Results 381-400 of 1,683 for speaker:Derek McDowell

Seanad: Railway Safety Bill 2001: Second Stage. (3 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: We will wait and see.

Seanad: Railway Safety Bill 2001: Second Stage. (3 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: They have been ordered several times.

Seanad: Railway Safety Bill 2001: Second Stage. (3 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: We need to limit the number of passengers. We cannot continue to allow the large numbers of people who arrive at Heuston Station on Friday to board the trains. We cannot do that because sooner or later there will be a tragic accident and questions will be asked. Others have mentioned Transport 21 and I feel like a broken record complaining about this but it is genuinely disappointing. I have...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: I express thanks to the Minister of State for taking on board much of the content of our amendment No. 35. There are four points in our rewriting of section 13, two of which the Minister of State has fully taken on board. The first relates to paid leave or paid absence from work for employee representatives. As the Minister set out, he has taken that on board and I thank him for that. The...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: I accept without question the Minister of State's bone fides on this issue, but unfortunately we must put ourselves in the position of an employee representative who has been appointed because the law requires it and because the required threshold of workers in a particular workplace want it, but the employer does not want to facilitate this process and has no time for it in the first...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: Amendment No. 61 seeks to amend the standard rules by providing that the forum should meet at least four times a year. I can anticipate the Minister of State's response in that he will probably say there is provision for the forum to meet in any event in exceptional circumstances where the employee representatives wish to do so. This goes to the core of the Bill in that we must ask ourselves...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 61: In page 20, line 34, to delete "twice a year" and substitute "at least four times a year".

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: I would like to be associated with the words of thanks offered to the Minister of State and his officials. In a sense, those of us on this side of the House made his job unusually easy in fighting ourselves to a draw and in allowing the Minister of State to say that he had considered both sides, while not actually accepting anything that either of us said. Nonetheless, that is the way of...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 12: In page 6, to delete lines 26 to 28 and substitute the following: "(2) Subject to the provisions of subsection (3) and Schedule 2 of this Act, the employer shall arrange for the election of an employees' representative under this section.". I am obliged to the Leas-Chathaoirleach for his indulgence. I apologise for my late arrival, I got caught in the gridlock on the...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: I am not sure if Senator Quinn and I should state our differences once again. For the sake of balance on this one occasion, the amendment in my name which was negatived on Committee Stage and disallowed today seeks to do away with the threshold. It goes without saying that I would oppose any amendment which seeks to make the threshold higher. The basic principle behind my amendment was simply...

Seanad: Tax Code: Motion. (2 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: The Labour Party was party to the decision to set the corporation tax rate at 12.5%. It is true to say that some of us might have liked to see it at 15% or 17.5% and there was a debate in the Government at the time. The debate was settled and it is over. There will be no proposal from the Labour Party to increase the 12.5% rate of corporation tax. I dispute the history of capital gains tax as...

Seanad: Tax Code: Motion. (2 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: How much would it take in tax?

Seanad: Tax Code: Motion. (2 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: Are they not the Senator's colleagues.

Seanad: Tax Code: Motion. (2 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: The main focus of interest this evening is on the Progressive Democrats motion. It gives an obvious flavour of what we can expect from them in the upcoming general election. There is merit in debating the individual issues, but it also entails debating a bit of history, which I find a bit tedious. At a recent debate in Trinity College with Senator Minihan, I made the mistake of allowing him...

Seanad: Tax Code: Motion. (2 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: I do. I get very tired of this particular argument.

Seanad: Tax Code: Motion. (2 Nov 2005)

Derek McDowell: Since the Progressive Democrats never tire of trawling through the history books, we must stitch the truth into the record every now and then. I have got bad news for them. The next election will not be about tax, because we will not let it be about tax. I am not telling them many secrets here as we are not stupid. Before the last election, the Labour Party committed itself not to increase...

Seanad: Lisbon National Reform Programme: Statements. (26 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: We must get the balance right. We could start by having a decent, honest debate about it rather than suggesting rip-off Ireland is a phenomenon that exists purely on one side of the equation, as it were. With regard to free trade within Europe, we must complete the Single Market. Commissioner McCreevy should be supported in implementing the services directive but he must have due and proper...

Seanad: Lisbon National Reform Programme: Statements. (26 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: It should unbundle, get done with it and allow the competition, but I am not persuaded that even if this happens, all parts of County Galway or County Mayo will have broadband within a reasonable time. We need Government to take the lead here, to state that it regards this as a matter of licence and that it will simply trade the licence to provide broadband to the entire county of Mayo, or to...

Seanad: Lisbon National Reform Programme: Statements. (26 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: Senator Hayes's colleagues, yes, quite.

Seanad: Lisbon National Reform Programme: Statements. (26 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: I suppose we can probably do here too what can be done in Germany.