Results 2,121-2,140 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Social Welfare Benefits: Motion. (9 Nov 2005)

David Norris: I welcome the Minister to the House. I want to comment on the general topic of the motion without going into some of the specifics. This is an important area. It touches people's real, lived experience and it is not appropriate for any of us to engage in a polemical, partisan series of attacks. What we must do in this House is urge the Minister to take as constructive a role in this area as...

Seanad: Social Welfare Benefits: Motion. (9 Nov 2005)

David Norris: I am sure it will be an expanded half minute.

Seanad: Social Welfare Benefits: Motion. (9 Nov 2005)

David Norris: I would like another minute and 30 seconds. I hope the Minister has received a copy of this report and that he will read it. It contains many graphs and so on, which I do not particularly like, but there is also the human face. There are six case histories in the report. One, for example, concerns a woman who applied for a one-parent family payment. She was denied on the grounds that she had...

Seanad: Social Welfare Benefits: Motion. (9 Nov 2005)

David Norris: I am just finishing. This woman was claiming disability allowance. She then took up a FÁS course and was denied the disability allowance. She was also a lone parent. Had she claimed the lone parents allowance, which she did not, she could have kept that payment and taken up the FÁS course. It seems daft to me that because she did not claim the right one she was denied a payment the...

Seanad: Social Welfare Benefits: Motion. (9 Nov 2005)

David Norris: It looked for a repayment of €3,000 and took away the payment, which I am glad to say was restored on appeal. I raised the issue of a blind student.

Seanad: Social Welfare Benefits: Motion. (9 Nov 2005)

David Norris: I am only on 25. The blind student got a scholarship to do a PhD in history. By way of reward they subtracted the value of the scholarship from the blind allowance. That is mean and penny pinching. Somebody with a disability who has the gumption to do something for themselves should be encouraged and supported, not penalised.

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 Nov 2005)

David Norris: Good for her.

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 Nov 2005)

David Norris: It is very healthy.

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 Nov 2005)

David Norris: Yes.

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 Nov 2005)

David Norris: I support Senator Mooney. We should have a debate on the Middle East. Up to 70 people may have been tragically killed in Amman. I have stayed in that hotel, as have many Irish delegations. Another 35 people were killed today in Baghdad. It is clear that Bush and Blair are on the slide. They are responsible for this. They walked us into it but we must prepare for a situation when a more...

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 Nov 2005)

David Norris: I will be as brief as I can, however, we run to 45 minutes every day. I have a motion on the Order Paper suggesting we recognise this fact. It has been opposed by some people although there is general agreement.

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 Nov 2005)

David Norris: I could not speak more directly on the Order of Business. This is the tenth anniversary of the murder by the Nigerian authorities of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists who were protesting against the environmental devastation of the region by Shell Oil. I was a member of the foreign affairs committee when Des O'Malley was Chairman, and he was a good Chairman. When we planned to...

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 Nov 2005)

David Norris: We can be proud of those types of Irish people in the building industry.

Seanad: Ferns Report: Statements. (10 Nov 2005)

David Norris: I am grateful to Senator Henry for sharing time with me. This is not a pleasant occasion or one on which anybody should gloat. While nobody relishes the distress of a great institution such as the Roman Catholic Church, it is important that matters such as those addressed in the Ferns Report be exposed. I express my sympathy on this occasion to the many decent priests and members of religious...

Seanad: Ferns Report: Statements. (10 Nov 2005)

David Norris: The behaviour is inappropriate. I have great respect for many of the traditions of all the various churches. People say that only 4% or 5% of abuse cases relate to the clergy, but that is statistically anomalous, since for that to be representative of the general population, one would have to have 200,000 priests in the country, and we do not have that many. There is a particular problem in...

Seanad: Ferns Report: Statements. (10 Nov 2005)

David Norris: One must be equal in such matters. I do not believe that there is quite the same degree of sexual molestation in the Anglican Church, for example, but there is a devastating history, which has never been examined, of violent physical abuse of children in Protestant schools, including those that had expensive boarding sections. People's lives were destroyed, and no one ever opens his mouth,...

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Nov 2005)

David Norris: I support Senator Finucane and others who have called for a debate on the rising tide of violence but hope it will be conducted in a non-partisan way because it affects everyone. Some incidents are worrying. Ireland has changed a great deal in my lifetime. I never thought I would see the day when there would be contract killings and that somebody would say he or she received €10,000 for...

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Nov 2005)

David Norris: It is difficult to hear the Senators. Perhaps they should join Equity too. Some voice projection training might be useful. This is a serious issue as it relates to the lowest paid workers in the State. They earn €7,000 per annum, and they represent us all over the world. They are the most vulnerable people. It is extraordinary that the Competition Authority has put a gun to the head of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Nov 2005)

David Norris: Never.

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Nov 2005)

David Norris: I wish to raise a matter that affects innocent bystanders. It is a matter I and other Senators have repeatedly raised at the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs repeatedly over the past few months but it has been confirmed today, namely, the admission by the United States authorities that it has been using napalm and white phosphorous in the bombing of cities like Falluja. This is chemical...