Results 13,361-13,380 of 27,073 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I was on the finance committee when these REITs tax breaks were first introduced. I opposed them from the word go although I did not fully understand what they were, but I knew it was a tax break for people investing in property. I thought it was unbelievable at the time and said so. After the property bubble and the crash that we had gone through and the devastating consequences which it...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 25:In page 20, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: “13. The Minister shall within 6 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Dáil a report on the introduction of a Vacant Home Tax.”. I will withdraw the amendment on the basis of the commitment given.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 26:In page 20, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: “13. The Minister shall within 6 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Dáil a report on how he will monitor on an ongoing basis the effectiveness and the value for money of the Help to Buy Scheme.”.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I agree with the Deputy. I believe the scheme should be abandoned, but at the very least we should have the cost-benefit analysis and the Minister should set out clearly how he is going to monitor the benefits and effectiveness of this. To the minds of a very broad spectrum of opinion, including expert opinion, this is something that has actually contributed to the spiralling house prices....

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We propose to replace the property tax with a landlord tax, which mainly involves wanting to deal with the inequities of the local property tax. In our alternative proposal of a landlord tax, we make a distinction between people who have one additional home and those who own multiple properties and are running a business. A simple distinction could be made in terms of thinking about a...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Very serious questions have to be asked about the value of this scheme. Property prices are out of control in my area, and are completely out of the reach of ordinary working people. It is not just that 6,000 people are waiting for 15 or 18 years on housing lists. Others who cannot even get onto housing lists because their incomes are slightly over the threshold do not have a prayer of...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I was a part of the discussion on this matter on Committee Stage. We have also tabled an amendment. Like Deputy Doherty, I welcome the fact that the Government has acceded to the suggestion that we need a report on a vacant home tax. I will not press our amendment, as the Minister has tabled one, but urgency is critical. I said something on Committee Stage that bears repeating, given that...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is a good precedent.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: While I have some concerns about any possible abuse of this, for the Minister not to consider it when it has been raised on a number of occasions and not try to tie down any possible unintended consequences but to deal with the substance of what Deputy Donnelly is seeking to do would be a gross inequity, given that in many cases vulture funds have been given a tax holiday on rental income or...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I echo Deputy Pearse Doherty's point about introducing detailed amendments at such a late stage when Deputies have not had an opportunity to properly study them. We do not have the explanations that are normally provided in the explanatory memorandum of a Bill, as initiated. While the Minister has an explanation available to him, Opposition Deputies must work out what this proposal, with...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On a point of order, we did not receive answers to some of our questions.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Seriously, it is-----

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have a genuine question. If these facilities are charging users, are they businesses within the business?

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There is no way I will allow the amendment to pass unopposed if the Minister does not answer our questions.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Amendments have been recommitted previously. We have genuine questions.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am always suspicious of capital allowances, given what has been happening with capital allowances in other areas, for example, the scandal of the intangible assets, which we will discuss later. Anyway, a range of other allowances are simply mechanisms through which profitable enterprises avoid tax and reduce their tax liabilities. I assume the logic the Minister is putting forward in...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are just telling the Minister that Peter McVerry supports the Bill.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Then why does Fr. Peter McVerry support this Bill?

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are not suggesting for one minute that this piece of legislation is the solution to the housing crisis or homelessness. This Bill is simply a measure to ensure that people in the most desperate situations, who are victims of the failure of successive Governments and housing authorities, are not further persecuted and victimised beyond what they have had to endure so far from the lack of...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (21 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I wish to clarify that while there is obvious disagreement on all this, it is on individual earners. It is not on the joint cumulative earnings of a couple. The Minister of State's assertion is not the case. Our big problem in this country is we do not have enough teachers and nurses and young people coming out of university who could be doing these jobs. I refer also to occupational...