Results 9,021-9,040 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: On simple issues such as the European Union, the Opposition is hopelessly divided. Where is it with regard to neutrality and other serious political subjects?

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: I want to rehearse for the House a solemn promise from Deputy Kenny.

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: If he will not listen to me, he might listen to himself. Referring to co-operation in the Oireachtas, he is quoted in the Sunday Times of 28 March 2004 as saying: I think we can expand that over the next 18 months into a comprehensive programme — that is what I'd like to do. You are going to have to deal with areas of health and education and crime; you are going to have to deal with the...

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: That promise——

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: ——to produce an alternative programme for Government within 18 months was made more than two years ago but the Opposition has failed miserably. It has no ideas and is bereft of any policy. As the Taoiseach told the House, if the parties opposite are breaking promises while in opposition, God help us when they get into government.

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: I will finish on this point. The Labour Party, Fine Gael, the Green Party and the far left coalition behind them are a recipe for a slump in the economy.

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: The people know that if they put the Labour Party and Fine Gael into office, the cranes will disappear from the skyline, the unemployment queues will grow and growth will stop.

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: That has been our experience. The Deputy may laugh but when he last left office ——

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: —— the unemployment rate was over 10%. Such a rate has brought down other governments in Europe but was good enough for the Labour Party because, as far as it is concerned, it feeds off poverty and inequality without doing anything to solve them. It is a disgrace.

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: What was the disagreement on the smoking ban?

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: The rainbow Government let them all out on temporary release through the revolving door.

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: Rubbish.

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: I profoundly disagree with the political motivation behind the motion. The Opposition charges us with being tired, divided and arrogant. Is it not ironic that the main proposer of the motion, Deputy Rabbitte, has left on the record of the House the charge that the Ceann Comhairle is congenitally incapable of being fair? It was not enough that he had charged the Ceann Comhairle with being...

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: The Opposition parties charge us with being tired. It is they who are tiring. We are tired of the same old lines they put out repeatedly. The Government is not tired. I have set myself many tasks in my area of justice, equality and law reform for the next 12 months that I intend to achieve. I want to use the next 12 months to implement in full the Garda Síochána Act. I want to see the...

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: This month the Garda Commissioner takes over as Accounting Officer for the force. I want to use the next 12 months to recruit another 1,100 trainee gardaí to make irreversible our goal of a Garda force of more than 14,000.

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: I reject the politics of Deputies Kenny and Rabbitte who at the Cabinet table reduced the number of gardaí. I want to pass the Criminal Justice Bill and bring it into operation. I want to roll out the application of anti-social behaviour orders and make our prisons drugs-free. I want to build new prisons at Thornton and on Spike Island.

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: I want to pilot through the House our reforms in the area of defamation and privacy laws.

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: A hell of a lot more than you will ever do in your lifetime, buddy.

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: I want to secure passage of legislation providing for a legal services ombudsman.

Government Record: Motion. (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: I want to introduce a new national property services regulatory authority to control the auctioneering profession.