Results 3,221-3,240 of 26,831 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 16. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [21530/23]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Good idea.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 1. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with the circular economy will next meet. [19912/23]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (10 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have just returned from the funeral of a very lovely man, Mr. Owen Gallagher, a friend and fellow activist. I once again pass on my sympathies to his partner, Carolann, and his family. I raise it under this particular question because I first met Owen when he was a bin man working for the council in Bray. He was fighting against the then drive to privatise waste collection services. He...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Banking Sector (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 69. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will stop the sell-off of two banks (details supplied) and use the State's majority stake as the basis for a publicly owned non-profit banking system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21571/23]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Banking Sector (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Ulster Bank abandoned approximately 1 million loyal customers. We have vulture funds, such as Lone Star Funds, Mars Capital Ireland and Start Mortgages ripping people off with ridiculous interest rates. Is it not time for a public not-for-profit banking system? Instead of selling off the remaining Government share in Permanent TSB and AIB, we should use those institutions, which we...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Banking Sector (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is there a single shred of evidence that privately run for-profit banks have worked in our lifetime? We had to bail them out after the madness of the Celtic tiger that they helped to instigate. They are now ripping off people with mortgage interest hikes, profiteering-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Banking Sector (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I agree with that.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Budget 2024 (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is not; I have another go.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Budget 2024 (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Hold on, a Cheann Comhairle. I get a second go. That is part of the process. I tabled the question.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Budget 2024 (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Hold on, a Cheann Comhairle-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Budget 2024 (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am going to have an argument, a Cheann Comhairle. I am one of the few people who turned up for their questions tonight. People have come in to substitute for other people. That is fine; I did not say anything about that. All these people did not turn up and then substitutes came running in at the last minute but then I get short-changed when I do turn up for my own question. That is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Budget 2024 (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I know, but I put the question down.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Budget 2024 (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I want to ask about the stick. I know there are valid reasons sometimes for properties being vacant or derelict. I will give the Minister two quick instances in my area. Directly across from my office is a multi-unit apartment complex owned by a vulture fund. There are 16 perfectly refurbished apartments that have been sitting empty for approximately four years. That fund is doing it...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Budget 2024 (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 66. To ask the Minister for Finance if he intends to make further tax changes in budget 2024 to address the issue of vacant and derelict properties, given the current housing emergency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21570/23]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Budget 2024 (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: In the face of an absolutely diabolical housing and homelessness crisis that sees record numbers of people in this country with nowhere to live - nearly 12,000 now in emergency accommodation, including nearly 4,000 children, shamefully - it is even more shameful that, according to the census, we have 166,000 vacant properties, 48,000 of those vacant for six years and 23,000 of them vacant...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Budget 2024 (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are a decade into the worst housing crisis this country has ever seen, and the Government's vacant homes tax is 0.3%, three times the average local property tax rate. The increased wealth that somebody sitting on a derelict or vacant property can make just by sitting on it and paying that derisory tax is multiples of what the Government is asking them to pay. It does not offer any...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This is not a general discussion about corporate tax rates; this is a specific call for a windfall tax on vulture funds and banks that are profiteering at the expense of mortgage holders who have seen an increase in mortgage interest repayments to the tune of €4,000 or €5,000. These are unsustainable increases in a situation of bonanza profits being made by these vulture funds...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 61. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will introduce a windfall tax on banks and vulture funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21569/23]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (9 May 2023)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Greedflation is something that now, somewhat indirectly, even the ECB is acknowledging. We see it in energy and the price of food. This question is about whether it needs to be tackled, and we believe it does, in the area of vulture funds and banks profiteering off the hikes in interest rates. Is the Government willing to respond by imposing a windfall tax on those banks and vulture funds...