Results 12,241-12,260 of 26,902 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Topical Issue Debate: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have been campaigning for social and affordable housing on the Shanganah site since it was closed down as a prison and transferred to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, before I was even elected to the Dáil in 2011. It is a matter of immense frustration to me, to the people on the housing list and the people in the area that a publicly owned site is sitting there, which is...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Regime: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I welcome the last point made by Mr. Coffey because it deals with one of the issues I wanted to raise with him. Is the intangible assets issue not a big scam in the light of the higher contributions the Irish people have to pay to the European Union? As stated by Mr. Coffey, companies get to write off gross profits resulting from these intangible assets as an allowance. They can...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Regime: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is what they do. They make up the price.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Regime: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: How are the assets valued?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Regime: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They can put any value they like on them. It appears that the value they put on them is just enough to make sure they do not pay any tax. Effectively, they write their own tax bills, but we then make additional EU contributions which are based on gross trading profits, rather than taxable income which is zero.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Regime: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will agree to disagree with Mr. Coffey on the first point. This is akin to Richard Boyd Barrett setting up a company and then setting up a subsidiary and calling it Richard Boyd Barrett 2, following which one charges the other for the brilliant idea and claims a tax deduction on the basis of it.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Regime: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: God help us.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Regime: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We will move on from that issue. I thank Mr. Coffey for the graph which is very helpful in getting to the heart of matters. Even if I do not always agree with his interpretation of the facts, I thank him for setting them out. For me, the big issue is the spectacular rise in gross trading profits we have witnessed in recent years and which doubled between 2011 and 2015. To me, the dirty...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Regime: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I welcome Mr. Coffey using technical language to describe my general accusation against corporations as being tax evaders, but he is saying in a nice way that we need to examine this issue. I agree. The Comptroller and Auditor General has reported on it and Mr. Coffey has reinforced the point about the over-reliance on a small number of corporations and that we can only be sure of this...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Regime: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Does Mr. Coffey think there has been a worrying preponderance of special purpose vehicles? I think we have one of the highest number of registered SPVs in Europe. These are, in many cases, companies that just appear and then disappear and do not really leave much behind. In the film industry, for example, companies appear and then disappear but they get a lot of tax relief. There are other...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Regime: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Mr. Coffey must get out his crystal ball now.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Regime: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I can. Dr. Coffey mentioned housing as a difficulty. Does he agree that precarious employment is another difficulty? I ask that because there was a time-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Regime: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: -----when there was much competition for jobs. We are now suffering major labour shortages. That is why I mentioned the film industry. At the moment, because of the special purpose vehicle, SPV, structure, employment in that sector is completely precarious. People now have choices, however. They can leave the country or they can work in another sector. There is a danger that capacity...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Migration Data (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I find it hard to get my head around that 1979 peak, given the rather conservative attitudes towards sex the person in question had.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Migration Data (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The statistics do not break down those leaving by trade but by whether they are at work, unemployed, students or other. By far the biggest cohort is the “at work” category. Those working, who have come out of college or school, discover, as have the nurses with whom I was protesting outside St. Vincent’s hospital, that they have to leave, although they would like to...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Migration Data (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 1. To ask the Taoiseach the current rates of emigration. [19859/18]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Migration Data (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is becoming increasingly apparent that there are shortages of skilled workers in a number of areas. I am forever hearing that the problem in dealing with the housing crisis is capacity, by which we mean the capacity of the local authorities to have skilled workers who can build houses. There are capacity problems in the health service. I am referring to qualified health workers such as...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Corporation Tax Regime (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yesterday, there were about 100 film workers protesting outside the Dáil for the second week in a row. Does the Minister know why they were protesting? They were there because €70 million is given out in tax reliefs to the film industry. The film industry came to the Oireachtas a few weeks ago and said that it accounts for 17,000 jobs. There are not 17,000 jobs. There are no...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Corporation Tax Regime (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 6. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to close corporate tax loopholes for special purpose vehicles, SPVs, real estate investment trusts, REITs, banks and corporations that are paying negligible amounts of tax as a result of the loopholes in the context of the next budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21723/18]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Corporation Tax Regime (16 May 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The debate about the fiscal space is important in terms of knowing what we have available for public expenditure and investment. Regardless of what way one calculates it, however, there is not enough for housing, health, infrastructure investment and education. What will the Minister do about the myriad loopholes benefiting corporations, which we got a glimpse of with the Apple scandal,...