Results 24,121-24,140 of 26,986 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Bill 2011: Report Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I would like to reinforce the point. Everybody accepts that firefighters, prison officers and Army personnel do extremely difficult, arduous and sometimes very dangerous jobs and that it is entirely fair and reasonable that they retire earlier. They should not be penalised more than others because of the nature of their jobs. Judging from the tone of the Minister's response when this issue...

Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Bill 2011: Report Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I second the amendment. I will simply reiterate the point made by Deputy McDonald. People are scandalised by top civil servants and politicians walking away with obscene pension pots when the rest of the country is being crucified by austerity and cuts. It is particularly galling, as the Minister will be aware, that some of the people whom many would hold responsible for the current...

Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Bill 2011: Report Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am a little confused about what we are discussing. What amendment is it?

Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Bill 2011: Report Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: How does that amendment relate to the subjects we have debated?

Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Bill 2011: Report Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If we are having a discussion about those matters, I would like to contribute.

Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Bill 2011: Report Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will make a brief contribution. Until now, pension entitlements were dependent on increases in public sector pay and the automatic link has been broken, meaning we are into a much more vague metric involving the consumer price index, with all the potential ups and downs in that. I heard Deputy Fleming state that public sector pay was ahead of the consumer price index but I do not accept that.

Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Bill 2011: Report Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The figures mask how people at the top can benefit from percentage increases to a much greater level than people at the bottom. Percentage figures do not tell the complete story about how these issues affect everybody. It is also wrong to say that pay is ahead of inflation, as people seek pay increases in order to deal with rises in the cost of the standards of living. The consumer price...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (10 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Question 58: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reason a person (details supplied) in County Dublin has been excluded from school, has no respite and their father has no care at home for them [33393/12]

Written Answers — Prisoner Releases: Prisoner Releases (10 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Question 99: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he intends to raise the deteriorating health of Marion Price, who is being held without trial in prison in the North, with political leaders during his next visit to the North; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29470/12]

Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Before and after the general election, the Taoiseach and the Government parties made strong commitments to cystic fibrosis sufferers and their families that they would deliver the new 100-bed special unit at St. Vincent's Hospital, which would include 34 beds for cystic fibrosis sufferers. On 8 April of last year, the Taoiseach made a speech at the AGM of the Cystic Fibrosis Association of...

Leaders' Questions (10 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the Taoiseach for his response. I appreciate his commitment to look into this matter. The cystic fibrosis sufferers, families and the association want to hear as soon as possible that there is a date for the opening of that unit and that the protocol will signed be off on. Will the Taoiseach also look into why the Minister, Deputy Reilly, has not really been engaging with the...

Written Answers — General Government Debt: General Government Debt (5 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Question 17: To ask the Minister for Finance in view of the announcements emanating from the recent EU meetings on the European banking crisis, the relief Irish citizens may expect in terms of an end to and reversal of cuts and austerity measures over the coming period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32814/12]

Written Answers — Bank Debt Restructuring: Bank Debt Restructuring (5 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Question 26: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on the latest developments in the negotiations regarding a deal on Ireland's banking debt. [28061/12]

Order of Business (5 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It has been announced that the European Stability Mechanism will recapitalise banks directly. Will this require a change to the ESM treaty and an amendment to the European Stability Mechanism Act 2012? If so, is that amendment likely to be brought before the House soon?

Leaders' Questions (5 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sure the Minister is familiar with the great Irish playwright Seán O'Casey's depiction of how working class people at the beginning of this century-----

Leaders' Questions (5 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As I was saying, I am sure the Minister is familiar with the plays of Seán O'Casey, in which he depicted the squalid tenements and poverty-ridden conditions of working class people at the beginning of the century. I put it to the Minister that the Government's cuts in rent allowance and the new housing policy threaten a return to those slum tenement conditions we thought we had left behind....

Leaders' Questions (5 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Will the Minister admit that the Government has abandoned the direct provision of council housing? Does he accept that this decision and the cuts in rent allowance caps is a policy that is disastrously failing the 96,000 people on the housing list and represents a massive waste of taxpayers' money? Will the Government abandon the policy and revert to the direct provision of council housing...

Leaders' Questions (5 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I appreciate the Minister's response but I wish to put the following points to him. I asked a parliamentary question this week and got a response from the Minister on how many social houses would be provided in the next year. He said it would be approximately 4,500. However, they are not council houses. They are what is now called social housing. In other words, they are either provided...

Leaders' Questions (5 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: When will the people be housed?

Education (Amendment) (Protection of Schools) Bill 2012: Second Stage (Resumed) [Private Members] (4 Jul 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is protecting the rich.