Results 2,821-2,840 of 26,842 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Can I have my time now?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yesterday, we were told there was significant pushback from that individual on the 15% pay cut. That is what we were told in the committee. Okay? The problem is that there were also secret payments made, and they were - I do not think there is any other way to describe it - laundered through Renault and then mislabelled as consultancy fees when they clearly were not. If we take what we...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have not studied the whole report yet, but it is very useful and helpful in trying to quantify the impact of expenditure allocations and targets. Until we had this document, we did not really know what the outcomes were. It is extremely helpful in assessing whether targets set and moneys allocated are actually delivering what they were intended to deliver. It is extremely useful and...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The relevant Department decides what the officials get to put in this report.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Does that give Departments the opportunity to flatter to deceive, or whatever that expression is? They choose what information to give rather than what we might want to know.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Flatter.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sorry if I am asking dumb questions, but did the committees look at the drafts of what is to go in the report and the metrics being used in each Department?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The officials will go to private session meetings of every single committee.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If the committees look for it.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As a matter of interest, to see how that works in practice in the past few years, how long have the reports been going on?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Have committees come back to the officials and discussed with them what is in their particular section?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Right.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am just picking this out as an instance but affordable housing, for example, is not included as a metric, which is an important one. Nor is the subdivision of social housing and now we also have cost rental and affordable purchase. If we take that as an example, we could definitely do with a little more detail in that regard. These issues are my hobby-horses, but I am quite interested...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Maybe tax expenditures is a more general issue. I am just looking at it now. Do tax expenditures get covered?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Perhaps it is something that might be for the committee to consider. We have been discussing tax expenditures generally and we have looked at some of them specifically. We have characterised them to some extent as a shadow budget, in that they are directed towards certain policy objectives but they are treated differently from direct expenditures. We have questioned them and suggested...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes, I get that and we do not want to have it so dense with detail, fine print and what not that it becomes unreadable. I definitely think tax expenditure is a significant area. In the case of film, for example, the biggest source of funding is not direct expenditure through Screen Ireland; the biggest expenditure is a tax break. There may be other instances of this. I am sure there are....

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2022 (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach.

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Test (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 43. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport what options are available to a person who has lost possible employment because they cannot get a driving test (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31504/23]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Policy (28 Jun 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 160. To ask the Minister for Health given that 28 June is International Neonatal Screening Day, the progress he is making on expanding the national heel-prick test; how many diseases babies born today in Ireland are currently being tested for; when he will decide on including spinal muscular atrophy in new-born screening; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31497/23]