Results 3,521-3,540 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State. According to the briefing document, the increases in the CO2 bands A and B are 53.8% and 44.2%, respectively. The average change is approximately 7.5%. We established the system to try to reduce emissions, but it would also reduce revenue by 40%. It has become an unfortunate feature of our circumstances that, in the taxpayer's dealings with the Exchequer,...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: They are draft guidelines.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Yesterday, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, a regular visitor to this House and participant in some interesting discussions, announced that he was impatient but not reckless regarding the reform of the points system. I was pleased to see that.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: One of the targets chosen is to reduce the number of high-point programmes at entry which have grown from 387 to 946. He stated, "We have to call a halt to the exponential growth of course options in the interests of students." Of course, those course options were put there in the interests of students and they are successful. That is how the high points became attached to them. Points...

Seanad: Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2013: Second Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I, too, extend a warm welcome to the Minister of State. It is important to reflect on how one gets into a problem. The Brennan commission, of which I was a member, examined this issue. When we embarked on the process of issuing medical cards to everyone aged 70 years and over, it was estimated that 39,000 people would be eligible for the new card at a projected cost of ¤19 million. It...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I wish to offer a few thoughts which may be of assistance to the Minister. Section 30(9) deals with ministerial appointments and states that one of the bodies to be appointed shall be "representative of business, industry and employers", that another shall be "representative of learners" and that another "shall be a body established for the purpose of representing the interests of persons...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: As I also stated on Second Stage, the Minister will probably obtain a sense of the demoralisation to which I refer when he attends the teachers' conferences. At present, mathematics teachers are putting in a huge effort to overcome a national problem. They might not be represented by an established body in the way that those who occupy management and leadership roles are. Teachers...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Reading through amendment No. 8, Senator Power has proposed the removal of the lines as far as line 20 in section 33. Part of the section would also exclude a parent where the decision has been upheld to permanently exclude the child and that struck me as strange. I used to perform similar functions to Senator Bacik and hosted as a junior dean once, but it never occurred to me to expel the...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Is there justice in that? We would expel student X for his offence and his parents would then be banned from sitting on the committee. It seems strange. We had Senator Bacik's advice on the legality of such a move. Presumably the parent was elected by all the parents and not by his or her son or daughter. Is it alright to leave that section in the Bill? It was only when Senator Power...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Has Senator Power moved amendment No. 8 or was it included for discussion?

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: As we saw on Thursday last, the Ministers, Deputies Noonan and Brian Hayes, have an immense task and are two of the hardest working members of the Government. They stated that they have had to do so much fire fighting that some of the basic functions have been overlooked. Some of the statements they were asked to read to the House by their officials on the day-to-day functions of the...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: No. I will not pursue the recommendation.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: This section deals with anti-avoidance measures which in my view will become a major part of modern public finance as it develops. I refer to the growth in the number of tax lawyers and accountants, the Starbucks case, the artificial movement of transactions between countries. The Economist recently published a headline, Wake up and Smell the Coffee, over a report about Starbucks and its...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I do not wish to oppose the section now. My query related to a re-numbering problem. It is an exemption from tax and I am in favour of those in general. Therefore, I will not press the point.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move recommendation No. 32: In page 141, to delete lines 36 to 43 and in page 142, to delete lines 1 to 18 and substitute the following: ?(a) in respect of relevant contracts renewed or entered into on or after 1 January 2013 and on or before 30 March 2013, ¤0 in respect of an insured person;?,?.This relates to a stamp duty imposed on health insurance transactions being increased from...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State and I will not be pressing the recommendation. He has presented the issues well and fairly. There is a duty among the rest of us to help old people. That is the meaning of risk equalisation. However, the duty to help the old people is distributed in a bizarre way which actually hurts hardest the poorest people in the working group. It is distributed in a...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: Regarding paragraph (f) of that section, dealing with diplomats and their coal, presumably the Department was told to insert that by the EU, whereby ambassadors are exempt from the so-called coal tax. Are our ambassadors exempt in other countries? How did this arise? Again, they hardly strike me as a particularly deserving class of persons to have their coal tax-rebated.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2013 [Certified Money Bill]: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the recent decline in the level of alcohol consumption and, in particular, the benefits in terms of road safety. As the Minister of State is aware, about 650 people used to be killed on Irish roads each year, but we got this down to around 160 last year. The more responsible use of alcohol and the price increase will help in that regard. I support the Minister of State in this...