Results 921-940 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Report Stage (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I realise it has been ruled out of order but good news should always be passed on even under extraneous circumstances.

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Report Stage (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 12: In page 12, to delete lines 2 and 3.The amendment seeks to delete references to different circumstances and for different areas of the State. The entire sector was opened up to competition by a court decision. However, the Minister is attempting to reintroduce quantity licensing. Since 2003 local authorities have been removed from the sector. Here the Minister...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Report Stage (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I regret the stand being taken by the Minister of State yet again. We will oppose other amendments. The spirit of what the Minister of State has said is to restore the industry to its pre-2002 position. He is using statutory instruments, which is what we caught him on the last time on the last vote, to undermine High Court decisions. Every time we try to see the liberal man who is opening...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Report Stage (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 15: In page 12, line 20, after "knowledge" to insert the following:", including the use of global positioning systems,". This amendment arose while discussing the reason the taxi deregulation in the Minister of State's constituency had the least impact of any county we examined. We said that perhaps people from the border areas of Kilkenny, Waterford and Limerick serve...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Report Stage (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 17: In page 12, between lines 39 and 40, to insert the following:"(3) In making regulations under this section the Authority shall not take into consideration the short-term or long-term economic viability of the licence applicant or the short-term or long-term economic viability of any other licence holder.".I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Alan Kelly, back to the...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Report Stage (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: The whole background to this is that licence holders did achieve regulatory capture of the Department and successfully pleaded that they could not make money in an open market. That is why we are trying to close it off. It is in every line of the taxi review group report. The taxi representatives won the debate that day but they did not win it with me. People insisted that we must control...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Report Stage (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State for his response and wish the Road Safety Authority every success in this important field.

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Report Stage (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State for his response. However, I am concerned that a problem remains. Under the European Convention on Human Rights, every person has a right to respect for his or her private and family life, home and correspondence. Does the requirement for the applicant to disclose information to his or her employer breach that right to privacy in a context which has no bearing...

Seanad: Mortgage Arrears: Motion (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: With the permission of the Chair, I wish to share time with Senator Norris.

Seanad: Mortgage Arrears: Motion (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank the proposers of the motion and all Members who have spoken about this problem. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Joe Costello. In the greater Dublin area, which the Minister knows well, a house that cost the equivalent of €100,000 in 1997 rose to €500,000 and nobody's income kept up with that bubble in property prices. We are now trying to address this now. The...

Seanad: Mortgage Arrears: Motion (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: There must be no evictions from buy-to-let properties. The landlord can sell on the property to someone else, but the tenants should be allowed to stay and pay rent to the new landlord. Let the landlord take the capital loss. That is happening in the case of hotels up and down the country, some in County Kerry and others in County Mayo. Hotels have dropped in value, from €40...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: Arising from the two very fine debates in the House yesterday on research I am pleased to note today that the Leiden University research impact index ranks TCD at ninth in Europe and 48th in the world. We also had a very useful discussion on banking. I note that in putting the squeeze on small business, AIB is increasing the charge of 17 cent per €1,000 lodged to 45 cent, from 1 June...

Seanad: Financial Stability and Reform Bill 2013: First Stage (18 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to to promote the financial stability of Ireland by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system; reduce systemic risk; end ‘‘too big to fail’’; improve capital adequacy and to protect the State from non-transparent safety net subsidies and open-ended bailouts of monetary and...

Seanad: Financial Stability and Reform Bill 2013: First Stage (18 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (18 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. We always have great debates when he comes to this House. There may be some useful points on minimum pricing. I accept what Senators Norris and Crown have said. Minimum pricing enriches the people doing the minimum pricing. I understand the Minister for Finance, the Minister of State with responsibility for public service reform and the OPW and the Minister for...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I join everyone who has praised the Seanad Éireann transition year student challenge which we had this morning. It was a splendid occasion and credit is due to everyone associated with its organisation. One discordant note was communicated to the Minister for Education and Science by the heads of Irish universities. If I got the quote correctly, it was that young people arrive in...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: They are the solution. They were splendid this morning, as you know, a Chathaoirligh. I will vote in favour of allowing 16 year olds to vote if the people we had in this morning are representative of young people in this country. Empire builders and public relations people in universities and IBEC do not seem to think when they make disparaging and snide remarks about the standard of young...

Seanad: Financial Stability and Reform Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (24 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, to the House. Two years ago on Monday the Members of the House were elected and, like the Minister of State who had been elected some weeks before, we knew we had to face the problem of the public finances and the banking sector. These two issues have exercised most of our waking hours since...

Seanad: Financial Stability and Reform Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (24 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I sincerely thank the Members of this House. I am so proud to be with them as we address these really serious problems. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, who has responsibility for small and medium-sized enterprises. The Bill attempts to right-size, as it were, the banking sector, which had got too big; remove hidden subsidy to the banks - I am sure the Minister of State will...

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome No. 32 on the Order Paper, the Financial Stability and Reform Bill, which was discussed in the House yesterday. I thank Senators Hayden and Sheahan on the Government side and Senators Byrne, Quinn and O'Brien on the Opposition side, for their contributions to that discussion. I would also like to thank the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Hayes, who turned...