Results 9,901-9,920 of 26,902 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Review of Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 34 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (24 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There is hardly any social housing in south Dublin.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Review of Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 34 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (24 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On foot of my earlier question about money from the local property tax fund which was allocated for social housing, the figure in the case of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council being €10 million for 2015 and €8 million for 2016, will the Minister confirm that there is nothing to stop the council from using the money as it sees fit to provide new social housing? I would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Review of Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 34 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (24 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are not getting a straight answer from someone; who I do not know.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Review of Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 34 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (24 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have one last question. We are all wondering why we received so little from NAMA. Do we have figures for how much stock NAMA has in each area? I am not just talking about what it identifies for use as social housing. Do we have the figures for how much stock it actually has, broken down on a county by county basis? I know that a lot of it has been sold, but what remains on a county by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Planning and Development (Urgent Social Housing Supply) Policy Directive 2015: Motion (24 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Has Deputy Murphy received a response yet?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Planning and Development (Urgent Social Housing Supply) Policy Directive 2015: Motion (24 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Could we hear the responses and then I can come in?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Planning and Development (Urgent Social Housing Supply) Policy Directive 2015: Motion (24 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As I mentioned to the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Kelly, when leaving the earlier session, I would like an instruction to be given to all local authorities to the effect that the eligibility criteria for any of the schemes designed to keep people in homes or get them into homes if they are on the housing list or homeless should be relaxed and there should be flexibility. Too...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Planning and Development (Urgent Social Housing Supply) Policy Directive 2015: Motion (24 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is not happening.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Planning and Development (Urgent Social Housing Supply) Policy Directive 2015: Motion (24 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is what I am advocating.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Planning and Development (Urgent Social Housing Supply) Policy Directive 2015: Motion (24 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: A new phenomenon of working homeless has appeared. If people are working, they often do not qualify for many of the housing supports available. We need to change policy to ensure that where people's working income is insufficient to meet their accommodation requirements as a result of which they become homeless, there is flexibility in terms of family income supplement, FIS, for example,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Planning and Development (Urgent Social Housing Supply) Policy Directive 2015: Motion (24 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: When will it come into operation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Planning and Development (Urgent Social Housing Supply) Policy Directive 2015: Motion (24 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Could we ask for more time to debate this in the Dáil on Thursday?

Other Questions: Afforestation Programme (25 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 6. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the role he envisages forestry playing in helping Ireland meet European Union climate mitigation targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41393/15]

Other Questions: Afforestation Programme (25 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We have discussed forestry many times in this House. I was glad and, more importantly, champions of forestry were very glad to hear the Minister's recent comments to the effect that he sees afforestation as a key measure to deal with our CO2 emissions problems. In representing the view of those who champion forestry, I have emphasised the value of agroforestry as a key measure in mitigating...

Other Questions: Afforestation Programme (25 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister and I certainly are in agreement on the principle here, which I am very glad to hear. However, we need to be more ambitious and to push this as far and as effectively as we can. The Programme of Competitive Forestry Research for Development, COFORD, estimates that to achieve our 17% forestry target by 2014, we need to be planting 15,000 ha per annum. We are still well short of...

Other Questions: Afforestation Programme (25 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They should not see it as being in competition with other farming activities, rather it should complement them as well as helping us to deal with the urgent climate change challenge.

Other Questions: Afforestation Programme (25 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There are two aspects of this. One is trying to encourage farmers to see the benefits of forestry. I am learning as I go. We need to get the message across to farmers about how the different types of agroforestry can benefit them. They need to see it as a win-win situation rather than seeing it as a competition over land use for existing farming activities. We need to educate people and...

Other Questions: Afforestation Programme (25 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: With a bit of imagination that land could be used for forestry if it were given to local communities, co-operatives and so on.

Finance Bill 2015: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What really worries me in the Minister's response and the responses of others on the Government side is that there seems to be no sense that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. Deputy Twomey tries to trivialise the matter by saying we hate the multinationals. We do not hate them and are glad of any job but we do not want to blind ourselves to the problems. The problems are...

Finance Bill 2015: Report Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The problem is that the multinationals are engaging in aggressive tax avoidance to the point that they pay tax at pitifully low levels. In some individual cases, the tax rate is estimated to be 0%. The US congressional committee and bureau of statistics are saying the American multinationals, the big IT multinationals, operating in this country are paying at a rate of 2%. Do we consider...