Results 201-220 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Seanad: Book of Estimates 2004: Statements. (26 Nov 2003)

Shane Ross: These are the people Ireland should stand up against when it gets the opportunity. I regret we did not stand up to them when they were in blatant breach of a pact which they initiated, particularly the Germans. As the euphemism goes, this issue will be revisited and, I hope, re-examined. I hope we will discover the real reason the Government took this position, but for the moment it is...

Seanad: Book of Estimates 2004: Statements. (26 Nov 2003)

Shane Ross: I risked interruption and it was fulfilled as usual. What I regret about the speech on both sides of the House, which is indicative of what is happening in Irish politics, is as follows. The Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, has been a great Minister for Finance. He has served seven years as Minister and has transformed the Irish economy, certainly the taxation system, with the...

Seanad: Order of Business. - Budget Statement: Motion. (3 Dec 2003)

Shane Ross: I wish to share time with Senator Norris.

Seanad: Order of Business. - Budget Statement: Motion. (3 Dec 2003)

Shane Ross: I do not share all Senator O'Toole's sentiments. Any effort to shake up the public service is good because it is high time it was shaken up. If it must start with pensions, that is all to the good because of the limited opportunity to shake up a service which has got its way virtually everywhere. I see the problems pointed out by Senator O'Toole. If he is right and this means no more national...

Seanad: Order of Business. - Budget Statement: Motion. (3 Dec 2003)

Shane Ross: It is not such a threat to the economy of the nation that we have no more pay deals. There is no proof that the pay deals were the saviour of the economy. The people who did well out of the pay deals were the public servants. Of course they start hurting and do not like it much when the suggestion is made that they be given some sort of equality with the private sector. They may be made to...

Seanad: Order of Business. - Budget Statement: Motion. (3 Dec 2003)

Shane Ross: I am sorry it did not happen earlier and that there is not more of it. What the Minister proposes is radical but the plan to transfer 10,000 jobs out of Dublin is nothing like enough. Anybody who lives, works or suffers in Dublin knows it is not a pleasant place in which to live or work. It is no longer even a pleasant place to visit.

Seanad: Order of Business. - Budget Statement: Motion. (3 Dec 2003)

Shane Ross: Senator Dardis will have his chance to speak in a moment when we will probably have another lecture on stem cells, if we are lucky. Anybody who has to work in Dublin knows it is not a pleasant place to live. We should say yes to further decentralisation. There may be some peculiar preferences regarding where Departments are going. That is a political point. In every case the proposed moves...

Seanad: Order of Business. - Budget Statement: Motion. (3 Dec 2003)

Shane Ross: Apart from the public service pensions issue, I see the writing of people outside the Houses and the political parties in this budget. The evidence is that there are huge pressures from the public service on this budget. Who was it who made a thundering speech last night saying there should be no PRSI changes in it?

Seanad: Order of Business. - Budget Statement: Motion. (3 Dec 2003)

Shane Ross: Thank you Senator, that is the answer I wanted.

Seanad: Order of Business. - Budget Statement: Motion. (3 Dec 2003)

Shane Ross: My old friend came to the rescue again.

Seanad: Order of Business. - Budget Statement: Motion. (3 Dec 2003)

Shane Ross: It was Mr. David Begg. It is the oldest political trick in the world – demand something, get it, and then go back and say they gave me what I wanted. There are no PRSI changes because the public service unions did not want them. Another small but highly significant matter is the tax allowance for membership of a trade union which rises from €130 to €200. Why is that?

Seanad: Order of Business. - Budget Statement: Motion. (3 Dec 2003)

Shane Ross: It is very good for Senator Mansergh who does not have to pay into a union and is never likely to be admitted to one because he is the only other public schoolboy—

Seanad: Order of Business. - Budget Statement: Motion. (3 Dec 2003)

Shane Ross: I must point out that Senator Mansergh is the only other public schoolboy in this House, a minor public school to boot, and he is welcome to that.

Seanad: Order of Business. - Budget Statement: Motion. (3 Dec 2003)

Shane Ross: I regret that there is little real tax reform in this budget. There was a great deal of speculation that the bands would be widened. Not to widen the bands is, in effect, a stealth tax. I would like to have seen the Minister continue on the radical programme, in which he has been involved over the past seven years, of reducing direct taxes or, not my preference, widening the bands. I regret...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy. (21 Jan 2004)

Shane Ross: I was privileged to serve in this House with Pat Joe Reynolds for many years. He was not only popular, but principled. He was almost rigid in his adherence to those things in which he believed. He was a traditionalist, although some would say a conservative. However, he was humane and sincere and not prone to bending his opinions with the fashionable winds of the time. This was most potently...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy. (21 Jan 2004)

Shane Ross: It was many years ago. He asked what they were like and I told him I would take him to one. We went to a night-club in Baggot Street or Leeson Street and I never saw a man's eyes pop out of his head so obviously as Pat Joe's. He was fascinated. It was a world to which he was not accustomed and we left at a very early stage. Nevertheless, he told the story afterwards and repeated many times in...

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Jan 2004)

Shane Ross: I support the request for a debate on the possible strikes at the airports. I do not know, nor does anybody in this House, whether they will take place. There is a case to be made for pointing out to those who are holding the nation to ransom that Sustaining Progress promised industrial peace. It seems to me that the Sustaining Progress agreement is only meant to be kept by one side and not...

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Jan 2004)

Shane Ross: Yes. The Minister should come to the House and make some comment on that issue.

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Jan 2004)

Shane Ross: I am a member of a trades union.

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Jan 2004)

Shane Ross: That is correct, a Chathaoirligh. I gave the reasons. I do not suppose you want me to repeat them. Did you hear them over Senator Ryan's interruptions?