Results 18,881-18,900 of 27,080 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Functions (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I did not get an answer to my previous question about vulture funds being allowed to evict people. I would appreciate an answer on that because it is happening in the teeth of Christmas. On public sector reform, the Government has thrown a considerable amount of mud into people's eyes in response to the demands of the student nurses and midwives to be paid for their work on placement, to...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Functions (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I ask the Taoiseach to give a brief answer regarding the student nurses.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Functions (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They are understaffed.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Shared Island Unit (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The most pressing and urgent issue that we face on a shared island basis at this moment is the threat of Covid-19. The scenes in the North last night of ambulances lining up outside hospitals and massive overcrowding in the emergency departments because of Covid-19, frankly, had fairly alarming echoes of what happened in Italy early this year. That is a warning. Already, there are signs...

Post-European Council: Statements (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On a number of occasions in recent weeks and again with the Taoiseach today I have raised the issue of access to the vaccine on a global basis being critical to the effectiveness of the vaccine anywhere. If access is not provided to the vaccine for poorer countries, this potentially will create a massive hole in vaccine cover which will allow for mutations and potentially undermine the...

Planning and Development Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Second Stage (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Two people contributed a very important concept to our understanding of modern society: Hegel and Karl Marx. They spoke of the concept of alienation, which was brilliantly captured by Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream. While there are advantages to meetings on Zoom and Teams, the substitution for real human social interaction of endless Zoom and Teams meetings for all time to come...

Planning and Development Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Instruction to Committee (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have a few legitimate points to make.

Planning and Development Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Instruction to Committee (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Five minutes.

Planning and Development Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Instruction to Committee (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the Acting Chairman. That is very generous of him. I made my points on Second Stage but I will briefly summarise them because the Minister was absent at the time. I am unsure whether he is aware of the points I made.

Planning and Development Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Instruction to Committee (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I heard those comments and I will deal with them in a minute. Actually, I will deal with them now. The Minister should not attribute quotes to me that I never made. I never, ever used the phrase "tsunami of evictions". A very well known housing activist who is not a Member of this House used that phrase. In my opinion, his concerns were just concerns, given the heroic role he plays in...

Planning and Development Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will try to be brief because I am conscious there are many other amendments coming up on other important aspects of this Bill. I ask for a serious response from the Minister on the issue of public meetings. I support amendments Nos. 5 and 6. There are good suggestions in both amendments and they revolve around the importance of public meetings and the involvement of the public in the...

Planning and Development Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Absolutely. Here we are ad idemin warning the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien - I am being deadly serious about this - about something that the great revolutionary and philosopher, Karl Marx, called "alienation". It is a very real thing. If the Minister wants to know the modern definition of "alienation" in the midst of Covid, it is "If I have to attend another Zoom meeting, I'll scream."...

Planning and Development Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They discuss plans to rezone lands. They also need to acquaint people with the process, which many people do not understand. There is a huge deficit of participation in these things. On many occasions l have seen last-minute proposals for rezoning of land, sometimes from members of the Minister's party, where there has been no consultation. The public often alert us to such moves. During...

Planning and Development Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Nor your good self.

Investment Limited Partnerships (Amendment) Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As with many of the things we are dealing with in this final week - we had discussions about the complexity of the previous Bill and the multiple issues introduced, some of them at the last minute - it is worth noting that this Bill deals with a significant matter relating to the financial vehicles through which the Irish and global super-rich get even richer. This very significant Bill...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: National Economic and Social Council (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 14. To ask the Taoiseach if he has read the recent NESC publication entitled The Position of the Self-Employed. [42006/20]

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: National Economic and Social Council (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 15. To ask the Taoiseach if he has read the recent NESC publication entitled Housing Policy: Actions to Deliver Change. [42007/20]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 326. To ask the Minister for Health if the Traveller community has been given consideration in the different levels of the vaccination roll out plan; the position of same if they are considered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43847/20]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Services (16 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 348. To ask the Minister for Health if the orthopaedic clinic in St. Vincent's University Hospital is open; if not, when it will resume; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44007/20]

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Dec 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Can I join you, a Cheann Comhairle, in extending best wishes for Christmas to everybody in the House, particularly to the service officers, the ushers and the Oireachtas staff for all their hard work in a difficult year. It seems Christmas started early for the Taoiseach yesterday when he entered into a winter wonderland fairy tale where the bank bailout never happened and the €17...