nov 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Has the Governor any figures on the greater level of concentration of property ownership? I suggest that he should get those figures because they are important. Greater concentration of ownership of property is an inevitable result of what has happened and it is very dangerous - it is a recipe for a repeat, on a bigger scale, of what we have already seen. This greater concentration of...