Results 20,241-20,260 of 26,960 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If the Ombudsman does not uphold a complaint, what can the complainant do?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is an expensive business.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the financial ombudsman for coming into the committee. It has been illuminating. After two and a half years in the Dáil, I am still wading through the complex machinery of State and public oversight. Today, I have learned quite an amount about what the Financial Services Ombudsman does. The job of the Financial Services Ombudsman is to ensure the financial institutions play...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Financial Services Ombudsman adjudicates on complaints. Does it have any role in alerting the Central Bank or the Government to problems or injustices that may not be illegal or outside the regulations but that any reasonable person might consider to be a problem? Does the Financial Services Ombudsman have any role in that area?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: A number of points occurred to me. Mr. Prasifka places an emphasis on the difference between the formal and informal approach of the office as opposed to the UK office. From the statistics, it appears the formal approach leads to a lower level of complaints being upheld while the informal leads to a higher level of complaints being upheld. If I understand the statistics correctly, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: How will this differ? Can Mr. Prasifka elaborate on what informal means in the context of the alternative model that operates in Britain?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There is a very strong parallel between that and politics. It is the difference between sorting out cases with the Department at the level of the clinic and pushing for policy change. It is an interesting balance. Perhaps we can have a bit of both. Perhaps there could be an informal starting point. If it does not work or if it is not appropriate, there can be a higher threshold of formality.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We will not sort that out today but I appreciate it. That is something to be examined. There are two areas I want to ask about in respect of the volume of complaints. In respect of reckless lending, there is no legal prohibition and no category of reckless lending. Some of us argue there should be. Did the Financial Services Ombudsman receive many complaints about reckless lending,...

Equality (Amendment) Bill 2014: First Stage (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

Equality (Amendment) Bill 2014: First Stage (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Equal Status Act 2000.I and many other TDs have over the past two years brought to the Taoiseach's attention the growing housing crisis and what is rapidly becoming a housing emergency. Emergency action is necessary to deal with it. There are many aspects to that, including...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have permission from every one of these people to raise their cases. They asked me to do so. They are from Dún Laoghaire but also from Wicklow and Dublin city centre. That is how desperate people are. We have gone everywhere and they have gone everywhere, including Threshold, Focus, the local authority and welfare sections, but there are no council houses. Maura, who is in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Sure, but in the meantime-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It puts a roof over their heads.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am working at it every day. I am begging the Minister.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 3. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will raise the rent caps for rent allowance to reflect the rapid rise in rents in many areas across the country to address the problem of landlords refusing to accept rent allowance; her views on whether these caps are now contributing to a growing homelessness crisis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10610/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Two years ago I informed the Minister that her decision to cut the cap on rent allowance, combined with the policy of landlords of refusing to accept rent allowance, would lead to homelessness. She responded by promising that would not be the case. I propose to introduce several people in the Visitors Gallery who are either homeless, about to become homeless or have been made homeless in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is all very interesting, but it makes not a whit of difference to the people in the Visitors Gallery. Charlene is living in Citywest and must drag her five children across town to school in Shankill every day. She has been in and out of homeless accommodation for two years. Ilona and Donatus will be evicted in the next few days and have to move to homeless accommodation. I have been...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 24. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will change the policy whereby those who are working full time are not eligible for rent allowance as this forces many in low paid jobs into poverty; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10474/14]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 23. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will change regulations so that the cost of child care is taken into account when calculating the amount of rent allowance payable to an applicant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10472/14]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (5 Mar 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 29. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she is satisfied that the payment of €100 to jobseeker's aged 18-24 years and €144 to 25 year olds is not discriminatory on grounds of age as per the Equality Act 2004; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10471/14]