Results 881-900 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: This section deals with anti-avoidance measures which in my view will become a major part of modern public finance as it develops. I refer to the growth in the number of tax lawyers and accountants, the Starbucks case, the artificial movement of transactions between countries. The Economist recently published a headline, Wake up and Smell the Coffee, over a report about Starbucks and its...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: As we saw on Thursday last, the Ministers, Deputies Noonan and Brian Hayes, have an immense task and are two of the hardest working members of the Government. They stated that they have had to do so much fire fighting that some of the basic functions have been overlooked. Some of the statements they were asked to read to the House by their officials on the day-to-day functions of the...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Has Senator Power moved amendment No. 8 or was it included for discussion?

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Reading through amendment No. 8, Senator Power has proposed the removal of the lines as far as line 20 in section 33. Part of the section would also exclude a parent where the decision has been upheld to permanently exclude the child and that struck me as strange. I used to perform similar functions to Senator Bacik and hosted as a junior dean once, but it never occurred to me to expel the...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Is there justice in that? We would expel student X for his offence and his parents would then be banned from sitting on the committee. It seems strange. We had Senator Bacik's advice on the legality of such a move. Presumably the parent was elected by all the parents and not by his or her son or daughter. Is it alright to leave that section in the Bill? It was only when Senator Power...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I wish to offer a few thoughts which may be of assistance to the Minister. Section 30(9) deals with ministerial appointments and states that one of the bodies to be appointed shall be "representative of business, industry and employers", that another shall be "representative of learners" and that another "shall be a body established for the purpose of representing the interests of persons...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: As I also stated on Second Stage, the Minister will probably obtain a sense of the demoralisation to which I refer when he attends the teachers' conferences. At present, mathematics teachers are putting in a huge effort to overcome a national problem. They might not be represented by an established body in the way that those who occupy management and leadership roles are. Teachers...

Seanad: Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2013: Second Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I, too, extend a warm welcome to the Minister of State. It is important to reflect on how one gets into a problem. The Brennan commission, of which I was a member, examined this issue. When we embarked on the process of issuing medical cards to everyone aged 70 years and over, it was estimated that 39,000 people would be eligible for the new card at a projected cost of ¤19 million. It...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Yesterday, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, a regular visitor to this House and participant in some interesting discussions, announced that he was impatient but not reckless regarding the reform of the points system. I was pleased to see that.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: One of the targets chosen is to reduce the number of high-point programmes at entry which have grown from 387 to 946. He stated, "We have to call a halt to the exponential growth of course options in the interests of students." Of course, those course options were put there in the interests of students and they are successful. That is how the high points became attached to them. Points...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: They are draft guidelines.

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State. According to the briefing document, the increases in the CO2 bands A and B are 53.8% and 44.2%, respectively. The average change is approximately 7.5%. We established the system to try to reduce emissions, but it would also reduce revenue by 40%. It has become an unfortunate feature of our circumstances that, in the taxpayer's dealings with the Exchequer,...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 1: In page 13, between lines 1 and 2, to insert the following:?8. The Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government shall within six months publish an evaluation of the taxation of goods vehicles in paragraph 5 of the Schedule to the Act of 1952, as inserted by section 4, based on laden weight per axle to yield the equivalent revenues of taxation based on...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State. I do not think it will take too long as much of the research has been done and the Department may be unduly pessimistic. I was glad to hear the Minister of State agree in principle with my suggestion. Do we progress by continuing with the existing system, which is unsuitable but people bought into the concept of the unladen weight? When the Minister decides,...

Seanad: Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 1: In page 9, lines 47 and 48, to delete all words from and including "Insofar" in line 47 down to and including "Executive," in line 48.Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit ar ais go dtí an Teach. I propose in the amendment to delete, "Insofar as it is considered practicable by the Health Service Executive,". It should be noted from this amendment that I am not...

Seanad: Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I will seek, on Report Stage, to incorporate some measure to deal with the misgivings I have, which were echoed to some degree by the Minister of State. Choice is to be provided by the new graduates. I wish more than 114 doctors had joined the 2,400 doctors on the General Medical Services scheme because we hear stories about the emigration of young doctors. To take the Minister of State's...

Seanad: Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Cathaoirleach for clarifying the matter. I will press the amendment because the track record of the Department in dealing with the House makes me reluctant to trust it to operate the provision. I do not know the reason it asked for it to be included.

Seanad: Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I appreciate what the Minister says but why is the Department looking for this? Why does it want to get out of a commitment on the grounds that it does not consider it practicable? I do not know what the difficulties are. I am worried about the way the smoking Bill disappeared and the practice of uninsured medicine Bill disappeared. The Department has serious cost overruns and it needs to...