Results 20,801-20,820 of 26,953 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

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: No, I am just stating the obvious.

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: No, I am just stating the obvious. Some of us believe in the concept of universal provision. Before throwing stones about populism and being electoral, the Minister should look to Fine Gael and the initiative taken by it to cover its back in respect of the nastier cuts it directed towards people with discretionary medical cards or the elderly from whom they are being withdrawn. On the...

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 am concerned about this. The Minister is well aware that I am critical of the various means by which very profitable corporations reduce their tax liability to the point where they are paying a fraction of the 12.5% headline corporation tax rate. While we are all in favour of research and development, I am very concerned at the massive gap between the net amount of tax paid versus the...

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 section relates to interest payments by companies to non-residents. I ask the Minister to expand on the section.

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 Minister said there is no cost. Withholding tax just taxes interest payments as a matter of course and then any issues of double taxation can be sorted out later.

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 will let that one pass then.

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights Issues (27 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 30. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation when the bill on trade union recognition will be brought forward and the mechanisms that will be contained in the bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50560/13]

Bond Repayments: Motion [Private Members] (26 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I apologise for not being able to stay for the entire debate but we are dealing with the Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013 in the Oireachtas Sub-Committee on Finance and I have to be there to deal with it. That is a Bill where many of the disastrous consequences of taking on board an odious debt that does not belong to the ordinary people of this country are felt. They have been felt in this year'...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is not only about this measure, but this measure is symptomatic. It harks back to the sort of practices that got us into the mess that we are in. It is a worrying trend that in the past few budgets new versions of so-called tax incentive measures, which led us into the mess that we are in, are starting to reappear in the form of tax breaks in the areas property and share-trading,...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: While I am totally opposed to this measure, the least the Minister could do is to carry out a review of it. However, I am against it, which puts to bed the Minister's idea that I have been corrupted and do not wish to say things that are unpopular in Dún Laoghaire, because lots of high earners live there. However, they should not get exemptions from this high earners' restriction....

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is a tax credit that is currently available but the Minister is now making a provision that it could be given to the specific employee. Is that the reason there is no cost to the Exchequer?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the Minister for the explanation. I have questions about the research and development tax credit but setting those aside, this appears to be a reasonable measure.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I would like to get an explanation from the Minister. The section relates to relief for employees engaged in research and development activities. Could he read the note on the amendment?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I just want the public health system to work and then we can do away with private health insurance.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I do not.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It may have happened to the Minister but I can assure him that it will not happen to me.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am catching up with where we are at.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 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 (26 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We have discussed matters ideological and non-ideological. I am of the view that this is an ideological matter. That was highlighted by the Minister's statement to the effect that this is an expensive commodity. That is the problem. It is not a commodity nor should it be perceived as such. Decent health services are very important and should be a right for people. Such services involve...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I oppose the whole section. I am against a two-tier health system. I do not think people should have to take out private health insurance so I am not particularly in favour of the principle of giving tax breaks to copper-fasten a two-tier system. Most people who take out private health insurance do so out of fear and anxiety that if they get sick they will not get the sort of care that...