Results 2,221-2,240 of 4,810 for speaker:Liam Twomey

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (30 Jun 2009)

Liam Twomey: I asked for an explanation that backs it up.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: I arrived in the Chamber in time to hear about Senator Boyle's Pauline conversion to good governance.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: I was not even aware that he had been in Damascus recently. The change was so shocking it almost knocked me over and I felt I had to say something about it.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: The question to the Leader is whether there is a change in Green Party policy in Government to the effect that it has respect for both Houses of the Oireachtas. I am not aware of the Government's accepting many amendments in any legislation in either House since the Greens entered Government.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: That is the exception rather than the rule.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: Ministers treating most amendments with complete disdain in both Houses is the rule, not the exception. If there is a change in Green Party policy, it is nice to see.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: We are monitoring what the Government does. Senator Boyle had more than enough to say about good government before he went into Government but we have not seen this in the past two years. I would love to have a debate on this to find out whether Government has changed and has more respect for both Houses of the Oireachtas because we have seen more self-service than public service from...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: On a point of order, it is not acceptable to make a racist, sexist or an ageist remark in this House.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: I apologise and I will take my hands out of my pockets.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: They are the lads in China.

Seanad: Unemployment: Motion (1 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: I second the amendment. In many of his contributions Senator Boyle asks for co-operation from this side of the House as if, in some way, we had the solution for the Government. The problem with the Government is that it clearly has not accepted the damage it has done to the economy or people's lives or that the solutions lie within itself. We might consider a standard family income of...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: I seek an urgent debate in the House on the issue of social welfare fraud and the manner in which this issue is being raised in the media. It is being reported that non-nationals are flying in here to collect social welfare benefits, but social welfare fraud is a wider problem. There has been cross-Border social welfare fraud for years. Irish people have been travelling to the United...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: It is true, we will never know. Why will the Order of Business start at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning and will the time for it be shortened? If we are asked to sit an extra day we should make it a full day's work and make it look like a full day's work, with a full Order of Business.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: We should have a full Order of Business and make it look like a proper day's work.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Second Stage (2 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: The risk equalisation issue goes back to 2003. I find it surprising that this legislation is necessary in 2009. I was a Member of the Dáil when many of the issues related to risk equalisation cropped up and they were debated at length. The level of corporate knowledge of this issue in the Departments of Health and Children and Finance must be substantial. I do not understand the need for...

Seanad: Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Second Stage (2 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: It would frighten me if the Senator agreed with me twice in the one day.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Second Stage (2 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: If I pay for somebody else, can I claim the credit?

Seanad: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Second Stage (2 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: This legislation is quite straightforward. The only surprising thing about it is that it took so long for this work to start. The Prospectus report which was published in 2001 or 2002 discussed rationalising services and agencies in all areas of Government. Deputy Micheál Martin, the then Minister, has the distinction of managing to set up the largest number of agencies while he was...

Seanad: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Second Stage (2 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: They got to Senator Feeney over lunch.

Seanad: Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Second Stage (2 Jul 2009)

Liam Twomey: I do not mean to correct Senator Feeney, but the staff are not agency staff as she and I may know them. There is an agency, but its staff are permanent. It is a trained team that collects the patients in question.