Richard Boyd Barrett
Dún Laoghaire · People Before Profit-Solidarity · Ireland
“It is absolutely incredible that about 50% to 57% of all professional artists in this country live on or below the poverty line - three times the level of poverty in Irish society generally.”
“On a global level, the consumption of electricity by data centres is due to go up elevenfold by 2030. They are hoovering up the water resources and electricity resources of the planet. There will not be much human creativity, art or music if we have no water and no energy. That is what is going on with these people.”
“St. Joseph's Centre in Shankill is the largest care home dedicated solely to dementia care in the country. SIPTU members feel compelled to take industrial action tomorrow because of the failure of St. John of God's to recognise the work and duties that they do.”
“These people actually want to replace human beings and human creativity with AI. That would literally be the road to disaster for humanity. Some people think about AI as if it is cutting edge and the most advanced thing possible, but AI is like the Neanderthal.”
“Against that background, we are seeing these billionaires who run AI looking to steal en masse all of the artistic and creative output of humanity and to profit from it. The artists rightly are asking what the Government is going to do to prevent them making a bad situation for most artists and performers even worse.”
“I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh for bringing this motion forward. As Deputy Paul Murphy indicated, People Before Profit is very happy to support and commend all the artists, organisations, musicians and so on who are campaigning to bring this forward.”
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“Sylvia is in a HAP tenancy for five years. From the beginning she was also paying a top-up to her landlord. She used to live with her eldest son. He has moved out. The landlord has also increased the rent and Sylvia used to get a carers' payment for her father, but her father passed away so she does not get that payment. She has been hit three different ways, with increased rent, lower income and now fewer people in the house. She went to the council, as the Minister of State proposed she do, and the officials said: "Tough luck". The rent is €2,000 to the private landlord, because that is the problem with HAP. Is the council willing to help her out? No, it is not willing to because the Government's rules actually preclude it.”
“In traditional council housing or social housing if the tenant's income changes or the number of people in the house changes because kids leave or anybody leaves, the tenant does not get thrown out of the house. They do not get threatened with possible homelessness. They do not build up arrears. The rent is adjusted to the tenant's means and to the number of people in the house. That does not happen if the tenant is in the HAP scheme and, by the way, it does not happen if they are in cost rental so tenants can very quickly find themselves in trouble. What is the Minister of State going to do about that?”
“There is not even a comment on the threats she is facing or that she is in a high-risk category. There is, by the way, no domestic violence officer in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. There should be one in every single local authority. This woman is living in fear. Gardaí are appealing to the local authority saying she has to be got out of this place as a matter of priority and the council is essentially washing its hands of the case. I am asking Deputy O'Callaghan, as the Minister for justice, to contact our council about this case but also because all councils should take very seriously their obligation to get women out of situations like that so they are not forced to live in close proximity to their assailants.”
“Gardaí have said she is in a very high-risk category. Since she came to our office her ex-partner burst through the door of her apartment with a fire extinguisher and has been caught by the Garda on this. He is facing trial for all this. He admitted guilt on that particular one but is not facing trial until January and is still free. She is living in very close proximity to her assailant and ex-partner and is pleading with the council to, as a priority, get her out of where she is to somewhere safe so he will not know where she is and therefore will be unable to threaten or attack her again. What is the response of the local council? Nothing. A response to letters, including from the Garda, my office and so on says she is number 296 on the list, end of story.”
“I thank Deputy Carthy and Sinn Féin for bringing forward this Bill. On behalf of People Before Profit, we are very happy to support it. It is simply obvious that the victims of domestic, sexual or gender-based violence should not have to live in fear of their assailants. The Minister should take very seriously the intent of this Bill and the concerns of victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. I also wish to use this opportunity to highlight a case that shows it is not just about this kind of legal protection. A woman I will just call Ruth came to my office in April. She has been the victim of really horrendous violence by her ex-partner such that she required very serious medical treatment. He is issuing on a fairly regular basis death threats over the phone to her. My office has heard the messages.”
“It is unbelievable or it is totally believable if you understand the Government is simply doing what the speculators and profiteers want and has no interest whatsoever in the people rotting in emergency accommodation or in the lives, hopes and aspirations of young people and working people in this country who have been completely locked out of any hope of being able to afford the house prices these guys who are making obscene profits are charging when they control and manipulate the entire housing sector. It has got to stop. The young people and working people of this country cannot continue with this stuff.”
“The fact the Government's Department of Finance, which the Tánaiste has entered into, has said in a report that on a no policy change basis, we are facing another 15 years of a housing crisis. It is unbelievable and yet Government is not proposing to change policy. It is proposing to continue with the policies and the priorities that have failed to address the housing crisis for 15 years and have caused the housing crisis. The Tánaiste's Department is now telling him the crisis is going to go on for another 15 years.”
“It is absolutely shocking. If we controlled the land bank, stopped all the speculation and developed a State construction company and started to build on a not-for-profit basis, we could stop and solve the housing crisis. How do we know that? When this country had nothing in the thirties, forties and fifties, when it was an impoverished virtual third world country, we were able to build housing at affordable levels for working people in this country. How can we not do it now with record budget surplus? We can but the Government is having its policies dictated to it by the people who are profiteering from the housing misery. It is as simple as that. It has got to stop.”
“Whereas, we have seen homelessness go through the roof, every year worse than the last, with the vast majority of working people priced out of the market while the developers, hedge funds and landlords are making eye-watering profits. Either it is incompetence on a scale that is simply staggering on the part of the Government or the truth is that what it is actually doing is very deliberately benefiting the profiteers at the expense of the people who are suffering. Under no circumstances can the Government justify saying companies making that level of profits need more profits to stimulate the situation and to be convinced to build. Government should not be in a situation where they have the State over a barrel because that is what they are doing. They say, "Do this for us" and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael jump to the tune.”
“The vulture funds and hedge funds that got all the NAMA lands at discount prices, made massive profits, controlled the supply of housing and then sold it on to these gangs or gave them land - that should be the public land bank - which should be in public control and where we drive, in the public interest, the construction of housing. In the area around Helsinki in Finland, one of the few places where they have improved the situation of the housing crisis, the land bank is completely controlled publicly. It does not mean there is no private building but it does mean the only housing that happens is housing which is actually going to contribute to addressing the housing crisis and the housing needs of the people and, therefore, it has seen homelessness go down.”
“It begs the question as to whether Government is serious at all or whether this just reveals the truth that it is there to represent the interests of the property developers and the profits they want to make because that is the consistent story and, in my opinion, it is the dirty secret of the housing crisis that has persisted now for more than a decade. The only thing that explains Government's failure to deal with the housing crisis is that all along, its only interest was to ensure the profits of the speculators and the property developers.”
“A one-bedroom house by Glenveagh in Donabate is €345,000, a two-bed is €440,000, a three-bed is €480,000 and a four-bed is €700,000, with a similar picture in the rest of them. These are completely unaffordable for the vast majority of working people who go out and work hard but would be absolutely incapable with their own income to afford those kinds of prices. We are giving them a subsidy on already massive profits to deliver housing that no working people can afford. Does the Government honestly think that is justified and is a strategy to deal with the housing crisis?”
“A headline from RTÉ earlier this year stated, "Half-year profits and revenues at Glenveagh Properties soar". The company's revenues were up in the first six months of this year by 125% from the previous year, more than doubling from €152 million to €341 million. Gross profit in half a year was €66.8 million. Profits at Cairn Homes were €63 million in the first half of 2025. Yet, the Tánaiste wants to give them more. It is not enough that Glenveagh's profits go up by 125% and that Cairn, the other big builder - just to name the two largest and most profitable - is making eye-watering profits, with shareholders enjoying bonanzas year after year and executives enjoying absolutely obscene salaries. The Government wants to give them €340 million more. I was just flicking through the prices they are charging for the houses they build.”
“I am glad the Minister for Transport is here. He was not here when I raised, on behalf of the taxi drivers of this country, the issue of Uber and its attempt to undermine the regulated taxi industry and the livelihoods of nearly 20,000 taxi drivers. On Saturday, along with thousands of taxi drivers, I participated in a protest at Merrion Square. They are asking that the Government enforce its own regulations or, if necessary, amend the legislation to protect their livelihoods given the efforts of Uber to undermine the regulated fare structure. What they are asking for, which is a win-win for everybody, is that there would be a not-for-profit, publicly-run, National Transport Authority-run app, which all of them would sign up for. This would mean money for Revenue and money for the Exchequer.”
“Now they are excluded from housing lists, segregating the lowest income households and meaning the rental revenue coming back to local authorities is lower. The lowest income people should not be asked to pay the bill for that. I ask the Government to intervene on this, stop the rent hikes on council tenants and start to raise income thresholds for social housing eligibility.”
“That would be a significant jump for, it should be remembered, some of the lowest income households in the city and in the country. The assumed income of certain categories of employee will also be increased significantly from, for example, €500 to €750 in the case of taxi drivers. The cap on subsidiary earners will also be increased. This will mean significant hikes in rent for some of the lowest income families. Eighteen per cent of a tiny income is a lot; 18% if you are a multimillionaire is not a lot. This is a cost-of-living hike for some of the lowest income families in Dublin city. It will affect other places too. The income thresholds have not been raised. I emphasise that this is the reason this is being done. We used to have people with higher incomes in social housing.”
“Once again, I wish Paschal Donohoe, setting aside our significant political differences, the best on a personal level. I know he is a reader of books, and one book I know he has read, because we have talked about it, is by Thomas Piketty about the growing inequality in wealth in the world. The Deputy might therefore be interested in, or indeed maybe supportive of, my appeal to the Government not to increase income inequality affecting in particular some of Paschal's constituents in Dublin city, where there is significant concern among council residents, and a protest next Monday outside the Dublin City Council offices, about plans to increase the proportion of income council tenants will pay in rent from 15% to 18%.”
“Across Britain and the North of Ireland people are being arrested, prosecuted and, in some cases, imprisoned because they support Palestine Action, on the basis that the British Government has designated Palestine Action, a group campaigning against British complicity with the genocide that Israel is committing, as a terrorist organisation. It is absolutely outrageous. There will be a protest this Saturday in Belfast as people stand in solidarity with it. Sally Rooney has written an article in The Guardian this week about prisoners being close enough to being tortured in British prisons who are in prison awaiting trial on this. Will the Taoiseach speak out against the British Government's outrageous decision to designate protesting against genocide as somehow terrorism?”
“When is the Government finally going to make sure that the upgrade at Ringsend and the rehabilitation of our decrepit water infrastructure, which is jeopardising water quality, swimmers and health and causing all sorts of bad, adverse problems, is going to be finally addressed by this Government?”
“I also wish to raise the issue of water quality in Dublin Bay, for the umpteenth time. Every time there is a massive downpour like the ones we had very recently, rainfall water or stormwater mixes with sewage and pours into Dublin Bay. The pumping station at the west pier in Dún Laoghaire pumps stuff out to Ringsend but Ringsend does not have the capacity. It overflows, goes into Dublin Bay and then water quality is very seriously undermined. I was looking at a question I asked back in 2019, and it was not the first time. Even then, the Government was promising it was going to upgrade Ringsend. That was 2019 and it still has not been done. It still happens every time it rains. It is unbelievable.”
“The Government said it before the general election and then rolled back on it and did absolutely nothing because it is dancing to the tune of Trump and the US Administration. It is shameful. End this shameful failure to act and finally act against this regime for its criminal brutality, oppression and genocidal actions against the Palestinian people and pass this Bill. The Government should be doing a hell of a lot more. We should be completely boycotting the State of Israel. Can the Government at least do what it said what it would do?”
“They would have to station US troops in the Middle East because this is all about American colonial and imperial control of that region, collaborating with brutal dictatorships and then with the State of Israel as their military watchdog to slap down any attempt by the people of that region to assert their right to self-determination. That is what it is about. It is absolutely shocking that the Government has failed to do anything about it but that is the truth. The Government is dancing to the tune of Trump and so on but showing utter contempt for the people of this country, for democracy and for the solemn promises the Government made. It was forced to make them in the run-up to the election because it knew what the people of this country wanted and demanded.”
“Israel killed 13 people in Lebanon last night and has killed about 260 people since the so-called ceasefire, which was forced on Israel and Donald Trump. That is what happened. Trump even admitted it when he said he rang up Netanyahu and told him they could not take on the world. That is what he said. They were forced into the ceasefire. The Minister of State's speech thanks the United States for their efforts in bringing about a ceasefire. Is he joking? Israel could not continue the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the illegal settlements and the genocidal horror it has inflicted on Gaza were it not for that "complicity", although that is too weak a word. Israel is simply acting as an outpost of US foreign policy, something Biden admitted when he said, "Were there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel".”
“Zionism is clear: Zionists intend to ethnically cleanse Palestine. Zionism is genocidal in its very nature and character. There have been decades of ethnic cleansing and apartheid, the siege of Gaza and then the genocide of the past two years, with still not a single sanction from this Government. The bankruptcy of the EU is equally on display. Last night the Minister and the Taoiseach came in here and said it was absolutely essential to impose sanctions and they imposed 19 different rounds of sanctions. That was done almost instantaneously. The double standards are absolutely clear. It is only really because of the heroic resistance of the Palestinian people that we have what is not even a ceasefire.”
“It is a studied exercise in contempt and it speaks volumes about the Government's strategy on this issue for years, speaking out of both sides of its mouth on the issue of Palestine, mouthing solidarity but doing absolutely nothing - not a single sanction against the State of Israel. I have been campaigning for and advocating sanctions on Israel since 1987, when I was in Palestine, because I was so shocked by the regime that exists there and the endemic racism and apartheid against the Palestinian people. There have been people campaigning in this country all those years, more than 30 years, demanding the end of the State of Israel's impunity for the ongoing crimes it has been committing since 1948. In fact, the Zionist movement has been committing crimes against Palestinians since before 1948 and has been explicit about it.”
“People who are not familiar with how this place works need to understand that the Minister's absence is a studied exercise in contempt designed to make sure that this debate does not get any media coverage. That is why the Government has done that. It did not want this to get attention, even though it was clear it was the issue on which the Minister was under pressure. She spoke about it yesterday night on television and said she would talk to her Government colleagues about it today but she did not bother to come into the Dáil, the democratically elected Chamber of these Houses, where it is being discussed, to discuss it.”
“I thank my colleagues in Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and the Labour Party and Independent colleagues who have supported and co-sponsored this motion. I thank Senator Frances Black for her ongoing efforts since she instigated this Bill in 2018. Most importantly, I thank the hundreds of thousands of people in this country who have mobilised again and again in unprecedented protests in every city, town, village and hamlet of the country against the genocidal horror that Israel has been inflicting on the Palestinian people over the past two years. All those people can see the political and moral bankruptcy of this Government when it comes to the issue of Palestine. The speech that was given really is shameful. This starts with the failure of the new Minister to come in here.”
“Let us be clear: all the occupied territories Bill does is impose a ban on the importation of goods from the illegal settlements. In our view - and I will be absolutely clear about this- we should be going a lot further than that. There should be a complete boycott, divestment, and sanctions from this criminal regime. A regime that is capable of genocide has no place in the civilised world. This Bill does not even address the issue of the right to return or the apartheid system and the criminal siege of Gaza. It is a minimal sanction in line with the Government's international legal obligations. Do what you said you would do: pass this Bill and finally impose sanctions on this criminal regime.”
“However, in the case of Palestine, after two years of a genocidal massacre, 17 years of a criminal siege on Gaza, decades of ethnic cleansing, 700,000 illegal settlements on the West Bank, an apartheid system, denial of the right to return and ethnic cleansing on an ongoing basis and there is not a single sanction. It is shameful. Stop dancing to the tune of Donald Trump and the White House; the enablers of the genocide in Palestine. Do what was promised to the Irish people. Do what is right for the Palestinians and for humanity. If the Government has any respect for international law and for human rights, it must pass the occupied territories Bill, which, by the way, is only the minimal sanction that should be imposed on this regime.”
“Slovenia, Spain and The Netherlands have all now passed Bills imposing sanctions on Israel in terms of the occupied territories. Yet, this Government that I do not know how many times I have heard come in here and claim it is the most pro-Palestinian voice in the EU still refuses to do so. Of course, the double standards and contrast with what we heard last night in the statements on Ukraine is so blatant it is really outrageous. Rightly, the Government condemned Vladimir Putin for an imperialist invasion of Ukraine. What was the response of this Government to that invasion? It was instantaneous sanctions and 19 rounds of sanctions imposed on Putin for what is and was a bloody, brutal and unjustifiable invasion in Ukraine.”
“The Government made a promise and it should keep that promise. The joint Oireachtas committee, which includes Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael members, has recommended the occupied territories Bill be passed and the Government got clear legal advice from the Attorney General to the joint Oireachtas committee that there is no difficulty legally with including services in the occupied territories Bill and the ban on the importation of goods from the occupied territories. The Government has stated that the International Court of Justice advisory opinion is an authoritative statement on international law and that it requires all EU member states to prevent the importation of goods from occupied territories but, of course, this Government still refuses to do it, even when other governments in Europe have now done it.”
“It is bad enough that since 2018 the Government has refused to pass this Bill to impose sanctions on Israel for the illegal settlements in the West Bank but then after two years of a genocidal massacre, the Government still refuses to pass it, having made solemn promises in the recent general election that it would pass it, and is seeking to dilute it by leaving out services. It is an absolute disgrace. There is simply no justification for it. I hope the fact that the new Minister is not here is not a sign of a disrespectful attitude towards this Bill and towards taking the issue seriously. As our motion sets out, there are simply no excuses left for this Government. Politically the Government promised the Irish people it would pass the occupied territories Bill, with no mention of leaving services out or anything.”
“I am sharing with Deputies Murphy and Coppinger. This Government speaks out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to the issue of Palestine. In one breath it states it stands with the people of Palestine against the crimes that Israel inflicts on them and promises sanctions while in the other breath it reassures its friends in the White House that it is going to do nothing at all, and the consequence of that is that despite promises for nearly ten years on the occupied territories Bill, it still has not passed it.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 (OTB), first introduced by Senator Frances Black and other members of Seanad Éireann, proposed to give effect to the State's obligations arising under the Fourth Geneva Convention, and to ban trade in goods or services with an occupied territory; — the OTB passed First Stage in the Seanad on 24th January, 2018, almost eight years ago, it passed Second Stage in the Dáil on 24th January, 2019 and has been at Dáil Committee Stage, without progress, for the intervening almost seven years; — on 19th July, 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered an Advisory Opinion which confirmed that, under international law, "Member States are under an obligation… to abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) or parts thereof which may entrench its unlawful presence in the territory… and to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT"; — the Tánaiste, Simon Harris TD, has stated that the Irish Government considers that the ICJ's Advisory Opinion "represents an authoritative statement of applicable international law which is binding on all states and international organisations, including the European Union (EU) and its Member States"; — on 25th June, 2025, the Government published the General Scheme of the proposed Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025, which was then sent to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade for the purposes of pre-legislative scrutiny; — the provisions of the General Scheme seek to prohibit the importation of goods originating in Israeli settlements but do not include a ban on export of goods, or on the import or export of services; — the 19th July, 2024 Advisory Opinion of the ICJ did not make any distinction between trade in goods and services for the purposes of international law; — a range of eminent legal experts who spoke before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade during pre-legislative scrutiny meetings, stated that the obligations outlined in the ICJ Advisory Option applied to both goods and to services, and the Legal Advisor at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the Committee that, regarding the binding obligations clarified by the ICJ, "trade is trade in goods and services"; — on 18th September, 2024, Ireland co-sponsored a Resolution adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, which, in line with the ICJ Advisory Opinion, called upon all States to comply with their obligations under international law, as reflected in the Advisory Opinion, and to prevent trade or investment relations with the illegal Israeli settlements, making no distinction between trade in goods and trade in services; — in advice provided to the Government in 2024, and available online, the Attorney General, in concluding that the OTB is justifiable on grounds of "public policy" under EU law, stated that the State may argue that "the proposed offences", plural, included in the OTB "are necessary to uphold respect for rule of law, the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms and human dignity" and "represent the fulfilment by the State of the obligations referred to in the ICJ Opinion", and that those offences, plural, include a prohibition on trade in both goods and services; — equivalent measures restricting trade in goods, services and investment with Russian-occupied territories were adopted by Ireland and other EU member states in 2014, remained in force, and the Irish Business and Employers Confederation noted at the Oireachtas Joint Committee that those laws were adhered to and practically implemented without significant issues being raised by its members; — research by academics, development organisations, journalists and UN bodies have identified significant trade in services between EU-based companies and the illegal Israeli settlements, including specific and publicly identifiable companies based in Ireland, and that this trade assists in maintaining the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT, just as trade in goods does; — on 31st July, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade published its pre-legislative scrutiny report on the General Scheme of the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill; — the Oireachtas Joint Committee's pre-legislative scrutiny report "strongly recommends progressing the Bill and that the prohibition of imports from the Palestinian Occupied Territories should be extended to include trade in services, in line with the Advisory Opinion of the ICJ and the Resolution which Ireland co-sponsored at the UN General Assembly"; — the Oireachtas Joint Committee also recommended that the title of the Bill be the "Illegal Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods and Services) Bill"; — despite the publication of the Oireachtas Joint Committee pre-legislative scrutiny report over three months ago, and its inclusion in the list of Legislation for Priority Publication for the Autumn Session 2025, the Bill has not yet been brought before Dáil Éireann; — since pre-legislation scrutiny concluded in July, several other EU member states have either fully passed or announced plans to prohibit trade with illegal Israeli settlements, and that several of these go further than the draft Government proposal, including a ban on the export of goods (Slovenia) and a ban on the advertisement of services (Spain); and — the situation in the OPT remains devastating, including record numbers of home demolitions, settler attacks, and orders for new illegal settlement construction in 2025, and that this current political context requires States to actively defend international law and human rights, and deliver on their prior commitments, rather than delaying or rolling them back; and calls on the Government to: — accept the recommendation of the pre-legislative scrutiny report from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade that the Israeli Settlements in the proposed Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill, should be extended to include trade in services; and — as a matter of the utmost urgency, bring the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill, amended to include services, before the Dáil, and do everything necessary to ensure the Bill can be enacted before the end of this year.”
“Taxi drivers would like to see the Government enforce its own legislation to protect the regulation of the industry, which Uber is trying to undermine.”
“That was the Government responding to pressure from taxi drivers to protect the taxi industry as a key part of our public transport system and to protect the livelihoods of taxi drivers. Companies such as Uber and others, with Uber leading the charge, want to create downward price competition, which will undermine the livelihoods of taxi drivers. They should not be allowed to do it. There may be a misconception that somehow the customer is going to benefit from this but they will be sorry in the medium-to-long-term because once Uber gets in, destroys the livelihoods of ordinary taxi drivers and deregulates the industry, it can then jack up the fixed prices to whatever it wants. What we will actually get it is dynamic pricing going upwards in many cases.”
“The point is, and the Minister of State is absolutely right, that taxi drivers can do that and many now are signed up with Uber, but they have recognised the threat that Uber represents for the industry and Uber's desire ultimately to try and deregulate the entire industry and do away with it as an industry, and undermine the livelihoods in this country of about 20,000 taxi drivers. Many would have signed up probably not knowing what the implications were of signing up with Uber. This is why they are now calling for a boycott and for the deletion of the Uber app. From the point of view of the Government, we have a regulated industry. I believe that Ireland supported Catalonia in a legal case about establishing the right of countries to regulate their own taxi industry.”
“Taxi drivers should delete the Uber app and they themselves should take action to get Uber out. The Government should also intervene to stop what taxi drivers rightly believe to be an action by Uber that is undermining the regulation of the taxi industry as set out in the taxi regulation Acts and in the maximum fare order.”
“What Uber does is try to get rid of all of that and introduce the situation where basically anybody at all can moonlight as a taxi driver and the industry and the livelihoods of taxi drivers are undermined. Once Uber has succeeded in deregulating the industry then it can jack up the fixed fares and can add in all sorts of charges. Currently there is accountability. There is a relationship between the customer and the taxi driver where the customer can see the meter and can see what he or she will be charged because what the charges will be is legally regulated. All of that potentially goes out the window once Uber gets in and prises open the market. Taxi drivers will protest this Saturday about it, they have called for a boycott of Uber, and I think they are absolutely right.”
“The fixed fare structure Uber is trying to bring in is undermining that. It is undermining the taximeter and it means that taxi drivers would not get the fare they should get according to the meter. Just in case customers or consumers out there might think this is somehow a good thing for them, they should bear in mind what happens when Uber gets its way. Even if people think in this case there might be some short-term benefit, in reality what Uber does everywhere is undermine the proper regulation of the taxi industry. Here we have proper regulation so you know who your taxi driver is. There is safety and accountability in terms of your taxi driver. It is somebody who is a proper, regulated taxi driver with a licence.”
“There is great alarm, anger and concern among taxi drivers across the country because of the moves by Uber to introduce a fixed fare system. As outlined in the question by Deputy Pa Daly earlier, he alluded to the very serious question on whether this fixed fare being brought in by Uber actually circumvents, undermines or subverts the taxi regulation legislation in this country, which is designed to protect the regulation of the taxi industry, the livelihoods of taxi drivers and the existing fare structure based on the taximeter. This is negotiated every couple of years and takes into account the need for taxi drivers to have a fair income, while taking account of their costs and so on, rather than have price competition, which can undermine their livelihoods and their incomes.”
“If we are serious about trying to stop the slaughter in Ukraine or anywhere else, we have to have consistent principles and we should not be aligning ourselves with any of these powers in the world that are guilty of this imperialist competition and militarism, which will drive this world into a very dangerous and dark place and which would make even Gaza and Ukraine not look like a tea party because it is so horrific. It could bring us to an even worse place.”
“By the way, in the European Union this expenditure had dramatically increased before Russia's invasion of Ukraine as part of the ongoing process of militarisation in the European Union and of NATO expansion. Russia spends a shocking 19% of GDP on arms. This is on military expenditure. It is starving and immiserating its own people. It spends $149 billion. Do you know how much NATO spends? It spends $1.5 trillion, which is ten times what Russia spends on arms. Thousands of billions of euro that should be going into health, housing, education and addressing the cost of living are used to make missiles, weapons, bullets and ammunition, which are then sold on if they are not used in this war and given to Israel, Saudi Arabia, dictatorships and brutal regimes all over the world, which are also guilty of inflicting horror on their populations.”
“The United States has armed Israel to commit the genocide against the Palestinians and is every bit as much an imperialist power as Putin and his regime or, indeed, the more minor players in the European Union, such as Germany, Britain, France and Italy, which have also provided the military means to Israel to continue the slaughter and refuse to impose any sanctions. If the United States and the European Union actually do not show any serious regard for international law, or for any sort of consistency when it comes to principles, is it a surprise that the signal sent out is that all of it is nonsense and the truth is you take what you can get through military means? I would go further and say that many in the European Union have long wanted to see a European army and to ratchet up military expenditure.”
“We have had 19 rounds of sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union but not a single round of sanctions by the European Union against Israel for the crimes it has committed against the Palestinian people, even when those crimes have reached the level of Israel being in the dock for genocide, and to my mind being undoubtedly guilty of genocide. There has not been a single round of sanctions. You would believe in here, with the speeches from the Ministers, that when they rightly describe Putin as a brutal imperialist thug that he is the only one in the world. There is barely a mention of the genocidal slaughter being inflicted on the Palestinians. That slaughter could not have happened were it not for another imperialist power, or several of them.”
“One report I read recently suggested that Russian ministries had distributed more than 200,000 prosthetic limbs because so many soldiers are losing their arms and legs. It is disgusting. Undoubtedly Putin is the instigator of this unjustified and imperialist endeavour. The Taoiseach is absolutely correct to call it imperialism. The people of Ukraine have been absolutely justified in resisting this brutal invasion of their country. The problem I have, and it is why I believe our neutrality is in danger, is that the Government and European Union leaders go from that to say that their main concern in all of this is to defend the international rules-based order and our neutrality and imply that they have a consistent set of principles when it comes to opposing imperialism, brutal invasions and wars. That self-evidently is not true.”
“As many other speakers have said, Putin's invasion of Ukraine is a bloody, unjustified and criminal endeavour, which has led to absolute carnage. That carnage continues. The scale of human devastation is unknown because both sides do not want to admit to how many people have been killed. Some estimates suggest that more than 1 million people have either lost their lives or have been injured and maimed. Ukraine admits to about 50,000 of its military personnel being killed, although some suggest that the numbers killed could be double that, and hundreds of thousands more have been injured and maimed. In Russia, some estimates suggest there might be 250,000 military personnel dead and hundreds of thousands more maimed and injured.”
“It is located in Washington DC where it lends out money to poor countries; demands austerity and privatisation; and, essentially, serves the interests of American and western big business, often at the expense of some of the poorest countries in the world. On a personal level, I wish the Minister the best of luck but he knows we have very different views on what is good for this country and the need to radically change the priorities he has pursued.”
“The other side of the coin, and this is the so-called political centres legacy, is that under Deputy Donohoe's ministerships profits for the corporations have quadrupled. While people who are poor are suffering, to the extent of not even having a roof over their heads, the profits of the big corporations, the landlords and the vulture funds have gone through the roof. Energy companies are recording record profits while elderly people will be terrified in the coming days as this cold snap hits, afraid to turn on the heating because they cannot afford to pay the bills. They will not be getting a cost-of-living support during the Christmas period. Deputy Donohoe cannot escape responsibility for this legacy. The truth, I am sorry to say, is that the World Bank is an institution of global capitalism that, frankly, has a pretty dire record.”
“Vincent de Paul today, as we head towards Christmas and a cold snap record numbers of people in low-income and middle-income families are begging for help to get them through the Christmas months. This is from a Government that has record budget surpluses. The truth is that years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Government have left us with this disastrous housing and homelessness crisis, with a cost-of-living crisis imposing misery and hardship on working-class people and on the least well-off, and with people with disabilities being forced, as we speak, to organise protests in the run-in to Christmas over what has been done to them in the most recent budget, which is taking €1,000 a year off them.”