Results 16,741-16,760 of 26,924 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Is the following not obvious when one looks at how things are panning out? I acknowledge the point made by Mr. McDonagh at the beginning of his statement that previously it was not commercially viable to build and it is only just about becoming commercially viable to build now. I accept that this is a mandate that was set for NAMA, so in some ways it is not really NAMA's responsibility but...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Has Mr. McDonagh not admitted that NAMA has had to wait for the market to tell it that it is okay to build, even though there has been an objective need for the past number of years to provide housing?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I accept that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Can I ask Mr. McDonagh one question?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: NAMA had 15,000 residential units and it has sold 5,000. Does that mean it still has 10,000 units?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Can Mr. McDonagh add to that figure?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I wish to gather some facts before Mr. McDonagh finishes his response. What about the development potential of residential land? What would that bring the figure up to?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Is that the total?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Those are useful facts. Mr. McDonagh said at the beginning of his statement that because of the collapse in prices, neither NAMA nor anybody else would consider building up until now. Was that his point? The market dictated it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes, if what one is trying to do is to make a profit. If what one is trying to do is to provide housing, one might have a different approach.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I am not pointing the finger at NAMA. I understand the straitjacket that it is in, but I have always disagreed with that straitjacket.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: We are paying a disastrous price for it, given the failure to build housing for a number of years. I want to quiz Mr. McDonagh on another matter. It seems an obvious statement of fact that the mandate that has informed NAMA's activities has failed us, in that it has exacerbated the cycle.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I am running out of time. I take Mr. Daly's point, but the idea that NAMA has tracked the market, which is its mandate, is crazy and we are paying the price for it. I must be honest and say that. On the delivery of social housing, out of the 70,000 - now 52,000 - existing or potential units, the total that we can expect for social housing from NAMA is 2,000. Is that not a pathetic return?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: That is correct, and we did not get any social housing then either.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I agree and I accept that point. However, 2,000 out of 70,000 is a pathetic return in terms of social housing.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: My next point follows from this point. I find Mr. McDonagh's concern for NAMA debtors and the possible feelings of discrimination or victimhood they might have a little nauseating. I did not think it was NAMA's job or the job of any public agency to worry about these debtors and developers who bankrupted the country. The idea should be to increase the provision of social housing.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functioning of NAMA: Discussion (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: There was a mandate to deliver social housing as well.
- Pre-European Council: Statements (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Much of the agenda of the European Council was dominated by the response to the events in Paris, the so-called war on terrorism and the prevention of radicalisation. The very first thing the Taoiseach should say within the European Council is that all of the problems in Syria and the refugee crisis, much of which stems from what is happening in Syria, will be made worse by the actions of the...
- International Protection Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I echo Deputy Mac Lochlainn in saying it is disappointing that this Bill is not only being rushed but it is not accompanied by other measures long wished for by asylum seekers and those who support them, chief of which are the granting of the right to work and the ending of the shame and scandal that is the direct provision system. As when dealing with other legislation, despite the...
- International Protection Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2015)
Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister of State can express all the noble aspirations he wishes but, at the beginning of the Bill we find an example of how this legislative process is fundamentally flawed. We are on amendment No. 3 and the Minister of State looks a bit lost as to the point being made and is having to consult civil servants for explanations. Prompted by the Irish Refugee Council, we are pointing out...