Results 8,241-8,260 of 26,901 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As I said earlier, at least the Sinn Féin amendment is an attempt to specify that the people who should be represented are represented. I refer to the customers and the people who actually work in Irish Water. We need people who know the system and know what is going on. If this forum consists of yes-people who have been appointed by the Minister, it will be no more than a way of...

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Given the evidence of Irish Water to date, the truth will almost certainly be a very far cry from that.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am speaking to the amendment.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am speaking specifically about how customers are finding it extraordinarily difficult to raise the issues that are of concern to them with Irish Water. I am suggesting that the body proposed by the Minister will fail to change this. Sinn Féin's amendment, which is being proposed against a general background of debacle, fiasco and almost guaranteed failure, tries to provide for some...

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This whole idea of a public water forum is a total joke. When discussing amendment No. 29, I referred to the existence of public forums - the local authorities - which used to mean something. Representatives are elected to these authorities and these individuals can then be consulted by people. In the past, they had offices in local areas and individuals experiencing problems with their...

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Absolutely.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If I could explain the relevance of my contribution to the Ceann Comhairle, the Minister outlined that the purpose of the section is to ensure that customers have some representation in terms of dealing with the issues that arise with regard to Irish Water.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are discussing a consultative forum which is supposed to represent the interests of customers.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What I am trying to explain is my opinion that this forum will not represent the views of customers.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It cannot represent the views of those customers and it is a pathetic attempt to replace the bodies which did represent them, or the citizens or local residents, as I prefer to call them. The corporate speak in section 7 is alarming to say the very least. What is proposed will involve the corporatisation of a public service. This section is both ludicrous and completely ill thought-out....

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Absolutely. They will be appointed by the Minister. We do not know if there will be 12 or 60 members. How much is it going to cost to run what is going to be yet another quango?

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Against the broader background of our not knowing what will be the overall cost of administrating the fiasco that is Irish Water - that cost may reduce the revenue the company is supposed to generate to zero or close to zero - incredibly, another cost is going to be added as a result of what is proposed in section 7. I am opposed to the section because what is proposed in it is ludicrous...

Other Questions: Ministerial Pensions (16 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 92. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he acknowledges the continuing public concern over ministerial pensions; his plans for further measures in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47834/14]

Other Questions: Ministerial Pensions (16 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: A question that arises time and again for me and, I suspect, quite a few Members of this House - in the context of the recent protests and, in a general sense, based on people's experience of austerity and their financial difficulties - concerns the running sore of ministerial pensions. People keep talking about this and are outraged and furious that some of the key Ministers and taoisigh...

Other Questions: Ministerial Pensions (16 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I raise this issue because it angers many people. While I acknowledge that it is a complicated area and a number of changes have been made, it makes people's blood boil when they hear a report that 111 former Ministers were paid pensions worth €9,653,000 in 2012. Notwithstanding the Minister's response, I understand the Taoiseach can walk away with a pension of €20,000 after...

Other Questions: Ministerial Pensions (16 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have studied the answer in detail. On the issue of constitutionality, there are two categories. There is a category of people which includes former Taoisigh, Ministers and so on who are associated with the bankruptcy of the country and who have walked away with large amounts of money. It infuriates people that they can be penalised for what they see as the crimes of others, while those...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (16 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 4. To ask the Taoiseach the discussions he had at the EU Council meeting in August 2014; if Ireland's corporate tax rate featured in these discussions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37747/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (16 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: My main question relates to corporation tax in Europe but I will first address other issues dealt with by the Taoiseach. I agree with the Taoiseach in his condemnation of the Taliban attack in Afghanistan, which he rightly described as wanton murder. That attack must be roundly and comprehensively condemned as an outrage but I hope our moral compass will be consistent when it comes to...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): European Council Meetings (16 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is led by the PKK.

Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yet again, as we move through this Bill section by section, it stumbles from the shambolic to the borderline comic to the Chaplinesque and then back to the outright dreadful.