Results 2,141-2,160 of 74,100 for speaker:Bernard Durkan

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: They are basking in their own reflected glory.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: Flora Drummond chained herself to the railings of Downing Street in the same cause.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: Definitely not. Never.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: That is the proof.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: The Deputy should not worry. I will stay on.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: Twenty minutes would not do justice to all one could say on a Bill of this nature but I will do my best.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: I intend to refer to that in passing. As Scripture says, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. In this case the constituency boundary commission took it away on the first occasion and gave it back on this occasion.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: I have seen worse situations.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: On the last occasion the boundary commission visited my constituency, it left it in such a way that I had great difficulty in getting elected afterwards. Hopefully, it will not be as difficult on the next occasion. However, that is what happens with commission boundaries in every country. It is part of the democratic system and sometimes one falls on the right side of the line and sometimes...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: It is a sign of revival and of hope for the future. I take no advice from any quarter on that issue because I was born and raised in a rural area. I do not wish to see a situation as pertained in eastern Europe when the communists took over after the Second World War. They scooped all the people out of the rural areas and built tower blocks for them beside the cities and towns in order to...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: I remind the Deputy they did a lot of other funny things. The Government decided to ban people from congregating outside polling stations, the reason being that modern voters did not want unclean and unwashed groups of rednecks outside the polling stations interfering with their natural process. The result was that people did not turn out to vote. One of the main reasons people went to vote...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: I would not use the word "intellectual". They are thinkers. There was a ritual of going down to the polling station and having a go at one's next-door neighbour and the same people were quite happy to go to the pub the following night and it was all forgotten.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: Funnily enough, they had a go at each other as well. The fact they were Pioneers did not inhibit their capacity to have a go at each other and they did so on many occasions.

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: The theory was that polling day was a day for politics and democracy, a day for the ritual big occasion in which everybody was involved. I ask that this notion of measuring the distance from the polling station be scrapped. At the first election held following this rule, we had to search for the polling stations. I know the stations in my constituency and I know the ones where Deputy Seán...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: I agree. However, the degree of annoyance expressed by some of his colleagues at the time was significant. However, giving someone a nomination hardly shows annoyance. The amendment introduced by the previous Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government obviously created an anomaly. That the judgment in the Kelly case was delivered the day before the general election meant that...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: Fianna Fáil might have had other concerns. However, I will not go down that road. I do not accept that it is good for democracy for something like this to happen. It is one matter for candidates to look over their shoulders and wonder what the outcome of an election might be. It is an entirely different matter if after the election they are faced with the possibility of a change in the rules...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: That is true. The transmission on radio or television of a broadcast on behalf of a candidate or political party is also included. As we live in the 21st century, how could that ever be considered to be part of an electoral expense to be declared? It is part of the normal business we conduct. Section 6 should be contained in a separate Bill and should not form part of this legislation. It...

Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: I could not find words to describe the way I felt on the last occasion I spoke. I hope the intervening period has given me sufficient inspiration to come up with the right words to describe this Bill. Here we have a monument to the Government's incompetence and ineptitude. The numbers on the waiting lists for driving tests in recent years have shown that not only has the Government been...

Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: Like most of its proposals, the Government will not divulge the secret until the last minute. We have large numbers of people waiting for driving tests, some of them up to 14 and 15 months. This is not a new phenomenon. It has happened before on several occasions and a sticking plaster or fire brigade action has taken place on every occasion. On one occasion we had a write-off of all tests...

Written Answers — Airport Development Projects: Airport Development Projects (12 May 2005)

Bernard Durkan: Question 12: To ask the Minister for Transport his plans in regard to the future of Aer Lingus with particular reference to the likely ownership of the second terminal at Dublin Airport; if it is intended to provide a rapid rail transport service to relieve traffic congestion in the vicinity of the airport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15652/05]