Results 9,121-9,140 of 26,902 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Can the Minister reply to the questions together?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This is my very last question. In both our case and their case, this revolves around the debt. I will bring the discussion back to Ireland and the macro-financial review from the Central Bank today. The ECOFIN meeting is also discussing imbalances. They are commenting now that the major domestic threat facing the Irish economy is the issue of housing, property and so on, apart from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This is the macro-financial review. They talk about external threats and then they talk about the disastrous rise in rents, property prices, and so on, and the threat it represents. The way to address that is through major capital investment in housing in order to provide a supply and bring down the costs, to make it affordable and to deal with what is now a major macro-economic threat,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is my question. Is the debt not, therefore, the key issue for us, as it is with the Greeks? We are not able to address what is now a major social crisis and macro-economic threat because we are paying out €8 billion in interest next year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Why did we sign up to the rules, then?

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 1:In page 6, line 18, after “Oireachtas” to insert “and if in employment in a recognised school, shall be informed in writing immediately”.The first amendment relates to the section of the Bill which amends section 30 of the principal Act and concerns cases where a person is taken off the register of the Teaching Council, which results in them...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Life is difficult and stressful for all of us. It is difficult to keep up with all of the correspondence we receive, the bills we have to pay, the forms we have to fill in and cope with all of the stresses, strains and complications in getting through the week. I am sure the Minister knows all about this, as I do, and it is no different for teachers. As the Minister said, people might...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 2:In page 6, line 26, to delete “fit and proper” and substitute “qualified”.The amendment relates to the circumstances in which the Teaching Council would not admit a teacher to the register. A teacher must meet certain criteria, including the council being satisfied that he or she is a "fit and proper" person to be admitted to the register....

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will not labour the point because we discussed these amendments on Committee Stage. Even the word "suitable" which the Minister used would be preferable to "fit and proper". As I noted when first proposing the amendment, there is no question of challenging the validity of the vetting process. We need to ensure those who are registered with the Teaching Council are properly vetted and...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: "Appropriate" is a good word.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am open to alternatives if the Minister is willing to consider them when the Bill goes before the Seanad.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 3:In page 7, line 4, to delete “fit and proper” and substitute “qualified”.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 4:In page 9, to delete lines 19 and 20.The Bill provides for a matter that is more suited to the industrial relations sphere, namely, the requirement that teachers complete programmes of continuing education and development. This matter deserves greater consultation with teachers instead of making it mandatory for them to engage in continuing professional development....

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I think the argument has largely been made. As the Minister said, there had been a consultation with the whole framework, although it has not been agreed or finalised. It is a bit of a pig in a poke in terms of what is actually required. This signs it into law and then makes something that is ill-defined into a mandatory requirement. If teachers do not match up they could be...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 5:In page 15, line 21, after “constitutes” to insert “serious”.This group of amendments and the next group are the most serious ones. In fact, they revolve around the word "serious". The thinking behind this amendment was not simply dreamt up by me. It arises out of a judgment in the Supreme Court, the Corbally judgment. In that case a...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Having listened to all the arguments, I am not satisfied with the Minister's response. If she acknowledges the point we are making, then she should accept the amendments. The Corbally case in the Supreme Court underlines the need for a requirement that any complaint in such cases be serious in nature. It is an important threshold which a complainant should have to meet. Any reasonable...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As Deputy Coppinger just pointed out to me informally, there is a certain irony in the Minister for Education and Skills saying that only serious complaints will be looked at but the Minister does not want to put in-----

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If the Minister can use that phrase and sees the necessity for such complaints to be serious, I see no reason for that not to be provided for in the legislation. The Minister has not really responded to the point on the Corbally judgment. I do not know about the legislation governing the Medical Council but I presume the same promises and commitments about it applying to serious...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 6: In page 15, line 22, before “poor” to insert “serious”.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 7:In page 15, line 23, after "engaged in” to insert "serious”.