Results 3,941-3,960 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: Let us hope those decent hardworking members of local authorities get their benchmarking award when it becomes due. I am sure everyone will support that.

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: Yesterday, Senator McCarthy sought a debate on the prisons issue. We need to know what is going on in this matter. Can the Leader ask the Minister to come to the House to explain to us what he is thinking of doing? It may be that he has the answers but I do not understand the issue, no one else does and I have been trying to get information on the row between the prison officers and the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: Indeed. These things are better left to the experts, however, I would like to hear why, with such goodwill on both sides, a resolution to the problem cannot be found or why it cannot be dealt with by a third party. It seems that people are taking strong positions unnecessarily and that we are walking ourselves into trouble, which we do not need to do. People talk about the closure of some of...

Seanad: Courts and Court Officers (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second and Subsequent Stages. - National Drugs Strategy: Motion. (12 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: I am thankful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate. We have debated this problem on many occasions over the years and nobody has the answer. In the developed western world there is more and more use and misuse of drugs, and hard drugs have become recreational drugs for many and have become part of their lives. We have to think differently about how we approach the question of...

Seanad: Courts and Court Officers (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second and Subsequent Stages. - National Drugs Strategy: Motion. (12 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: They certainly do kill people, but these deaths comprise the minority. The biggest problem being created by drugs today is the associated crime. It is absolutely hypocritical for anybody to stand up in the House and say he is driven by constituents who are worried about drug abuse. The people who drive us, telephone us and write to the newspapers do so because of the crime associated with...

Seanad: Courts and Court Officers (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second and Subsequent Stages. - National Drugs Strategy: Motion. (12 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: There is no question that this would happen and that one would encounter many problems. Can the Minister of State indicate a problem greater than those we currently face, where people are being shot, killed, robbed and tortured? I may have considered all these issues when I organised a pan-European drugs conference in 1986 on behalf of the Council of Europe and the European Community, but I...

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: I would like to bring to the attention of the House the fact that the freedom of information regulations that will be before it after the Order of Business will extend the application of the Freedom of Information Acts to the various bodies that are charged with the implementation of the commitments given in the benchmarking agreement.

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: I point this out because the matter will be taken without debate. I know some people, certainly on the Fine Gael side, would have liked a debate on the matter, which was discussed at some length by a committee. I would like to refer to the Minister for Education and Science's recent statement on Sustaining Progress. We have had long debates in this House on the commitments given in respect of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: It is right that we should monitor issues such as implementation of the reports. That is perfectly in line with what we have discussed previously.

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: I congratulate the Leader on her new television career.

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: It would be churlish of us to ignore it.

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: There is an article in yesterday and today's newspapers about the proposal to build a golf course on Bartragh Island off Ballina. I do not play golf and I wonder about people who spend a lot of time at it. On the other hand, it is a hugely important tourism attraction and one of the most eco-friendly pursuits. I am aware it is very important to protect the Kerry slug, the natterjack toad and...

Seanad: Order of Business. (4 Nov 2003)

Joe O'Toole: The perjury Bill has not yet been published, despite it being promised on a number of occasions by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Everyone is outraged by what happened in the Central Criminal Court yesterday. The protections in the system for innocent people from unfair convictions may have been abused in this case. How we move on this matter is important, but we need to...

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Oct 2003)

Joe O'Toole: I strongly support Senator Hayes. The issue I intended to raise ties in with his comments. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform should concentrate on crime rather than telling us about half a dozen hardworking gardaí and prison officers who are earning excessive overtime. He may be right, but it involves six people and it is distracting attention from the real issues. Let us not...

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Oct 2003)

Joe O'Toole: We have room for the Senator on this side of the House.

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Oct 2003)

Joe O'Toole: Subversives?

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Joe O'Toole: Are those in the sector entitled to their benchmarking?

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Joe O'Toole: I welcome the Minister of State to the House, the openness of his contribution and the fact that he referred to the issues we have not tackled. It is refreshing to see that.

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Joe O'Toole: They deserve proper career structures, proper reward and a proper response from the Government in terms of what they seek. I wish the media would listen to this story. One will not read the good news story in the newspapers about how well the Irish education system is doing despite all the difficulties it encounters. It really is good news and we can be proud of what we have managed to...

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Joe O'Toole: Can anybody explain to me what has happened to our export figures for this year? It cannot be done, so we should forget comparisons between GDP and GNP. It is a nice point – the Department of Finance trots it out all the time and tells the Minister of State's Department to use it. It should tell the Department of Finance to get stuffed. It is not part of what we can do at all. The reality...