Results 20,721-20,740 of 26,953 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

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?...

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

Richard Boyd Barrett: One question Deputy Pringle wanted to ask was whether it will be possible under the Bill for a company to restructure a pension scheme more than once in circumstances where restructuring is allowed? Owing to a restructuring plan implemented by a company, could one lose 10% to 20% of what one expected and then lose the same again, perhaps on multiple occasions, if the under-funding problem...

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

Richard Boyd Barrett: This is a complicated technical matter that is very difficult to deal with.

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

Richard Boyd Barrett: Can a company restructure on multiple occasions with the result that a scheme member would lose out not just once, but several times? The under-funding crisis is another legacy of the banks. One should remember that many of the funds are in trouble because of the banks or investments in banking shares that have now collapsed. Pension scheme members comprise another victim of the banking...

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

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister should forget about the potshots and answer the question.

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

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister is the one treating it as a joke.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (28 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 31. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to review the rent allowance caps again in view of the recent reports of rent increases in the urban centres around the country; if not, the advice she would give to the thousands of housing applicants and homeless persons who cannot find suitable accommodation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50742/13]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (28 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 36. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the advice she would give to housing applicants and persons facing homelessness across the country particularly in urban areas such as Dublin where rents are increasing dramatically and where little if any private rented accommodation is available within the Department's rent allowance caps; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50741/13]

Bond Repayments: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Deputy has the names.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This debate has been well rehearsed, and the Minister of State will get the last word, in any event. We will leave here disagreeing. However, I think it is indicative of the way the Minister of State approaches this that he said people live in assets. The point is they do not live in an asset. Most people do not live in an asset. They live in a home, in a house. They purchased it as a...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We shall agree to disagree. I am too young to remember what was said when rates were abolished, but I have been told that when they were abolished - no question but that it was a populist move - a commitment was made to the electorate that VAT increases that subsequently followed would cover that move. VAT increased afterwards and people felt they paid. However, since then many other taxes...