Results 23,721-23,740 of 27,080 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion with Civic Society Representatives and Focus Groups (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Okay. I will pass over because we have no time for a discussion on it but I fundamentally disagree with the points made by Mr. O'Brien. I will address the question on the property tax to each of the witnesses. Is there not a recognition on the part of all of the delegates that they accept this proposal? I find it surprising that the unions would accept it rather than actively campaigning...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion with Civic Society Representatives and Focus Groups (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are all socialists now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion with Civic Society Representatives and Focus Groups (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The witnesses are the good guys and they are pointing in the right direction in terms of what we need to do. They are right in asking do we want to have an American-style tax structure or a European-style structure and the services that go with it. It seems we want Berlin services with Boston taxes but I do not believe that works. The witnesses are right in what they said and the points...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion with Civic Society Representatives and Focus Groups (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I want to set the scene for the points with which I disagree. On the pensions issue, the witnesses have hit on something important. They are right that 80% of the benefit going to 20% of the people is problematic and we need to deal with that but why would they not go a little further? Some €2.5 billion is given in tax reliefs and most of that goes to the top 20%. Why would they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion with Civic Society Representatives and Focus Groups (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On a point of clarification regarding council houses, I am not clear on this in the context of the witness's position. Is he suggesting-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion with Civic Society Representatives and Focus Groups (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It was not made clear. It is a serious question. Mr. McDonnell said certain groups would be excluded but not all council houses. He might clarify that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion with Civic Society Representatives and Focus Groups (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Including council houses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion with Civic Society Representatives and Focus Groups (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Child benefit.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion with Civic Society Representatives and Focus Groups (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Let us talk about bin charges.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The great German playwright Bertolt Brecht said that the crime of robbing a bank is nothing compared to the crime of owning one.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: His words were written in the 1930s.

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I put it to the Tánaiste that the situation with the pay and pensions of both current and former bankers and bank executives in this country gives new meaning to the words "bank robbery". This is being done in the face of ordinary citizens who are raging about the fact that they have been battered with unemployment, health and education cuts, savage cuts to their incomes and cuts to...

Leaders' Questions (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Tánaiste did not listen to me. I said it should be imposed on all incomes. Instead of further attacking working people, the poor and the vulnerable by imposing cuts in health and education and increasing student registration fees, why does the Government not impose a 10% super-levy on all incomes over €100,000 per year in the budget? That would yield a clawback not just from...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Mobility Allowance (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: To ask the Minister for Health his plans to review the mobility allowance for persons over 66 years of age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48892/12]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Accident and Emergency Services (8 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide a progress report on the review of accident and emergency service at St. Columcille's Hospital in Loughlinstown, County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48890/12]

Personal Insolvency Bill 2012: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (7 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes, and that was outrageous. People actually believed their bankers were responsible people who knew what they were talking about and did that. I suspect there were many people who were like that and were not of the speculator variety. Certainly those people should be given a chance to restructure those debts. I equally take the point about small businesspeople. Such a person might be...

Personal Insolvency Bill 2012: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (7 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: In the cordial spirit we are discussing this, the Minister has made some reasonable points about the threshold.

Personal Insolvency Bill 2012: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (7 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I still think, however, that the figure of €3 million is hard to justify. It is reasonable to say there were those who were not speculators who bought a property, often on the advice of the bank, as an investment for their old age. They were not profiteers in any way but just did not know where to put their small savings and the bank advised them to invest them in that way.

Personal Insolvency Bill 2012: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (7 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I add my support and the support of the United Left Alliance for this amendment. We should all be on the same page, that the purpose of the legislation is to lift the burden of unsustainable debt from the backs of ordinary people who found themselves in difficulty through no fault of their own, simply because they were trying to put a roof over their heads in a market that had gone out of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Statement of Strategy 2011-2014: Discussion with Department of Finance (7 Nov 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is it not the case that the growth forecasts are radically wrong? We have gone from 3% down to whatever the figure will be, although it is likely to be under 2% and may be under 1%, in forecasting growth next year. In one year we have gone from the forecast of 3% to this. How did the Department get it so wrong?