Results 921-940 of 3,356 for speaker:Feargal Quinn

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I am usually loath to speak about what is happening in other part of the world that we do not know very well. It seems, however, that there is a need for a public outcry against the number of public executions taking place in Iran. Last month alone, there were 100 executions in prisons that we know of, many of them public hangings. There were 82 public hangings or executions in one earlier...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Organ Donation: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I thank the Chairman. I welcome and am delighted to see the team in attendance. When I introduced my Bill in 2009, few voices questioned the safety of or belief in presumed consent. There were many additions to the effect that, as Professor Egan explained well, presumed consent would only work if the infrastructure was in place. We also took on board a great deal of information about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Organ Donation: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: Yes. I apologise for being unable to attend. I do not understand its concerns or why it does not approve of presumed consent. It seems that everyone else is in favour. I urge that we reintroduce my legislation or a Government Bill. With the committee, I visited the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, from whom there was no strong opposition. He seemed to be in favour of presumed consent...

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: Yesterday was a particularly good one for the House. I add my voice to those of others who congratulated Senator Barrett not only on what was a very good debate on the banking sector and financial stability but also on the fact that the Minister did not, as had been planned, vote against the Bill. This serves as a reminder of what this House can do and of the skills and abilities possessed...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Rural Transport Services (24 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: That is a matter for the Minister of State, not for the Chair.

Seanad: Financial Stability and Reform Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (24 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: When is it proposed to sit again?

Seanad: Financial Stability and Reform Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (24 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I welcome the words spoken by the Senator and his objective or what he hopes to achieve. That is, not just to have rules for banking but supervision to ensure rules are adhered to. I wholeheartedly agree with his efforts to highlight the need to set the conditions for financial stability in order to avoid a repeat of what happened. The Bill also states: "The principal aim of these items of...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (24 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I welcome the Minister of State and the visitors in the public Gallery to the House. The Bill, which is also welcome, is trying to achieve something I tried to achieve through my own recent Bill, the Employment Permits (Amendment) Bill 2012, partly as a response to the dreadful treatment of Mr. Muhammad Younis. The MRCI has dealt with more than 180 cases of forced labour over the past six...

Seanad: National Lottery Bill 2012: Second Stage (24 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I welcome the Minister to the House. I am glad he heard Senator Higgins. I am disappointed that the Minister missed hearing the emotion and deep concern of Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell. She made a wonderful input that I would urge the Minister to look back at because it is not enough to read what she said; one would want to see it as well. As chairman of An Post at the time we set up...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: This morning I attended a meeting of the Arthritis Foundation of Ireland on keeping Ireland fit for work. It was very interesting. The amount of absenteeism in this country is, and has always been, affected by things we can do something about - this meeting showed some of those things. What really concerned me was an item I heard about the other day on the cost of procedures in Irish...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: Will the Senator name the time and place?

Seanad: Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (18 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I left the House during the Minister's opening contribution to meet approximately 40 students from a school in the area in which I live. I was delighted to have the opportunity to quote the Minister and Senator Mary White has just spoken about there being 5,000 deaths. We were always told tobacco was addictive and knew this from a very early age. People say they did not realise it was...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: It is hard to get a word in. Something very serious has occurred. The Irish Lung Fibrosis Association is concerned at a decision taken by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCPE, not to make Pirfenidone available to patients. I have been a patron of the association for some time. Lung fibrosis is a very serious disease with no cure but Pirfenidone enables people to stay alive....

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Report Stage (17 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I am happy to second the amendment. Amendments Nos. 17 and 22 strengthen our ability to introduce competition in the area. Since having taken an interest in this, I am amazed at any movement to go back to where we were in the past. The Minister of State may shake his head but that seems to be what we are doing here. When I was in the grocery business, I would have loved to see a grocery...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Report Stage (17 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I second the amendment. I could not repeat what Senator Barrett has said any better than he had done. He has made such a strong case that I urge the Minister of State to consider accepting the amendment.

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Report Stage (17 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I second the amendment. I remember well how bad the sector was. I have had experience in more recent years of travelling to Brussels quite a lot. The Minister must travel to Brussels quite a lot but he may have somebody to meet him. Let us say that a flight arrives at 9.30 a.m. at Brussels airport then one will have to queue for an hour for a taxi in order to arrive at a meeting at 10.30...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I add my voice to those who have called for cool heads and calmness in the spat between the Judiciary and the Government. There is a channel for discussion and we should allow that discussion to take place. We have enjoyed an independent Judiciary for 90 years and it has worked well for us. Let us make sure we do not do anything that loses it. I think it is in the Government's hands to do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Impact of Black Market on Small Businesses: Discussion (16 Apr 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I thank all of the delegates for coming today and enlightening us as much as they have. I have a friend in the United States with a large grocery store who was caught leaving the country with a suitcase full of money. Apparently, he operated 16 checkouts but only 15 of them were reported; the authorities did not know about the other one and he ended up with a sentence of four years in jail....

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Mar 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I cannot let the opportunity pass to say a few words about Jimmy Walsh as well. I have been a Member of the House for 20 years so I am very experienced in terms of knowledge and I have always been impressed by his ability to be able to remember and jot down so succinctly exactly what was said, sometimes in a mumble and occasionally very loudly. One could meet him in the corridor afterwards...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Mar 2013)

Feargal Quinn: I have often spoken of my frustration at the length of time it takes to get something done through the Government and the State. Next May it will be three years since the introduction of the Construction Contracts Bill in this House, with Committee and Report Stages completed in this House in March 2011. There is frustration that this has not yet become law, although the good news is that I...