Results 13,821-13,840 of 26,924 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I think it is politics.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I really genuinely do not understand that. I know the Revenue Commissioners and the Government disagree. Set that debate aside, let us say whoever made the ruling----- This is quite an important question and I want an answer to it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is on topic.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Paradise Papers: Chairman, Office of the Revenue Commissioners (29 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Let us say that the people who made the decision in the European Union were in Mr Cody's job and decided to apply the same standards to other similar cases as to the ones they applied to Apple.

Other Questions: Tax Code (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 9. To ask the Minister for Finance the reasoning behind the decision of the former Minister for Finance in budget 2014 to raise the cap on the capital allowance of tangible assets from 80% to 100%; if he will report on lobbying, submissions, discussions or meetings in relation to this issue prior to it being included in that budget; the minutes, memos and communications with regard to this...

Other Questions: Tax Code (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 12. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on all meetings and communications involving his Department officials, himself or his predecessor and a company (details supplied), other large multinational companies or a group in which the issue of corporate tax, intellectual property or intangible assets were discussed in each of the years 2011 to 2016 and to date in 2017; the...

Other Questions: Tax Code (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are aware that Apple avoided paying €13 billion in tax through the double Irish scheme using Irish registered companies. The Paradise Papers reveal that in 2014 and 2015, changes made by then Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, to the intangible assets allowance enabled Apple and almost certainly other companies to continue to avoid billions of euro in tax, using Irish...

Other Questions: Tax Code (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The change made by the former Minister, Deputy Noonan, in 2014 is a scandal. Séamus Coffey said that had we not made that change, we would have collected €722 million in additional tax in 2015, and presumably there would have been a similar figure in subsequent years. Mr. Coffey said that if one ensured that all claims for this allowance was under the 80% regime, we would have...

Other Questions: Tax Code (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: During the committee hearings that year, it was said that the much trumpeted double Irish would, in fact, be replaced by another scheme through which the same companies would be able to avoid pretty much the same amount of taxes, but in a slightly different way, by speaking about patents and intellectual property rights. That is exactly what happened. The Government was warned about it....

Nomination of Member of Government: Motion (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sharing time with Deputy Coppinger. I will keep it brief. I personally wish all of the new appointees well and I hope they will succeed in their briefs. There has been much discussion about people being thrown or not being thrown under buses over the last while. Our concerns are not about the Deputies as politicians or as individuals, whom we may wish well, but about the issues they...

Proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of Ireland’s participation in two European Defence Agency Projects: Motion (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am absolutely opposed to this further integration of this country into European military industrial complex. It is laughable that the Government and Fianna Fáil can try to justify this as being somehow in our interests to protect us against cyberterrorism.

Proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of Ireland’s participation in two European Defence Agency Projects: Motion (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is even worse. What a load of nonsense. The European Union border regime alone is like some sort of horrific nightmare from a dystopian science fiction horror movie in terms of our complicity in the horrors that are going on in Libya. We are involved in training the Libyan coast guard, which, in turn, is deeply implicated in slavery, systematic rape, beatings and torture of...

Legal Proceedings against Members of Dáil Éireann: Motion (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We do not have much to add-----

Legal Proceedings against Members of Dáil Éireann: Motion (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: -----except to say it appears that there is nothing that gets Members of this Chamber more excited than the issue of seats. They are more excited about it than the issues which concern the people. The matter has been resolved in that the boundary commission will be legislated for next week and the appropriate level of representation proportionate to the size of population will be...

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2017 [Seanad]: Second Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Private health insurance is a fundamentally parasitical enterprise. It preys on the fears of people about the prospect of being ill and needing care and the inability of the public health system, for which they pay through their taxes, not being able to provide them with that care. This is a shameful enterprise that, week in week out, with wall-to-wall advertising on the radio, plays on...

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2017 [Seanad]: Second Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is the difference between the Minister and me.

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2017 [Seanad]: Second Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I fundamentally object to the health needs of humans being referred to as a market. Our State has an obligation to provide health care as a matter of human right to our citizens. There is an idea that a market has sprung up because we have been unable to do this, because we have underfunded our health service, inflicted savage cuts on it and slaughtered staff numbers and the budget and,...

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2017 [Seanad]: Second Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: People are spending €2 billion on private health insurance. Would it not be far better if that money went into the public health system? It would go a hell of a long way towards sorting out the problems in that system. That is in addition to the €2.5 billion to €3 billion, or 18%, they fork out on out-of-pocket charges, such as accident and emergency charges, overnight...

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2017 [Seanad]: Second Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are passing the legislation without seeing the report. Is that correct?

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2017 [Seanad]: Second Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That would be useful. I am glad I asked because I do not believe we should pass legislation without either seeing the report on which it is based or being certain that the levies and the distribution of credits are all being passed on. Is it guaranteed that they will all be passed on to where they should be in terms of equalising the cost of insurance and not into the back pockets of...