Results 15,681-15,700 of 26,902 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is exactly the point I am making. It is not acceptable that there is one law for workers and another for business. It is even less acceptable that it applies to bailed out banks, over policies of which we do not exercise any control. The Minister might have an argument if he exercised some control over their lending and investment policies and their treatment of distressed mortgage...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have made the main point but I add to it the wider question of the various deductions and allowances that a bank or any other corporate entity is allowed to avail of to write down its taxable income. It is a scandal that is waiting to be uncovered when we dig into the detail. We need a forensic analysis of every single one of these headings under which a bank or any other corporate entity...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: They are doing it under section 110.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 70:In page 23, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following:"14. The Minister for Finance is to order a study to be carried out on the operation of Relevant Contracts Tax, particularly in relation to rise in self-employment in the construction industry, and is to report to the Dáil within six months of the enactment of this Bill on the findings of the study."....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: A what industry?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes. I am glad to hear the Minister acknowledge that there is some problem. By the way, I have raised specifics. I cannot spend my days and weeks wandering around building sites conducting spot checks, so I am dependent on calls from construction workers. I have raised specific cases in the Dáil when I have been tipped off by construction workers about particular sites. For example,...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have made most of my points. There is enough opinion even in this committee, never mind the various people who have raised it beyond this committee such as ICTU, unions and construction workers, to merit the review we are asking for, regardless of people's opinions. The Minister said that construction is reporting growth in all areas and has grown consistently for the past three years....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will consider what the Minister has said and reserve the right to bring the amendment back on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We oppose several sections of this Bill that amount to incentives for landlords. We are not happy with the thrust of the Government's policy on increasing the availability of affordable rental property under whatever guise, publicly or privately provided. Tax incentives for landlords and developers are not the right approach. It has not succeeded, and rather than continue to forgo taxes in...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I know the Minister thinks it is not true but I think it is.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is possible but the problem is we are not growing the economy. We have leprechaun growth. There is a student in Trinity College Dublin who is researching a PhD on corporate tax. He gave a presentation at the weekend which was quite stunning even for someone who has been as critical of the corporate tax regime as I have. I was pretty amazed. He showed a graph that stripped out growth...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We will see. Much as the Minister can get the laughter and he is a very witty character, there is no doubt about it. The problem is that Ireland is the laughing stock of the international scene because we record growth rates which bear absolutely no relation to the real economy or the lived reality of human beings in Ireland. I would not say they would be sharing the joke. In fact they...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sympathetic to the issues Deputy Donnelly has raised, but in trying to develop something that would assist people in these circumstances, it must be tightly managed so that it is not subject to abuse or exploitation or become another loophole through which people can profit. If it were not done properly or set up with that danger in mind, it could be open to abuse. That said, I am...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs Data (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 19. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of persons that have benefited from the special assignee relief programme for each of the years 2012 to 2015; the amount which was claimed for each year; the amount of tax foregone for each year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34053/16]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Corporation Tax Regime (10 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 28. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of Irish special purpose vehicles, SPVs, registered with the Revenue Commissioners for tax purposes; the number of SPVs that operate in a tax-neutral fashion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34054/16]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (9 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is a "No".

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (9 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: You are saying "No" then.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (9 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Taoiseach did not answer my question on unaccompanied children in Calais.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (9 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Three Deputies asked questions on the issue.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (9 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Has the sub-committee discussed the question of unaccompanied children in Calais? As the Taoiseach knows, given that I raised the issue with him last week, there have been discussions with the Business Committee and so on, and a specific request from the Not On Our Watch group that 200 unaccompanied children who are in serious danger and are very vulnerable are taken in by Ireland. There...