Results 25,261-25,280 of 26,857 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Radical Seanad Reform Through Legislative Change: Statements (3 Oct 2012)

David Cullinane: When viewers watch "Oireachtas Report", those who happen to stay up late enough to watch it-----

Seanad: Radical Seanad Reform Through Legislative Change: Statements (3 Oct 2012)

David Cullinane: -----one of the matters on which they comment is the fact that the Dáil, when important debates are taking place, is often empty, and that is not an issue that is peculiar to the Seanad. We must look at a number of matters in looking at the future of the Seanad. There have been many position papers put forward in the past by individuals, political parties and organisations. Many...

Seanad: Radical Seanad Reform Through Legislative Change: Statements (3 Oct 2012)

David Cullinane: Of course it is.

Seanad: Radical Seanad Reform Through Legislative Change: Statements (3 Oct 2012)

David Cullinane: A Dáil, too.

Seanad: Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (3 Oct 2012)

David Cullinane: I have much sympathy for the Minister?s position of having to formulate words that strike a balance. This goes back to the previous amendment as well. I accept that when we propose to add a formula of words - whether a number of words or one word - to the amendment, there are repercussions and issues that must be examined and teased out. It is important that we are having the debate....

Seanad: Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (3 Oct 2012)

David Cullinane: I thank the Minister for her frank and genuine response. We accept that to interpret the wording that goes into the Constitution from a legal perspective might be different from the intent that any party or individual may have in terms of wanting to put a formula of words into the Constitution. It is then the Minister's responsibility to interpret what that will mean. I accept that. The...

Seanad: Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (3 Oct 2012)

David Cullinane: Tairgim leasú a 1: I gCuid 1, leathanach 7, líne 6, ?go comhionann? a chur isteach i ndiaidh ?uile?, agus I gCuid 2, leathanach 9, líne 5, ?equally? a chur isteach i ndiaidh ?children?. I move amendment No. 1: In Part 1, page 6, line 6, after ?uile? to insert ?go comhionann?, and In Part 2, page 8, line 5, after ?children? to insert ?equally?.I move this amendment because it is important...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Oct 2012)

David Cullinane: I support the amendment that has been proposed to the Order of Business. I take the opportunity to inform Senator Hayden that everyone in the House accepts that we have a new coalition Government. However, that Government also promised us new politics. Unfortunately, the latter have not materialised. The former Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Shortall, described the...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Oct 2012)

David Cullinane: This morning it has been revealed that a supporter of the Minister, Deputy Reilly, owns the site on which the centre in Balbriggan is to be built. The former Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, who was given responsibility for drawing up the criteria to establish the locations where the various primary health care facilities would be built, resigned on a point of principle as a result of the...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Oct 2012)

David Cullinane: Fianna Fáil tabled a motion of no confidence in the Minister for Health.

Seanad: School Transport: Statements (26 Sep 2012)

David Cullinane: Cuirim fáilte roimh an tAire Stáit. We must accept that providing school transport for 130,000 children every day is a large logistical challenge for the State and requires a significant investment. However, I cannot join one of my republican colleagues in the Seanad, Senator Jim D'Arcy, in commending the Minister of State for cutting the budget for school transport by ¤17 million. Such...

Seanad: School Transport: Statements (26 Sep 2012)

David Cullinane: The republic with which I want to be associated, a republic that cherishes all children equally, has a free education system. An element of this involves ensuring that children can get to school by funding a transport service through progressive taxation. If there is no money, as Senator Jim D'Arcy stated, we must consider raising the necessary amount through increased taxes on those who...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Second Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2012)

David Cullinane: I mentioned community health partnerships. The Minister was not listening.

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister to the House. When I hear politicians say that we should put politics aside, it is always politicians in government. The reality is that, when the Minister for Health was in opposition, he was a robust spokesperson for health, rightly so. Our job is to hold the Government to account. We will work constructively with it if it makes the right decisions, but in many...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

David Cullinane: There is also the recruitment ban, restrictions on overtime and the hiring of agency staff, all of which are having a real impact on health services. Senator Crown mentioned the deal with consultants. It may be a good deal but we will have to wait and see how it works. If there are fewer staff, fewer nurses, fewer doctors and less capacity in the surgical theatres, the deal will not amount...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2012)

David Cullinane: Deputy Micheál Martin promised it.

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2012)

David Cullinane: Micheál is listening.

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2012)

David Cullinane: I support the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by Senator Darragh O'Brien. It is important for us to have a debate on the increase in the interest rate by Bank of Ireland and other banks. It is an important amendment, which I support. I also strongly support the call for a debate on the higher education sector, which would be an important debate to have in the next few weeks or...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Ground Rents Abolition (25 Sep 2012)

David Cullinane: I thank the Minister of State for his response. I will be helpful and suggest something. The most obvious and achievable step is to pass legislation in order that the one eighth of the land's value that is due on the expiry of a lease can be reviewed downwards as well as upwards and lowered to a number close to zero so as to negate the value. After a year or so, ground rents would become...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Ground Rents Abolition (25 Sep 2012)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I wish to raise the issue of ground rents, a long-standing issue for many individuals and families in the State. Ground rents are something of an oddity and an anomaly, but they do not comprise a benign anomaly. They are, in effect, a hangover from a colonial past. It is shameful that, almost 100 years since the proclamation of the Irish...