Results 5,061-5,080 of 26,843 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (26 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: A preliminary assessment is not an assessment of need. That is the point and that is what the judge ruled on. It was a way of appearing to tick the box of assessment without actually giving the assessment necessary or the diagnosis. I see the Minister shaking his head. Why do Frankie's parents get a letter stating they will get their assessment by May? This is a tick box the law requires...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Scientific Research (26 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 97. To ask the Minister for Health the way that he plans to address the almost 400 medical laboratory scientist staff vacancies and to make these posts more attractive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26976/22]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Industry (26 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 161. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to diversify agriculture in view of the war in Ukraine and the impact that this will have on food supplies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26975/22]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Coillte Teoranta (26 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 164. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will report on his plans to develop Killegar forest as an amenity and biodiversity forest after the decision in 2021 not to sell this forest; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26974/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Disabilities Assessments (26 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 350. To ask the Minister for Health if he will ensure that an assessment of needs for a person (details supplied) will be expedited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27006/22]

Strike Action by the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association: Motion [Private Members] (25 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: People Before Profit is extremely proud to present this motion in support of medical laboratory scientists. I commend them for taking the action they did not want to take, but felt compelled to take, in order to force the Government to listen to them and engage with them. The only reason we are here debating this is not because of People Before Profit or anybody else, it is because the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Income Inequality (25 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The rich in this country pay more tax because they have vastly more wealth. It is not because it is a particularly progressive system but because there is a massive inequality in the distribution of wealth and income. The two things are related. There is a completely bogus argument or spin from officials that this proves we have a progressive tax system. It does not prove that at all....

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Income Inequality (25 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. That is a fact that is revealed yet again, as it is year after year, in the Oxfam report. It is not just a left-wing slogan; it is a fact. While the cost of living is crucifying and impoverishing tens of millions of people across the world, the world's billionaires and multimillionaires are getting richer by the day. The two things are directly...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2021: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the officials from the Department for a very good and interesting report. There is an awful lot of detail to look at but it is very helpful. It is a big reform to now have a document like this containing this much detail and telling us whether the allocation of money made in a budget has achieved what was set out as the rationale for that allocation. This is a lot more information...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2021: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It certainly is. There is a lot of campaigning going on around the area of access. I particularly note the great work of the disability campaigning group, Access for All. It would probably not be surprised at this, but it would be angry. I have been meeting that group for quite a few years. In a way, this is for the Department of Transport, Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann. This...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2021: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There will be a massive improvement. We eagerly await that. On higher education, in the equality section of the report, there are metrics covering students with disabilities, Travellers and quite a number covering women in particular positions and so on, which are important metrics in terms of equality. I suggest one of the biggest issues in higher education in terms of equality is the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2021: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I accept it is a work in progress but it would be important to include that area as it is a critical one in terms of equality because there is a gross inequality in that, as I think Mr. Kinnane will be aware and it has been widely discussed. Another aspect I would note in passing, which is more a matter for the committee to follow up on, is the number of lower-income households who have...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2021: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is key for them to identify changes or failures to meet targets. That is all I have to say. I thank the witnesses.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2021: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I reiterate that point that it is a great piece of work. One of the things we are looking at in our committee is tax expenditure and all of this is direct expenditure, is it not? When you give the figures for expenditure under each departmental heading, it is the direct allocations and presumably does not take account of the expenditures. Do the witnesses think it would be plausible - it...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2021: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have a very brief supplementary question. I understand the demarcation lines but there is a certain sort of lack of "joined-up-ness" here. I will give an example from agriculture where we allocate a certain amount of direct funding to a particular programme while simultaneously there are tax expenditures that are trying to achieve certain things in agriculture but they are not looked at...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Public Service Performance Report 2021: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes.

Short-term Lettings Enforcement Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (24 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank Deputy Ó Broin for bringing forward this Bill, which we support. When in Dublin there are 2,700 Airbnb short-term lets being advertised but only slightly over 400 long-term lets, we know the Government's policy is failing yet again. Despite some efforts being made to limit or regulate this area, they just have not worked. Those who are pursuing profit from property are simply...

Journalists in Conflicts across the World: Statements (24 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On 14 March, Pierre Zakrzewski, an Irish-Ukrainian journalist, was murdered by Putin's murderous forces in his savage war on Ukraine. In the last week or so, we have seen Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian journalist who spoke out fearlessly for 25 years to try to get across the truth of what is being done to the Palestinian people by the apartheid state of Israel, be murdered in a...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 May 2022)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is not here but he should know that 5,300 taxi vehicle licences will expire next year because of the vehicle age limit. That represents a huge proportion of our taxi fleet. Let us remember that taxi drivers were hammered for two years. They essentially had no income for two years, so they are asking for a further vehicle life extension to...