Results 19,781-19,800 of 26,924 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Ireland's Corporate Tax System: Discussion (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have one last point. There were references to the €4 billion we get in profits. Mr. Keegan said that was a big figure. Perhaps he could comment on the point I have made several times, namely, that compared to the €70 billion in pre-tax profits it is very small.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Ireland's Corporate Tax System: Discussion (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is 6.8% of the pre-tax profits. The European Commission's effective figure would confirm that, whereas effective rates elsewhere - according to a paper we received recently from the Oireachtas Library service - showed that similar implicit rates across Europe are very much higher. Putting that together with the point about research and development, there are other ways in which taxable...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Ireland's Corporate Tax System: Discussion (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have just one question, while Mr. Keegan thinks about his answer. Why is our implicit rate so much lower than everybody else's in Europe?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Ireland's Corporate Tax System: Discussion (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: According to the figures we were given in the research document, it is. The implicit rate is much higher than in other countries in Europe.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Ireland's Corporate Tax System: Discussion (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Okay.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Ireland's Corporate Tax System: Discussion (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is an amazing response, to be honest. Could any reasonable person believe the correlation is coincidental given the spectacular wealth of certain individuals, whose current concentration has never been seen before? Circumstances are such that one individual could be worth tens, if not hundreds, of billions of euro. They are the CEOs of the companies in question and we are discussing...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Ireland's Corporate Tax System: Discussion (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Therefore, the gap is even greater.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Ireland's Corporate Tax System: Discussion (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This is not about directing remarks at Mr. Keegan personally. I was surprised that he would not accept that there was a connection between tax avoidance and the widening gap between the rich and poor. He states he teaches compliance with the law. As I do not know a lot about what he teaches, I am not personalising the issue at all. There is the question of compliance with the law and that...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Ireland's Corporate Tax System: Discussion (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is the point. I am not saying Mr. Keegan's organisation is encouraging tax avoidance, but to my mind it is extraordinary that somebody would not acknowledge that there was a connection between the two phenomena.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Ireland's Corporate Tax System: Discussion (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Fair enough.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Ireland's Corporate Tax System: Discussion (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is hard to quantify the extent of transfer mispricing, which seems to be one feature of tax avoidance, because corporations operate on an international basis and we do not have country by country reporting, as pointed out by Mr. McCaughey. I would like to hear a little more about whether we could on our own start a process of reporting. It seems that we could and should and not just wait...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Joint Sub-Committee on Global Corporate Taxation: Ireland's Corporate Tax System: Discussion (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank both contributors for their comments to the committee. It is worth asking both of them, putting this debate in context, whatever about all the nuts and bolts and the questions of who and why, if they agree that aggressive tax avoidance by multinational corporations is a major contributor to the spectacular growth in the gap between the rich and poor. Each year report after report...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Resolution Processes (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 17. To ask the Minister for Finance in view of the varying approaches of different banks to dealing with mortgage distress, and particularly the stated intention of some banks to pursue mortgage holders for the full amount of their mortgage, even after they have been required to give up their family home, in cases of voluntary surrender, the measures he is considering to ensure greater...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: House Prices (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 23. To ask the Minister for Finance the specific measures he is considering or tools he has at his disposal for preventing the emergence of another property bubble, in view of the dramatic rise in rents and property prices in Dublin and other urban centres and given the macroeconomic threat potentially constituted by such developments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22280/14]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Mental Health Services Provision (27 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 729. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to refurbish the St. Elizabeth Court care facility, North Circular Road, Dublin 7. [22216/14]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Staff (14 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 22. To ask the Minister for Health the measures his Department will put in place to address the failures to implement a European Court of Justice ruling on working time which was made more than ten years ago; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17476/14]

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Second Stage (13 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is already the case.

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Second Stage (13 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If it is okay, we intend to split it with 15 minutes each.

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Second Stage (13 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Against the background of an absolutely dire housing emergency, this Bill is a fairly pathetic response from the Government. One aspect of the legislation may have a marginal impact on the crisis we face and I will turn to that in a minute. However, against the overall background of record numbers of people presenting as homeless, that is, six per day, probably the longest housing waiting...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection (13 May 2014)

Richard Boyd Barrett: 124. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he has any role in ensuring the welfare of children in homeless situations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21041/14]