Results 3,501-3,520 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Report Stage (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 2: In page 9, to delete lines 34 and 35.I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I note the Minister of State has tabled 43 Report Stage amendments. He also introduced 44 amendments on Committee Stage. It is important that the Seanad has been of assistance to the Minister of State in progressing this Bill. That is the spirit in which we conduct our business and I...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: Over the next two days, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, will preside over the meeting on a free trade area between the United States of America and Europe. This was mentioned on this day last month by the Taoiseach and President Obama. I ask the Leader to convey the best wishes of the House to those at those discussions and I look forward to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Annual Growth Survey 2013: Discussion with European Commission Representation in Ireland (10 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank Mr. Nagarajan and his team for their presentation. However, the difficulty I have with a deeper EMU is that it is coming from the folks that brought us the last one. Have they improved their knowledge of economics since the launch of the first project? I hope they have but there is very little evidence of it. It will be very hard to sell giving more power to the guys who really...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Annual Growth Survey 2013: Discussion with European Commission Representation in Ireland (10 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome Mr. Nagarajan and his colleagues. I found the document to be an instrument of despair. Page 9 sets out that we added 2 million to the number of unemployed in Europe in the last 12 months. I see the same old clichés about more committees, waffle and quangos, while nothing is done to address the basic problem. The design faults in the euro must be addressed. It has been a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Recovery and Resolution Framework for Financial lnstitutions: Discussion (4 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I wish to raise two points. We have been very concerned about bankers' bonuses. Let me reiterate that all of the constituencies represented here would say more power to the elbows of people who are trying to control them, as they are seen as a scandal. Speaking on behalf of the majority of the committee, we are disappointed with the public interest directors. What is the role of public...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Recovery and Resolution Framework for Financial lnstitutions: Discussion (4 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank the delegates.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Recovery and Resolution Framework for Financial lnstitutions: Discussion (4 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome our witnesses. Our problems were created by large capital flows, leading to the property bubble. How would the resolution mechanism highlight that if it were to happen again, as Deputy Dooley said?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Recovery and Resolution Framework for Financial lnstitutions: Discussion (4 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: The design fault in the original euro was that it did not protect small countries from massive capital flows from large countries, which did not mean much to the large countries because, by definition, they are large countries. Do the witnesses think we are protected against the Croke Park-style cheering of the two main Irish banks as they bought vast amounts of money in Germany, causing the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Recovery and Resolution Framework for Financial lnstitutions: Discussion (4 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: Is there a mechanism to require higher deposits on property lending?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Recovery and Resolution Framework for Financial lnstitutions: Discussion (4 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: They are pretty well all in trouble.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Recovery and Resolution Framework for Financial lnstitutions: Discussion (4 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: Denmark's success in not having a property bubble was due to a 20% deposit requirement. Does that mechanism exist here?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Recovery and Resolution Framework for Financial lnstitutions: Discussion (4 Apr 2013)

Sean Barrett: I am concerned that we still have a banking system that is obsessed with property. We are talking about the lack of money for small and medium-sized enterprises. The banks have not provided that for ten or 15 years. Playing golf with builders was the life of a banker. All measures the witnesses can take to end that connection could only help the Irish economy. How do we separate the...

Seanad: Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I wish the Minister a happy Easter. I thank the Minister of State. We are nearly there, or we are closer to it than we thought. In an appendix to the Mangan report it is estimated that the compatibility of the Revenue and the Department of Social Protection is approximately 89%, so we might be moving rapidly in that direction. It would be of benefit if we could free up resources for...

Seanad: Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I appreciate what the Minister says but why is the Department looking for this? Why does it want to get out of a commitment on the grounds that it does not consider it practicable? I do not know what the difficulties are. I am worried about the way the smoking Bill disappeared and the practice of uninsured medicine Bill disappeared. The Department has serious cost overruns and it needs to...

Seanad: Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 2: In page 10, subsection (3), line 24, after ?Commissioners.? to insert the following:?The Revenue Commissioners shall be the designated primary body for the conduct of means testing in the State.?.This deals with the sharing of personal data on circumstances. Means testing takes place here, in SUSI, in community welfare offices and in the Revenue Commissioners. Is it...

Seanad: Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I will seek, on Report Stage, to incorporate some measure to deal with the misgivings I have, which were echoed to some degree by the Minister of State. Choice is to be provided by the new graduates. I wish more than 114 doctors had joined the 2,400 doctors on the General Medical Services scheme because we hear stories about the emigration of young doctors. To take the Minister of State's...

Seanad: Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Cathaoirleach for clarifying the matter. I will press the amendment because the track record of the Department in dealing with the House makes me reluctant to trust it to operate the provision. I do not know the reason it asked for it to be included.

Seanad: Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 1: In page 9, lines 47 and 48, to delete all words from and including "Insofar" in line 47 down to and including "Executive," in line 48.Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit ar ais go dtí an Teach. I propose in the amendment to delete, "Insofar as it is considered practicable by the Health Service Executive,". It should be noted from this amendment that I am not...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State. I do not think it will take too long as much of the research has been done and the Department may be unduly pessimistic. I was glad to hear the Minister of State agree in principle with my suggestion. Do we progress by continuing with the existing system, which is unsuitable but people bought into the concept of the unladen weight? When the Minister decides,...

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 1: In page 13, between lines 1 and 2, to insert the following:?8. The Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government shall within six months publish an evaluation of the taxation of goods vehicles in paragraph 5 of the Schedule to the Act of 1952, as inserted by section 4, based on laden weight per axle to yield the equivalent revenues of taxation based on...