Results 20,681-20,700 of 26,924 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Energy Resources (4 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Time and again the Minister has told the House that the justification for a low tax regime on oil and for licensing arrangements whereby ownership of our gas and oil reserves has effectively been handed over to oil companies is that we only have potential reserves, not actual reserves. If that is the case, could he explain how this jar of light crude oil, just a small sample taken from a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Energy Resources (4 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will put it down. An oil tanker was filled-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Energy Resources (4 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: -----in 1997. A week's pumping filled a tanker. Where did it go, who took it and did we get any money for it? This is real oil, not potential oil.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Energy Resources (4 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The story shifts as we investigate further. I will quote something that the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, told me a while ago. He stated: "Since the early 1970s, we have had four gas finds and no oil finds."

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Energy Resources (4 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: He did not say "no commercial oil finds". He said "no oil finds". Now it is "commercial". However, we have discovered that a tanker of oil was pumped out of the Connemara field. Although it was plugged, one of Statoil's then directors, Mr. Stein Bredal, has since stated publicly that doing so was a mistake, as technology has caught up to the point at which the pressure problem can be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Energy Resources (4 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: -----until they could get maximum profits.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Energy Resources (4 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: One of Statoil's former directors has since said that handing the licence back was a mistake, as modern technology allows-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Energy Resources (4 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am asking a question. The former director has acknowledged that it was a mistake and that the field could be commercially viable. Can there be a justification any longer for the ridiculously and pathetically low tax rate, the lack of royalties and the effective handover of ownership, through our licensing system, to private oil companies of a reserve of oil that will almost certainly be...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation (4 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 104. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government with regard to the acknowledged need for for the redevelopment of Labre Park Traveller accommodation in Ballyfermot, which has been included in the past three Traveller accommodation programmes but never advanced, if he will meet with all stakeholders to ensure the delivery of this long awaited redevelopment. [51984/13]

Topical Issue Debate: Homelessness Strategy (3 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There were no answers in the Minister of State's response for the two people I mentioned, or to be honest for the huge number who are being forced into or threatened with homelessness every week. The Government does not seem to grasp how bad this problem is and how quickly it is worsening. I spoke with Peter McVerry a couple of weeks ago and he said clearly that the rent cap reductions...

Topical Issue Debate: Homelessness Strategy (3 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister of State's €100 million is only a drop in the ocean.

Topical Issue Debate: Homelessness Strategy (3 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Can we at least have a proper debate in the Dáil on the issue?

Topical Issue Debate: Homelessness Strategy (3 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Any Government that cannot put roofs over the heads of its citizens and ensure they are not obliged to sleep on the street is not worthy of the name. For the two and a half years I have been in the Dáil, the issue I have raised most consistently is that of the housing and homelessness crisis. I have said repeatedly that the policies of the Government are leading directly to...

Order of Business (3 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The report that the number of people sleeping rough in Dublin has doubled in the last while is a shocking indictment of the failure of the Government’s policy in homelessness and housing.

Order of Business (3 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: When will the housing Bill come before the Dáil? I have raised this on numerous occasions but I just get vague answers. Given the current housing crisis, will the Tánaiste bring forward the housing Bill so we can have a policy for the area as well as a proper debate about this most urgent of crises?

Written Answers — Department of Finance: NewERA Projects (3 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 50. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a full report on recent meetings of NewERA. [51706/13]

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Community Development Initiatives (3 Dec 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 274. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the details of the planned changes to funding the community sector. [51958/13]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pension Provisions (28 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 3. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the protections provided for in the Pensions (Amendment) Bill 2013 that would ensure that the restructuring of defined pension schemes would place the interests of workers and pensioners first, with particular reference to any instance of continued restructuring and its implications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51034/13]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pension Provisions (28 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As the Minister knows, there is a major crisis affecting defined pension schemes across the country. Some 20% are in trouble.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pension Provisions (28 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: My name is on the Order Paper. It was in the name of Deputy Pringle but it has been changed. There is a crisis affecting defined benefit pension schemes. We know about the current crisis in the ESB and Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company. We are also familiar with the circumstances of Waterford Glass and of approximately 160 other pension schemes. What will the Minister do about it?...