Results 12,741-12,760 of 26,897 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank Sinn Féin for tabling its motion on the critical issue of affordable housing. We support the overall direction and thrust of its motion, but we have some additional points to make on what needs to be done with public land in terms of affordable housing. We also have what I would say are slightly more ambitious proposals about what needs to be done with regard to private...

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Hear, hear.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 80:In page 48, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following:“(2) Section 38 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following new subsection after subsection (1A), inserted by the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010:“(1B) Prior to the planning authority giving its decision in respect of a planning application, the applicant shall...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I do not accept that SIPO's regulations around political donations and funding are sufficient, as good as the work of SIPO might be. This is specifically about planning corruption. This was at the heart of some of the worst corrupt practices in the political system - how it corrupted planning and rezoning decisions to make fortunes for people, where local communities suffered the...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I appreciate the Minister of State's response but I will press the amendment.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will speak to amendment No. 80 as it is grouped with amendment No. 74. My amendment gets to the heart of what the Mahon tribunal was all about. It was about corrupt payments to politicians for land rezonings and planning. It was a key issue that angered and scandalised people. Senior figures in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were accused of taking payments of one sort or another to...

Topical Issue Debate: Company Closures (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There is a fundamental problem with the Minister's response. His statement that the private partner is taking the risk is clearly not correct. The risk is being taken by the students, teachers, schools and communities who cannot access the buildings they badly need and the building workers who do not know whether they will be paid. This case illustrates the fundamental folly of public...

Topical Issue Debate: Company Closures (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: People Before Profit has always opposed public private partnerships as a means to build schools, housing or other vital infrastructure. What has happened with Carillion and has now affected Coláiste Ráithín, St. Philomena's, the Eureka secondary school, Tyndall college and the Carlow Institute for Further Education confirms what we predicted when the Government and the main...

Other Questions: Property Tax (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is a good idea.

Other Questions: Property Tax (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They are making a fortune.

Other Questions: Property Tax (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: In our area, people are already being crucified in many cases but they will be absolutely nailed to the wall if anything even approaching the increase in property values is translated into an increase in property tax. The point about this tax is that it does not take into account ability to pay. Even with the existing tax, there are 46,000 people who have been forced to defer because their...

Other Questions: Property Tax (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Let me remind the Minister that at the time the property tax was brought in, the Minister justified it by saying there would be more money available for local services. Actually there has not been a cent more. The 25% cut in local government funding that preceded it was never replaced. We then had a property tax that reduced central Government funding on a euro-for-euro basis. We got no...

Other Questions: Property Tax (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 75. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to review the impact of the local property tax on the funding of local authorities in the course of the review of the local property tax; when the report on this review will be brought to Dáil Éireann; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4286/18]

Other Questions: Property Tax (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: To paraphrase Marx, a spectre is haunting Fine Gael - the spectre of the unfair property tax.

Other Questions: Property Tax (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Karl. The spectre I refer to is the unfair property tax and the dramatic hikes because of property prices increasing by 71%. 5 o’clock The Minister has acknowledged the folly of this unfair property tax by deferring the initial revaluation and is now talking about a cross-departmental review. Does he not think it is time to acknowledge that there is no way of tweaking the...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We also get all our money back with social housing.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 16. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his visit to Hungary and his meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. [1680/18]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Of the many pressing infrastructure needs the country has, the most pressing is being able to put an affordable roof over the heads of our citizens. This is vital from a social and economic point of view. Given that in the budget the Taoiseach committed, between the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, and Home Building Finance Ireland, approximately €1 billion in...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 9. To ask the Taoiseach when Cabinet committee D, infrastructure, will next meet. [1832/18]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (30 Jan 2018)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Obviously, it was positive to visit our troops. There is no doubt about their bravery and the importance of the work they do, but we really have to up the ante in our political criticism and questioning of what Israel is doing. As mentioned, there are many child prisoners, including Ahed Tamimi, while illegal settlement continues. Also to be considered is the strangulation of Gaza and the...