Results 15,981-16,000 of 27,251 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Questions on Proposed Legislation (16 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What are we going to say to Trump?

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (16 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 53. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider changing the way in which pupil-teacher ratio, PTR, is organised to ensure that no class in any school is above the agreed PTR; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35193/16]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Staff (16 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 182. To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider employing a liaison officer in hospitals for victims of institutional abuse (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35295/16]

European Defence Agency: Motion (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I would like to share time with Deputy Paul Murphy.

European Defence Agency: Motion (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: While the two particular aspects of the EDA we are talking about here are relatively innocuous, on the face of it, I have a problem with the agency itself for the reasons that have just been alluded to. I am against the arms industry. There is simply no justification for the disgusting arms industry. The EDA was previously known as the European Armaments, Research and Military Capabilities...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 5. To ask the Taoiseach the number of times the Cabinet committee on social policy and public service reform has met; and if he will provide its forward schedule of meetings. [33563/16]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am very curious to know what exactly this committee is doing in the area of inequality, with which it is tasked to deal. It seems to me, particularly given recent events such as the election of Mr. Trump in the US and what many people are calling the rise of extreme populism, that the question of tackling inequality is central to addressing inequality. The political establishment, in all...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: One second.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Sure. All of these factors-----

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will be finished in a second.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If the Leas-Cheann Comhairle had not interrupted me, I would be finished by now. My point is that the extremities of inequality that have grown in the United States in recent years are mirrored and echoed here under the Government's watch and need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We will be dealing with them later, but we have proposed amendments, apropos some of the discussion we are having, to the effect that if even 1% of an investment is in Irish property, it should be subject to this tax and, we argue, more. The rate of withholding tax should be in the region of 90%, not 20%. The logic behind it is that there has been a really disastrous error on the part of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Chairman was shaking his head as if he was-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What is the problem?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Okay.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is not a problem.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I had more or less concluded. Why were these tax breaks introduced for property investors and speculators in the first place? I still do not understand why it was done. Is there a recognition at this point that it was a mistake? I may have asked this through tabling parliamentary questions, as has Deputy Donnelly. Do we have any idea of how much tax was forgone as a result of the tax...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is 100% so there is no capital gains tax. They will walk away with all of the value of that appreciation of Irish property assets that they bought worth billions of euro, and we are going to let them do it. I do not understand the rationale for that. Does the Minister of State not think we should not allow that to happen and rather we should grab it all, or a very big portion of it, and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: No problem.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2016)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I wish to ask one question on that. I will come back on the generality of the issue later. If one of these funds does not distribute dividends but uses any income it derives on the investment in property, could it then buy more property with that, and because it is not being distributed to the investor, it would not be taxed? As long as the extra income it is generating from rent stays...