Results 10,161-10,180 of 26,902 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

International Protection Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Are we looking at the Bill as passed by the Seanad?

International Protection Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Section 73 is on page 75.

International Protection Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I echo Deputy Mac Lochlainn in saying it is disappointing that this Bill is not only being rushed but it is not accompanied by other measures long wished for by asylum seekers and those who support them, chief of which are the granting of the right to work and the ending of the shame and scandal that is the direct provision system. As when dealing with other legislation, despite the...

Pre-European Council: Statements (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Much of the agenda of the European Council was dominated by the response to the events in Paris, the so-called war on terrorism and the prevention of radicalisation. The very first thing the Taoiseach should say within the European Council is that all of the problems in Syria and the refugee crisis, much of which stems from what is happening in Syria, will be made worse by the actions of the...

International Protection Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This amendment is essential if we are to protect the rights of children. The Government is committed to Children First. The idea that children would be wrongly assessed as adults is completely unacceptable and, therefore, any self-declaration by children that they are children should be accepted unless there is evidence to the contrary. The word of the children should be accepted unless...

International Protection Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The right to work, as the Minister of State is well aware, is a fundamental demand made by asylum seekers and those who support and advocate for them. It has been for a long time. The indignity of not being allowed to work and simultaneously being accused of somehow sponging off the system, becoming a target for all sorts of racist abuse by a certain element of society, is utterly...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: No heckling.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As I stated on Second Stage, this Bill deals with the most fundamental, urgent and important issue facing the country. It is particularly the case now but it is arguably the case at any time. The issue is the provision of housing and putting roofs over the heads of our citizens. It concerns the delivery of the volume of housing needed but also ensuring the housing is of a quality that will...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is on the amendment. The privatisation of housing has resulted in an enormous crisis. The thinking behind this Bill is to say, in response, that we must dilute standards in order to incentivise private developers. Standards are to be diluted and the Government is to be given the power to override local authorities attempting to uphold standards. Talk about compounding a disastrous...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This is relevant to the amendment because we were talking about housing. The delegates said that the pleas of the developers, claiming it is currently not viable to build housing anywhere in Ireland, are false. The delegates said building houses is viable but the reason the developers are not building is the profit to be made is not enough for them. In other words, the reason is greed....

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: No, it is a fact. I have given the Minister of State a concrete example. Why did his Department contact Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and tell it to remove the passive house ---

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am not getting carried away at all. The best way to have minimum standards is for the State to build the houses. In that way, there is a floor below which one does not go. The provision of local authority housing by the State itself, as opposed to outsourcing it through Part V and so forth, is the way to have the best minimum standards.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Again, however, the Government is moving in the opposite direction. It is saying that the State is not going to deliver social housing but will rely on the private sector to do so. It is intent on incentivising private developers and removing any obstacles they claim are getting in the way of the delivery of that housing but all the developers are trying to do is figure out how they can...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It built zero council houses last year.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Data (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 68. To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of tax that was returned from relevant contracts tax 1, by gross figure, by net figure after rebates and offsets for 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45626/15]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 69. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will explain the apparent discrepancy in his letter of 17 July 2015 regarding bogus self-employment, where he stated the number of payers of relevant contracts tax 1 in the construction sector was approximately 34,000 and yet, more recently in a parliamentary response on the same issue, he stated that the number was 75,386; and if he will make a...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disability Services Provision (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 135. To ask the Minister for Health the plans and pilot projects for outsourcing care for the intellectually disabled which was previously delivered in-house by the Health Service Executive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45625/15]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: No charge was made.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am neutral in this. I am just saying I did not hear any charges being made. Questions were being asked.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Can the delegation tell me the following? With all the residential portfolios that NAMA has sold, either built residential units or land for residential development, what is the total amount it has got back in the residential area? What was the original value of those residential units?