Results 13,541-13,560 of 26,924 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Water Services Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Labour Party agreed. It signed up in the Troika agreement to sell off the forests. I remember former Deputy Rabbitte, when he was Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, standing up in here the day after the demonstration that we organised in Avondale Forest where the week before he had said that sale was going ahead and the day after he admitted that the...

Water Services Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am. I am simply making the point-----

Water Services Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: -----that the reason we have got here is because of people power and the resistance of ordinary people to the attempts of the political establishment in this country, including the Labour Party, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil who wanted to sell off our natural resources and then have them sold back to us at a cost, whether it was water or trees. In case the Government is under any...

Ceisteanna - Questions: EU Meetings (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 2. To ask the Taoiseach the issues he plans to raise at the upcoming European Council meeting. [44042/17]

Ceisteanna - Questions: EU Meetings (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I would also say we need to speak out about what is going on in Spain. It is an affront to any notion of democracy that people, whatever one may think of them, who simply organised a vote for people to cast ballots on an issue that concerned them and their right to self-determination, a right that is accepted and enshrined in international law, could now be imprisoned and face very heavy...

Ceisteanna - Questions: EU Meetings (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am amazed at the minimalist approach to the question of what is happening in Catalonia. This is a crisis that potentially not only strips Spain of any kind of democratic legitimacy, but in the failure of the European Union to speak about it, as Deputy Martin pointed out, it potentially strips Europe very significantly of its legitimacy, or what is left of its legitimacy, as a champion of...

Ceisteanna - Questions: EU Meetings (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes. One must at least engage with the issue and to say nothing about it is extraordinary. There has also been a minimalist response on digital Europe. The Taoiseach stated this was discussed, but what was the content of the discussion? Intellectual property and intangible assets are the main mechanism through which the most wealthy corporations in the world are dodging tax. It would...

Priority Questions: Coillte Teoranta Lands (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 41. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on whether Coillte's recent announcement that it is examining 25 of its land parcels and seeking partnerships with private developers to develop these sites as industrial wind farms represents a significant diversion and potentially conflicts with its core mandate to protect the national forest estate and promote...

Priority Questions: Coillte Teoranta Lands (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister may have read the article, and has probably been made aware by Coillte itself, that it recently announced that it would be looking at 25 of its land parcels with a view to developing large-scale industrial wind farms in partnership with the private sector. Does the Minister not think this is another example of Coillte departing from its core function, which is to be the...

Priority Questions: Coillte Teoranta Lands (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: First of all, the 6,000 ha which the Minister is talking about is a massive undershoot on what is necessary in order for us to reach our target, which keeps shifting out in any event, but which is currently to move from a pathetic 11% rate of forest cover to 17%. In deference to my Sinn Féin colleague, I stress that we do not want to see the expansion of the industrial sitka spruce type...

Priority Questions: Coillte Teoranta Lands (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Putting up these big wind turbines involves pouring masses of concrete for the bases. There are very real questions about whether there is a tangible net benefit in terms of CO2 reduction when the transport costs of bringing concrete up, building roads up to the top of these mountains to put up these wind farms, and so on are taken into account. That is opposed to growing trees, which does...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Taoiseach's Communications (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 16. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent discussions with Prime Minister Theresa May. [45035/17]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Climate Change Policy (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 51. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will report on the input his Department had into Cabinet discussions on Ireland's role in and contribution to global climate change mitigation in advance of the Bonn climate change conference; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47044/17]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Management (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 52. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to establish a special task force to liaise and co-ordinate between his Department and the Departments of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to examine and drive a co-ordinated and coherent plan for utilising and expanding native forestry to maximise its multiple benefits...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Management (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 53. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on whether his Department is not sufficiently supporting small scale coppice management of existing hedgerows and woodlands on farms (details supplied); his plans to use existing funding not currently being availed of for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47041/17]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Management (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 66. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason there has not been a specific move to target the 500,000 acres of non-commercially viable Coillte lands identified by the McCarthy report in 2010 for the development of mixed native woodlands (details supplied) in view of the problem of land availability for forestry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47042/17]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Management (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 70. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason his Department is not adopting the full suite of agroforestry measures that are funded and provided for within the rural development regulation for farming and forestry; the further reason he is not actively encouraging the creation of linear riparian native woodlands on farms to act as buffers to collect nitrate and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I want to add my voice of support for Deputy Pearse Doherty's amendment on the issue of vacant tax. The urgency of a vacant unit or vacant home tax simply cannot be overstated. Let me put a human face on this matter because often, when we debate financial matters, one only hears dry figures, statistics and so on. I have a long litany of cases that people in dire circumstances bring to my...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes. I think they are the subject of a residential tenancies board dispute, which is the last thing I heard about them, because the vulture fund tried to evict the rest of the tenants. That suggests the fund probably has not rented out the apartments that were vacant for the last period.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There were between 15 to 20 units over the three or four years, according to the residents in the Robin Hill apartments.