Results 4,581-4,600 of 5,216 for speaker:Mick Barry

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: Mr. Duggan is saying there might have been a historical reason a Minister or a Department said, at a certain stage, there was a need for a boost for private operators and to cut them a better deal in reality than the deal that was cut for Bus Éireann. He is saying that deal is basically still in place. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: I hear what Mr. Duggan is saying, that essentially they are not directly comparable but that, all things being equal, it is not a level playing pitch. There is a better deal there for the private operators. Mr. Duggan would not disagree with that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: That is quite interesting. I have a question for Ms Graham. It is about the public service obligation, PSO, contract that was originally drawn up for the private company, M&A Coaches. It had the Portlaoise to Cashel replacement routes. Did the original contract have an arrangement whereby old age pensioners, OAPs, who travelled with M&A Coaches would have to pay-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: Did the original contract for the private company which had the replacement run from Portlaoise to Cashel involve a concessionary 50% payment for OAPs?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: The CEO of Bus Éireann, Mr. Hernan, stated yesterday that Bus Éireann faces potential insolvency by May. How does Ms Graham feel about that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: If Bus Éireann was to become insolvent, what kind of cost would we be looking at? I understand the Bus Éireann workforce of 2,600 workers pays a little less than €60 million a year to the State in payroll taxes. There would be cost from redundancy pay and social welfare payments. What is Ms Graham's ballpark figure for the cost in that circumstance?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: I reckon the cost would be measured in the hundreds of millions of euro. The unions involved in this dispute have pinpointed a potential €9 million to €10 million that could be used to address the crisis and avert the strike. There are two measures, one from the Department and one from the National Transport Authority, NTA. The first measure is that Bus Éireann would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: Could it be covered in the PSO?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: The second question, about the free travel pass, is for Mr. Duggan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: The idea that the company could face insolvency, which has been put more firmly on the agenda since yesterday with the tighter timescale announced by Mr. Hernan, which would cost the State hundreds of millions of euro for the sake of an injection of less than €10 million, which could be done by some relatively simple measures, adds a real sense of urgency to the negotiations between...

Public Services and Procurement (Social Value) Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (21 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: They are in the sense that there are sins of commission and sins of omission. There are some sins of omission of a rather serious, perhaps mortal, character in the Fianna Fáil Bill and that is what I am focusing on.

Public Services and Procurement (Social Value) Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (21 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: The proposed legislation attempts to weaken the very narrow conditions in procurement legislation, which emphasise low-cost and low-price tenders. The Bill is very weak and vague and does not explicitly protect workers’ rights, as shown by the examples I will give now with regard to the comments of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. What it said about tax compliance was there were...

Public Services and Procurement (Social Value) Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (21 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: For us procurement represents privatisation through the back door. Services that could be and should be delivered with direct labour employed by public bodies with trade union rates of pay and conditions are being shifted via procurement in many cases to precarious private sector employment. Ireland is a leading country in PPPs and outsourcing. The most definitive report on this was Public...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (21 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: 49. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if his Department will consider the institution of a unified State-wide defined benefit occupational pension scheme as a means of addressing the diminution on defined benefit schemes by employers. [8455/17]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Defined Benefit Pension Schemes (21 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: 67. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his views on the decline of occupational defined benefit occupation schemes over the past thirty years. [8456/17]

Motor Insurance Costs: Motion (16 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: I welcome the opportunity to speak tonight on the issue of car insurance and the reports that are before the House. I will start with the committee report. It states that "[t]he single most important issue identified during [our] hearings was the lack of transparency and shortfall in data-sharing in the insurance sector". I am in favour of shedding light on the activities of a secret...

Topical Issue Debate: Industrial Disputes (16 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: Five minutes ago, I asked the Minister what steps she was prepared to take given that a major international retail company is organising a trade union busting campaign under her nose. In response, she read a script which did not answer my question. I will repeat my question and in doing so I ask the Minister to answer it when she replies again. What measures is she prepared to take and...

Topical Issue Debate: Industrial Disputes (16 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: I welcome the Tesco workers and their supporters who are in the Visitors Gallery. We have heard from other Deputies about a company that makes €250 million profit in this country each year attempting to cut workers' pay by 20% by tearing up agreements. However, this is my question for the Minister. This major multinational retail outlet is organising a wholesale union-busting...

Confidence in Government: Motion (15 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: Outrageous comments.

Confidence in Government: Motion (15 Feb 2017)

Mick Barry: I was listening to the reports this evening from the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting-----