Results 15,861-15,880 of 27,251 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Leaders' Questions (30 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Please do not insult the intelligence of the people who took to the streets over the past two years.

Leaders' Questions (30 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The difference is they did their research a long time ago.

Leaders' Questions (30 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Government never produced any research to back up false claims that these charges would somehow reduce household water usage and they were necessary to do so. I just quoted real research, facts and comparisons that have been confirmed by the water commission. We relayed them to the Government two years ago. We use 20% less water per household than Britain, which has water charges....

Leaders' Questions (30 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If the Government wants an incentive for further conservation, why does it not introduce an actual conservation grant?

Leaders' Questions (30 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That grant should encourage people to put in water-saving devices. It has never done that. The Government is spoofing when it argues that it wants water conservation. It actually wants to impose a regressive and unfair tax on householders and the people will not be conned.

Leaders' Questions (30 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If the Minister does not know, the people will be on the streets in February again if the Government does not accept their will and intelligence in this matter.

Leaders' Questions (30 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I would like briefly to welcome the political students of Sallynoggin College of Further Education who have come to the Dáil today.

Leaders' Questions (30 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I suspect young people interested in politics hope to get from political representatives clarity and clear principles on important issues. I suggest to the Minister that when it comes to this so-called expert commission on water, what we are getting from this Government and Fianna Fáil is a monumental political fudge designed to save the blushes of Fine Gael and most particularly Fianna...

Leaders' Questions (30 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Does this Government understand a simple thing called democracy and the will of the people, who have said they do not want domestic water charges? Does it understand that there is now no justification for domestic water charges? Does Fianna Fáil understand that people do not want water charges rolled up into another regressive tax by linking them with property tax? I do not know if...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Afforestation Programme (30 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 22. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to significantly increase the national afforestation programme from its current levels in view of climate change mitigation objectives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37725/16]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Vetting of Personnel (29 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 105. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if traffic offences are taken into consideration for job applications requiring Garda vetting with local authority leisure centres; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37180/16]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Foreshore Licence Conditions (29 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 290. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if the planning and environment regulations regarding environmental impact assessments in the regulatory framework here has been amended to comply with the EU directive, as was indicated by the previous Minister (details supplied), to remove obstacles to a foreshore licence application by providence resources to...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (29 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 707. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if a person has a right to refuse installation of a smart meter on their property on the grounds of the unknown health effects of wireless radiation and to provide any health and environmental impact studies that have been done in relation to their safety; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37619/16]

An Bille um an gCúigiú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Neodracht) 2016: Second Stage [Private Members] - Thirty-Fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Neutrality) Bill 2016: Second Stage [Private Members] (24 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I often get a sense of the surreal when I am in this Chamber because of the common disconnect between the assertions and statements of this Government and the reality, outside in the real world, to which those statements relate. On no issue is that feeling more acute than on the issue of Ireland's supposed military neutrality and the repeated assertions of the Minister of State at the...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will try to find it for the Minister.

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: She may have worked in the public service.

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Like Deputy Smith, I met Lillian and Jean. It immediately chimed with me because, just that week, another woman, Helen, came to my clinic and her story adds another layer of complexity, injustice and discrimination to the story that Deputy Smith has so articulately presented that faces a whole cohort of mostly women. It illustrates the point well. Ms McLennon reached retirement age...

Establishment of Committee on Future Funding of Domestic Water Services: Motion (24 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I spoke with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, last week when he telephoned me. In that call the Minister suggested the outline of the committee, on the basis that there would be fair representation of all the Dáil groups and that there would be one Fianna Fáil and one Fine Gael representative from the Seanad and two others. On that basis I said that I would have to take the proposal...

Establishment of Committee on Future Funding of Domestic Water Services: Motion (24 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That begs the question if it is a stitch-up. We want an open debate. We want this committee to decide its own plan of action, its own terms of reference and it should be selecting its own Chairman. The position holder should not be selected in a backroom deal between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and it should not override the proper proportionality of representation that should come...

Business of Dáil (24 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will make this brief. Earlier it was essentially suggested that if we had spoken less in the debate on the Finance Bill last night, we would not have this problem. I object to that logic because we have a job - a solemn responsibility, I argue - to scrutinise legislation, in particular something as important as the Finance Bill. Any suggestion we should have hurried things up to avoid...