Results 20,741-20,760 of 26,960 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

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...

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: Deputy Doherty has made many of my points. Apart from the suffering and hardship the property tax will impose on people, particularly in its second year because the full amount will be payable, it will hit people very hard on top of the accumulation of all the austerity measures, income cuts and levies that have been imposed in recent years. Many people will be seriously affected. It is...

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 disagree and there is no point in labouring the point. The area needs more tax because it is part of the architecture of casino capitalism. When we are dealing with an investment problem, which we all agree exists, the instinct is to deal with it through reducing the taxes on profits in the area of capital speculation, for want of a better word.

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: Okay, trading in stocks and shares, which is largely gambling. It involves people who have money trying to make money not by doing any work but by speculating on how they can make unearned profit. I fundamentally and philosophically do not agree with that. This area needs to be taxed more and it is a destabilising factor in the global economy. I oppose it.

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: If we did not do this, would the Government have the problem I mentioned?

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: That stopped.

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: The EU rules relate to revenue producing monopolies so it does not matter. If somebody else wanted to get into the market, for example, does the Government have to give them the same exemption?

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: Let me ask my question in another way. If somebody else wanted to get into the market of supplying water, would the Government have to provide the same exemption for them under EU rules?

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: With all due respect, I am not interested in-----

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 are in the EU and EU rules apply. If somebody were to enter, or wishes to enter into the market-----

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: Would EU rules not require the Government to do so?

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: Is the Minister of State 100% sure of that?

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: I will let the matter lie.

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: It is not always. Watch this space.