Results 22,481-22,500 of 26,960 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We can commence with, "That this committee requests of the Minister". Are we posing the question to the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, or the Minister for Health?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That the committee recommends that the Minister for Health and the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, invites the Centre for Independent Living on to the review group that they have established to look at a replacement for the-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: -----motorised transport grant and mobility allowance. Do those words work?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is right.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I completely agree with the approach of the witnesses and it is the right way to go. Earlier I asked the Secretary General a question on who was involved in the review group trying to resolve the problem. Are the witnesses involved?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Do they believe they should be involved?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is agreed so we should recommend this.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Deputy Mathews asked a very specific question but I want to speak to the section.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We do not have very much time. I have learned a lot about the REITs and they are very interesting but I am alarmed. I would like to hear the answer to Deputy Doherty's question on the corporation tax rate, as yet again we seem to be going down the road of reducing corporate tax liability in order to encourage investment. Have we not heard that before? The Minister seems to be suggesting...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank them for coming in and thank those in the gallery for coming in as well. First, I can fairly say that the committee is dealing here with members who are completely sympathetic to Mr. McCabe's view on this and its objectives in safeguarding the grants and allowances. The big question we need to discuss is how we will do that, given the current situation, and what is Mr. McCabe's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Has it just been called?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We could give it another two or three minutes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The following is generally applicable and certainly applies in this case. Anything that assists in creating employment is a good thing and one would not want to do anything that would damage the likelihood that a new company would be able to continue and generate employment. There is also the problem of companies becoming profitable very quickly and then failing to pay their fair share of...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Unfortunately, as I had to attend another committee, I had to run in and out. We should have a discussion, which the Minister seems to be acknowledging. I diverge from the views of my other colleagues on the committee in that I am convinced that the effective rate, if not the nominal rate, must increase. I find it unacceptable, when everything else can be attacked, that the one thing we...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I want to make one point.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Very tight. When the Minister references the European Commission which has a figure of 14% because it is a party to the EUROSTAT figures, they are referring to taxes on capital. However, when they talk about corporations, the figure is 6.8%. If one looks at Germany, for capital it has a rate of 20.7% and 17.1% as the implicit rate. We need to get behind these figures. What is the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: In a way we must wait and see what the outcome of the review will be, but I hope the Secretary General will take a message from this meeting. It might be already clear to him. While he has a technical and legal problem and a difficulty resolving it, the parameters within which that problem must be solved should be ones whereby he will ensure that the quality of life of the current...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Mobility and Motorised Transport Allowances: Discussion (6 Mar 2013)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Exactly. If the problems are made public, we as a society can try to resolve them in a fair and practical way. Sitting on something and hoping it will go away is a guarantee that it will explode in one's face at some point.