Results 20,381-20,400 of 26,924 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming Economic and Financial Affairs Council: Minister for Finance (13 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Does the Minister not think that we should have an open debate in which the public can compare and contrast the regime for corporate tax with the regime for personal income tax?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming Economic and Financial Affairs Council: Minister for Finance (13 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will pick up on that issue in the context of the G20 and the Minister's ongoing engagement with the OECD. It should be a matter of deep concern for any Minister responsible for finance that we have approximately eight different estimates of the effective corporate tax rate in this country, varying from the rather fantastic figure of 14% - referred to briefly by the Taoiseach - down to a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming Economic and Financial Affairs Council: Minister for Finance (13 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes. As I pointed out to the Minister before, and which he ridiculed, in between there is a Central Statistics Office and EUROSTAT figure. It was confirmed by Mr. Seamus Coffey yesterday at the finance committee meeting. It is somewhere between 6.3% and 6.4%. I am glad I have some backup for that figure, which has been ridiculed fairly regularly by the Minister. I am in the middle or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming Economic and Financial Affairs Council: Minister for Finance (13 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: At least we are on some common ground because these are the precise figures in which I am interested. These are hard facts and not a fictional ceramic company that would be atypical of companies at the centre of the issue. The pre-tax or gross profits in the Central Statistics Office figures do not indicate €40 billion but rather €69 billion. That is approximately €70...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming Economic and Financial Affairs Council: Minister for Finance (13 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: -----assessable is a pretty big jump. The Minister has indicated in the past that this concerns standard accounting practice, reliefs and so forth. There must be a very serious discussion about that. It is a pretty big jump, as far as I am concerned, and we need to drill down into the matter. We need to examine what measures have been included in Finance Bills over the past ten to 20...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming Economic and Financial Affairs Council: Minister for Finance (13 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This is a hypothetical "I". Let us say somebody earns €70,000 per year, but only €35,000 or €40,000 is assessable. A sum of €30,000 is taken out of the equation because it is not assessable. That would be wonderful. Many families here would be delighted with that, but that is not what happens. Why does it happen in the corporate sector? No doubt, the Minister...

Written Answers — Department of Health: HSE Waiting Lists (13 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 68. To ask the Minister for Health the number of public patients on public waiting lists that were sent to private beds and private consultants in public hospitals in 2012 and 2013; the amount the Health Service Executive paid to these private consultants in public hospitals in 2012 and 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6957/14]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Ambulance Service Staff (13 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 74. To ask the Minister for Health if he will investigate reports received by this Deputy that three relatives of the chief ambulance officer national ambulance service have recently been employed in the positions of ambulance control supervisor, acting team leader and ambulance controller, following interviews by a panel which included the chief ambulance officer; if these reports are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (12 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Except whoever leaked.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (12 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have a final question. Is Mr. O’Brien’s concern that his recollected reasons for initiating the security investigation are different from those in the report that he believes may come out in the newspapers this Sunday? Can he tell us more about that? Can he explain why the possible conflict of explanations as to why the investigation was launched in the first instance...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (12 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: How can Mr. O'Brien explain his expressed fear that there are two different explanations as to why the investigation was initiated? This would give cause for public concern or concern on the part of anyone examining the matter. Mr. O'Brien seems to intimate there are directly conflicting explanations as to why the investigation was launched in the first place.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (12 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the GSOC witnesses for appearing before the committee. Mr. O'Brien has used the word "clarity" many times, but I am not getting clarity. I would appreciate it if we could have short, succinct and direct answers to questions in order that there can be absolute clarity. I am trying to sift through what is being said. Will Mr. O'Brien tell the committee very simply in order that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (12 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: How many-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (12 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Therefore, we have a leak of secret documents from the Garda ombudsman's office to the media and Mr. O'Brien has indicated more will be leaked, probably in next Sunday's newspapers. How many people would have had access to the secret report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (12 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Can Mr. O'Brien tell the committee who they are?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (12 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This is a serious issue. A small number of people, approximately seven, had access to a secret report, yet that report has found its way into the hands of the media and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is investigating the matter. That is a serious revelation. Mr. O'Brien has also said that what prompted GSOC to do the security sweep and enlist the British security experts...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (12 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I take that point, but it appears there are two different things which could or might not be connected. We have clearly established that Mr. O'Brien believes there was a leak. Who has access to secret information within the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and is giving it to people in the media? That is a very serious issue. On what initially led GSOC to enlist the security...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (12 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Time is short. In order to leak a secret document one does not need surveillance equipment if one has access to the document. This is where two things can potentially be confused. One only needs access to the document to get it out. There may be a question about how one got it out, by photocopying it or whatever else, but one does not need Government level surveillance technology. We...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Economic Management Council Meetings (11 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The cover-up about what is really happening with Ireland's corporate tax rate has to end. We need an open, honest, transparent and comprehensive debate about what is really happening with the corporate tax rate. An eminent Trinity professor of finance has flatly and completely disagreed with the repeated assertions by the Government, the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach that the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Economic Management Council Meetings (11 Feb 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What about the ceramics firm with 60 employees?