Results 101-120 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I tried to research the estimate of €70 million per production and found completely contradictory estimates, some as low as €4.5 million and some much higher. It is a 40% increase, from €50 million to €70 million, when money is not exactly growing on trees. How did we get to the figure of €70 million and do we know whether we will get value for that money?...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State. I thought €70 million was for the lot for the year. It is a gamble. We hope it will work, but it seems to be very generous.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: As the Minister noted on the last day, section 35 replaces the existing capital gains relief applying to disposals of qualifying business assets by individual entrepreneurs and business people with a simplified relief that will apply from 1 January 2016 and the new rate is 20% rather than 33%. The concern I expressed on the last day in respect of section 35 is that it is a subsidy to...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: Should I speak later?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I apologise to Senator Reilly and the Minister of State for speaking prematurely during the previous debate. Section 35 replaces existing capital gains tax relief applying to the disposal of qualifying assets by individual entrepreneurs and business people with a simplified relief of 20% rather than 33%. In the section the qualifying business refers to activities such as development land...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister.

Seanad: Gradam an Uachtaráin Bill 2015: Second Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is an honour to second what has been said by Senator Quinn. On Monday, in Dublin Castle, the President presented 47 Gaisce awards to young people like those who are visiting us this afternoon and are seated in the Visitors Gallery. They are very welcome. The Gaisce scheme applies to people aged up to 25 years. The recipients of the awards...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I pay tribute to Fr. Gerry Reynolds who died in Belfast this day last week. He was an architect of the peace process, promoting cross community links in Belfast, in particular with the Fitzroy Presbyterian community of the Reverend Ken Newell. He crossed the peace line to worship with Presbyterians, Methodists and members of the Church of Ireland to make Clonard the cradle of the peace...

Seanad: Harbours Bill 2015: Second Stage (8 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister to the House. It has been of interest to see how policy in this area has developed. When I served on the Culliton committee in the early 1980s, the issue then was to reproduce the efficiency of Larne at ports in this State, and I think that was substantially accomplished. Competition between ports had an impact then, and a substantial impact on the lack of efficiency...

Seanad: Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Second Stage (8 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State. Pyrite was a problem in Canada, as well as in Ireland. We gave some papers to the then Minister, Mr. Hogan, when he was dealing with the issue. What happened was that builders there sued the quarries that h ad supplied them with the defective materials to build houses. That is how the money was recouped. I do not know how the State became involved in...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (8 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: We need stricter rules for trustees. Some seem to want to have a bigger hole in their pension funds than others. When Senator Darragh O'Brien raised this issue first, he said, to his credit, that this was part of the sale of Aer Lingus and that the company was being fattened up. I regret that I did not take those comments more seriously at the time because the major beneficiary is now...

Seanad: Prisons Bill 2015: Second Stage (7 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister and support the Bill. There is an irony in calling a juvenile prison "St. Patrick's". After all, we kidnapped him in Britain and held him against his will on Slemish Mountain and made him do forced labour. It is hardly something we would wish to celebrate and I am delighted the Minister is shutting down the institution that is so unaptly named. I note that in the...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. Senator Sheahan mentioned that he is standing in for Senator Michael D'Arcy. We are working on the banking inquiry report. I thank the Minister for the evidence he gave when he appeared before us. We have robust tax receipts. It is wise that mention has been made of keeping some of these out of financing day-to-day expenditure in case they are one-offs or...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: -----on trying to improve on Postman Pat, who is doing well? In many other ways, we are going in the right direction. The 9% VAT rate for tourism and the abolition of the air travel tax gave rise to proven results but there are concerns about some hotels, particularly in Dublin. I do not know whether the 9% VAT rate can be geographically differentiated but many Senators have told me that...

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. I speak as a total unbeliever in risk equalisation payments. I believe in open enrolment community rating and lifetime cover. No one was ever refused cover on any basis by the new competing insurance companies that came into the market after the turn of the millennium. The success of BUPA, in particular, was that it could insure both young and old people for a...

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I recall an advertisement featuring Ronnie Delany winning his gold medal in the Melbourne Olympics, in which the advertisement stated that if one could remember that event, one had better take out health insurance. That advertisement was geared to people who were aged 70 and above.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: Members will leave these discussions on the nature of advertising to another day. I thank the Minister.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I propose an amendment to the Order of Business to take No. 16 before No. 1. I regret that I must oppose taking the Legal Services Regulation Bill today. We were here until well after midnight last night. I have no problem with that, but the Bill is a shambles. Page 41 of the Minister's own Bill was amended by her 105 times. That must be a candidate for the Guinness Book of Records. The...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I am opposed to taking No. 2 today.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Dec 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank Senators.