Results 21,521-21,540 of 24,351 for speaker:Jerry Buttimer

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: Will the Minister be present when the debate resumes?

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: I would be very happy to resume my seat and to resume this contribution after the Minister has spoken, if that is in order.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: I am not concluding my remarks.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: I understand that the Minister has a busy schedule and that the business of the House has been agreed.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: Before I do, I would like to say, with respect, that the Acting Chairman's interventions have not been very helpful to parliamentary business.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: You are, in effect.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: You are imposing a guillotine. I am the only Senator-----

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: I will not argue with the Chair. I understand where she is coming from in lots of ways. This is a fundamental attack that should be reversed. Women and children, in particular, have suffered in the budget in many ways, which further accentuates the difficulty.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: What was uncivil about that?

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: The Chair is being sensitive. I know she is embarrassed by the Government.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: We must consider the value we place on people. This section is a full frontal assault on a wide variety of individuals. We are putting deficit reduction and balancing the books ahead of people on the front line. We are not considering people. The Minister referred to Inclusion Ireland. I want Senator Butler to listen to the following quotation. I want him to be clear on what he will be...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: As I said this morning, they are hiding from the television cameras and photographic lenses. It is not that they are embarrassed - they simply do not want to be seen. That is a fact. The process to which Bernie Madoff was subjected in the United States ended with a conviction. We have had nothing here. Members of the great old party came here during the years of growth under Deputy...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: I am dealing with it.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: I am looking forward to hearing your response, Senator Butler. You will have to find some justification.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: We must consider the hierarchy of needs within Irish society. A new social order is being created today. Budget 2010 has condemned carers, the blind and the disabled. That is the Government's legacy. I invite Senators to join me tomorrow when I meet people in Cork who are suffering. I ask them to look those people in the eye before they decide it is okay to take €8 from them. How can...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: I welcome the Minister. I say as an educator that she brought reforming zeal to the Department of Education and Science, some of which I agreed with. The Minister also brought great energy to that Department and like Senator Bradford, I looked forward to that when she became Minister for Social and Family Affairs. I do not say this in a patronising way but I thought she would reform social...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: I understand that. That is what I am referring to in the context of absolute poverty and relative poverty. On Committee Stage in the other House and since becoming Minister for Social and Family Affairs, the Minister has made a virtue of protecting the most vulnerable. In this section, she is putting pressure on parents and children and is forcing people into making difficult choices in...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: They might lose it now.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2009)

Jerry Buttimer: They have.