Results 25,621-25,640 of 26,857 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (22 May 2012)

David Cullinane: I move amendment No. 3: In page 11, subsection (2), line 20, after "excuse", to insert "or without right of way". I welcome the Minister to the House. Senator Reilly, who represented Sinn Féin during the debate on Second Stage of the Bill, is, unfortunately, sick at present. I am stepping in for her today. Amendment No. 3 deals with rights of way. All public representatives deal with...

Seanad: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (22 May 2012)

David Cullinane: Our amendment was not to excuse people who have access or right of way through a farmer's land from not doing what he or she should do, namely, close gates and refrain from damaging hedges, for example. Our concern was that this provision could be misunderstood and abused by some people who might erect gates on rights of way to frustrate people from gaining access. I am mindful of the...

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: Often where there are debates in this House I am reminded of how much the Houses of the Oireachtas can be a bubble far removed from reality and where people are at, and this debate is a good example of that. A number of Senators , one of whom was Senator Feargal Quinn, made the point that we have no choice and must vote "Yes". The previous speaker talked about naysayers, irresponsibility...

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: I did not interrupt anybody. Perhaps I could be given the same courtesy.

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: What it does is put into law the Stability and Growth Pact rules, which means a country cannot spend any more than 3% of what it takes in,-----

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: -----and it puts in a new rule.

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: It puts in a new rule, a structural deficit target of 0.5%. Of course, it also puts in place a debt-brake rule, where it sets a percentage for a country's debt-to-GDP ratio of 60%. Currently, ours is approximately 105%. It will be 120% in 2015 and must be reduced by 5% every year until we get down to 60%. Senator Feargal Quinn made the point that this merely forces us to put money away for...

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: There are many who will not be listening to this debate but who, if they were, would understand that we did put money away for a rainy day in the National Pensions Reserve Fund and that fund was emptied. It was emptied, not to invest in people or to invest in jobs, but to give to the banks to recapitalise them and pay back the bond holders. That is the reality that is facing the working...

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: What the people-----

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: I will deal with the show-me-the-money argument. I will get to that, if Senator Gilroy gives me the opportunity.

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: There are 56 Members in this Chamber in favour of the treaty and four against. It is not reflective of what is happening outside. For those of us who are putting forward arguments against, at least give us the opportunity to make our points without interruption.

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: Without interruption. I have a number of minutes and I will deal with the issue of funding when I get to it, in my own time. What I am dealing with here is what is not in the treaty and what are the big problems in Europe.

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: The first is what caused the crash in Ireland and what caused the problem in the first place. Our public finances collapsed in 2008 because the property and consumption bubble burst. That is what caused the crash. We built our public finances on sand, an unsustainable foundation, and it all collapsed. Let us remind ourselves why it collapsed. It was because banks, primarily the former...

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: However, there is nothing in this treaty that deals with any of that.

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: There is nothing in this treaty which deals with the failure of the regulation of the banks.

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: There is nothing in this treaty about any debt write down.

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: There is nothing about any debt write down. The treaty, if it was in place in 2008, would not have solved any of our problems because we ended up with a big gapping hole in our public finances following the collapse of our property bubble, driven primarily by the banks and by their recklessness. This treaty does not deal with any of that. It does not deal with the problems.

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: On "show me the money", the only reason the Government, in a shameful and contrived way, with its European partners put a formula of words into the austerity treaty to try to link it to the ESM treaty is because they were unable to sell a bad, flawed treaty to the people of this country. They knew the people would not wear it. They had to have some stick to hang over the heads of the...

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: Let us remind ourselves what the ESM treaty is about. It is about stabilising the euro. It is about providing emergency funding for states to stabilise the euro and provide access to funding for banks. Nobody really believes that if we vote "No", we will be shut out of that funding.

Seanad: Treaty on Stability, Cooperation and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union: Statements (17 May 2012)

David Cullinane: I will make a prediction. If we vote "No", any talk about not having access to funding will disappear like snow off a ditch. What I would say to those on the opposite side-----