Results 17,941-17,960 of 27,080 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 6: In page 15, line 22, before “poor” to insert “serious”.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Having listened to all the arguments, I am not satisfied with the Minister's response. If she acknowledges the point we are making, then she should accept the amendments. The Corbally case in the Supreme Court underlines the need for a requirement that any complaint in such cases be serious in nature. It is an important threshold which a complainant should have to meet. Any reasonable...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 5:In page 15, line 21, after “constitutes” to insert “serious”.This group of amendments and the next group are the most serious ones. In fact, they revolve around the word "serious". The thinking behind this amendment was not simply dreamt up by me. It arises out of a judgment in the Supreme Court, the Corbally judgment. In that case a...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I think the argument has largely been made. As the Minister said, there had been a consultation with the whole framework, although it has not been agreed or finalised. It is a bit of a pig in a poke in terms of what is actually required. This signs it into law and then makes something that is ill-defined into a mandatory requirement. If teachers do not match up they could be...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will not labour the point because we discussed these amendments on Committee Stage. Even the word "suitable" which the Minister used would be preferable to "fit and proper". As I noted when first proposing the amendment, there is no question of challenging the validity of the vetting process. We need to ensure those who are registered with the Teaching Council are properly vetted and...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: "Appropriate" is a good word.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am open to alternatives if the Minister is willing to consider them when the Bill goes before the Seanad.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 3:In page 7, line 4, to delete “fit and proper” and substitute “qualified”.

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 4:In page 9, to delete lines 19 and 20.The Bill provides for a matter that is more suited to the industrial relations sphere, namely, the requirement that teachers complete programmes of continuing education and development. This matter deserves greater consultation with teachers instead of making it mandatory for them to engage in continuing professional development....

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Life is difficult and stressful for all of us. It is difficult to keep up with all of the correspondence we receive, the bills we have to pay, the forms we have to fill in and cope with all of the stresses, strains and complications in getting through the week. I am sure the Minister knows all about this, as I do, and it is no different for teachers. As the Minister said, people might...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 2:In page 6, line 26, to delete “fit and proper” and substitute “qualified”.The amendment relates to the circumstances in which the Teaching Council would not admit a teacher to the register. A teacher must meet certain criteria, including the council being satisfied that he or she is a "fit and proper" person to be admitted to the register....

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 1:In page 6, line 18, after “Oireachtas” to insert “and if in employment in a recognised school, shall be informed in writing immediately”.The first amendment relates to the section of the Bill which amends section 30 of the principal Act and concerns cases where a person is taken off the register of the Teaching Council, which results in them...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbour Authorities (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 20. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in view of the recent resignation of a person (details supplied), an accountant and auditor, from the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company in County Dublin, due to concerns over financial matters, and the numerous questions that have been raised with regard to overpayment of expenses and other irregularities, if he considers it is time to...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbour Authorities (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 36. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in view of the fact that aspects of the master plan of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company in County Dublin do not fall under the heading of commercial shipping activities for which the company needs ministerial consent, his views that his Department was adequately consulted with regards to plans for the development of Dún Laoghaire...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: English Language Training Organisations (17 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 203. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 18 of 10 June 2015 and her stated priorities to introduce reforms in international education to protect the students who come to study here and to protect our national reputation for offering high-quality education, the measures her Department has taken, including those in conjunction with other...

Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) (16 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The third one is coming soon.

Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) (16 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I do not know where to start given the mess we are in. Unless we grasp how bad the situation is, we cannot even judge the legislation in any meaningful way. We must grasp the scale of the problem we face and the absolute certainty that if things remain the same, the situation will be much worse next year and in the coming years. Nothing in the legislation or in what the Government has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Should we try seven minutes?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: To continue on the same lines, I find it pretty amazing and quite shocking that neither the Minister nor the European Commissioner with responsibility for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, Commissioner Hill, whom I met yesterday, will give any detail about the gap between the European Union and the Greek Government, when we talk about that gap potentially...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Forthcoming ECOFIN Council: Minister for Finance (16 Jun 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is what I do not accept. We are not getting the details of the gap. We are not supposed to be talking about conflicting sides. In a negotiation between a nightwatchman and an employer, arguably they are conflicting sides. We are talking about people who are supposed to be partners. Greece is supposed to be a partner in the European Union. All sides are supposed to be working...