Results 1,601-1,620 of 1,714 for speaker:John Dardis
- Seanad: Protection of the Environment Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (25 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: On a point of order, there will be chaos if amendments are proposed without being properly tabled.
- Seanad: Protection of the Environment Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (25 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: Even in my most surreal moments, I cannot imagine maize or genetically modified carrots being grown on a pavement anywhere in this country or elsewhere. From that point of view, I fail to see the relevance of the amendment to the section.
- Seanad: Protection of the Environment Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (25 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: What section is under discussion?
- Seanad: Protection of the Environment Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (25 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: I was unsure in that regard. It would probably be reasonable to say that the majority of councillors who went on the memorable trip to Germany did more damage to their livers because of what they consumed while there than would have been done by whatever might have emerged from the chimney stacks of the facility they visited.
- Seanad: Protection of the Environment Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (25 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: That underlines our general attitude to these matters. It was stated on Second Stage that there is no such thing as a dump any more â they are all superdumps. The superdump proposed for Kill would have been convenient for Dublin waste, as it would have come as far as Kildare but would have been outside Dublin. I had a memorable experience at a protest meeting against that dump when a person...
- Seanad: Protection of the Environment Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (25 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: At 10.30 a.m. tomorrow.
- Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: Or turned a blind eye.
- Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: I take Senator's Quinn's point that we have debated Iraq. Many Members contributed to the debate and the views of the House were clear on it, but it would be wrong to let the statement pass which suggested that anybody in this country, whether in the Government or otherwise, would condone the killing of 12 million children, which is the way it was represented. As far as I am aware the...
- Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: Senator Quinn might have something to say about that.
- Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: I welcome the Minister. We have had two very colourful contributions in the last 16 or 18 minutes but neither had a single concrete proposal for the Minister. Those of us of a certain age remember attending the Litany of the Saints which continued for a considerable time. The Opposition has offered the litany of the damned tonight.
- Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: What is it about our national character that we cannot recognise the Minister's abilities which were recognised by two sovereign governments?
- Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: We have only heard about the ills that have befallen the industry. The Minister has explicitly said on many occasions that he realises farm incomes were down last year.
- Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: It probably had as much to do with a presidential election in the IFA.
- Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: I have been a Member of this House for nearly 13 years and never seen an amendment as vacuous as this.
- Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: The amendment reads: "That Seanad Ãireann condemns the Government for its failure to recognise the difficulties in agriculture and food and calls on it to take some measures to re-establish confidence in the sector". The Minister recognises the difficulties in agriculture and food. If Fine Gael cannot come up with something more concrete than "some measures", I wonder what, if any,...
- Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: We must accept that the Fischler proposals will have profound effects on this country, not just farmers â all of Ireland plc is at risk from them. The Minister has expressed his opposition at the Council of Ministers. The FAPRI projections for the future indicate a reduction of 12% in beef output by 2009 â three times the European average. They indicate a 30% reduction in the number of...
- Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: We know that his proposals are preparing us for the WTO talks. The Minister and I both know enough about playing poker to know that one does not put one's cards on the table until the game is over.
- Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: That is my main criticism of the proposals; they show the European Union's hand to the WTO long before the game is settled.
- Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: I am trying to be constructive in pointing to a direction in which we can go in the talks. The trick will be to ensure we keep people in rural areas. It is not good enough for Commissioner Fischler to say this can be done through rural development initiatives. While welcome, if there are no farmers farming in the areas in which the initiatives were taken, the system will fail. We must also...
- Seanad: Fischler Proposals for Agriculture: Motion. (12 Feb 2003)
John Dardis: There is a major opportunity for the national food industry in this area. If we get to the point where the environmental restrictions are such that they make it difficult for farmers engaged in intensive agriculture to farm, it will present an immense opportunity for us to give consumers the type of food they are increasingly demanding at the prices they are prepared to pay for such high...