Results 2,201-2,220 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (30 Nov 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Of course. My life is already sorted out.

Seanad: Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (30 Nov 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The story of my life is talking myself into work.

Seanad: Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (30 Nov 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Did the form of the legislation cause problems? I have no problem with the amendment. Did the previous prohibition on the production of poppies inhibit people from celebrating great days in November? Is it something we included as a matter of good sense? The amendment proposes that we no longer prohibit the production of poppies unless it is for the production of opium. It used to be a...

Seanad: Road Safety: Motion. (30 Nov 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I do not often quibble with the content of Government amendments since they are usually daft but I sometimes become annoyed when people make factual claims that are unsustainable. I am not sure what the first two lines of the Government amendment mean. These state that "Government policy since 1998 on road safety has provided a framework for the delivery of reductions in road deaths on a...

Seanad: Road Safety: Motion. (30 Nov 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I assure the Minister of State that I did not drive while I was keeping my feet off the floor. I accept that vehicles are safe with regard to their engineering maintenance and care. There are greater numbers of roads today, which are safer than before. However, newspaper headlines from the last two days indicate that our driving is getting worse. According to an NRA survey relating to 2003,...

Seanad: Road Safety: Motion. (30 Nov 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Like Senator MacSharry, I have a secretary paid for by the taxpayer. I then write to the companies which own the trucks in question. It would be invidious and improper to identify them but they are major distributors, some of which operate in the retail sector. I receive heartfelt letters from all of them assuring me their trucks are fitted with governors. However, my secretary recently...

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: On Senator O'Toole's last point, Members will be glad to know Bank of Ireland spent most of yesterday apologising for its chief economist's aberrations on "Questions and Answers" on Monday night. A representative telephoned my party colleague to apologise to him and made it quite clear its chief economist was acting in a personal capacity and was not speaking on behalf of the bank. That was...

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: There is something very sinister going on. On the issue raised by Senator O'Toole, there is another issue, namely, the real fear among people on lower incomes that the high level of immigration, which is very welcome in principle, is resulting in some downward pressure on what are already low wages. Even though there are 100,000 extra people at work, we will find the Government's income tax...

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Illiberal liberalism.

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: It is nobody's problem.

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: He was referred to as the Bank of Ireland chief economist.

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I have never seen a Government plan begin to fall apart so quickly as Transport 21. This morning, as I was boarding the train in Cork, I was presented with a copy of Irish Rail's new timetable for the next 12 months from Cork, which shows no changes from the previous 12 months in spite of the much trumpeted new fast trains every hour. In fact, a few of them are slightly slower. It has only...

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: They are not in the new timetable. There is no sign of them.

Seanad: WTO Negotiations: Statements. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I welcome the Minister to the House. Is breá an lá é i gcónaí nuair a bhíonn sí inár dteannta. The Minister is correct about the Commission and the unfortunate representative negotiating on our behalf. I regret that he springs from the same political tradition as I, which I cannot understand, explain or justify. His political views are to the right of those of most members of the...

Seanad: WTO Negotiations: Statements. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I am glad to hear it. The Commissioner makes me nervous. The core of a proper free trade world is a fair trade world. Despite what people say, I believe strongly there is a considerable amount of evidence that where people get the chance, they prefer to know that what they are buying is produced in a reasonably fair fashion. We cannot have equality. Nobody is trying to force Irish working...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The Senator is 200 years out of date.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I would like to share my time with Senator O'Meara.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: At a time of such prosperity, it would be impossible for even the most incompetent Government to introduce a budget without something that we would all welcome. I welcome the aspects of the budget that are a step in a direction we agree with, and others which are at least a recognition of problems the Government pretended for years did not exist. It is fascinating that after seven years of...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The average growth rate under Charlie McCreevy was lower than the average——

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: For a Government that is interested in multi-annual budgeting, it is extraordinary that it does not like multi-annual comparisons.