Results 2,381-2,400 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: We should touch the forelock.

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I move: "(1)(a) That, having regard to: (i) recent reports that US aircraft landing at Irish airports may have been used to transport persons to locations where they may be at risk of being subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment; and (ii) Ireland's obligations inter alia under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, the Criminal Justice (United Nations Convention...

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: We agreed it with the Leader and with the Whip of the Progressive Democrats in the House. I could not go around and shake everybody's hand on the issue. I know that some Fianna Fáil Senators opposed this motion before they knew what was in it. Some of them did not realise that the committee was to have a Government majority. They did not realise that we would put temperate language into the...

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I am unsure what this has to do with wars.

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: God help us. Imagine if it did that.

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Some 100,000 people are dead and we should not talk about it.

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: But.

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I will make my contribution in a bullet point fashion because there are a number of issues to be dealt with. Let us first get rid of the anti-American notion. I had the privilege of meeting Senator John McCain last September to talk about Irish illegals in America. Senator McCain is a brave American. He was the one who led the charge against his own Administration to ensure that American...

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Will somebody explain to me the reason the Attorney General has not told the gardaí that they can investigate these aircraft? Have we reached a level of incompetence that advice that goes to the European Parliament and the Council of Europe never reaches senior officers of the Garda Síochána? That is a fact.

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: That is a fact. Senator Norris checked it yesterday and the gardaí——

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: ——assured him again that they had no power to search such an aircraft.

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: As for the nonsense that Parliament should not be involved in foreign affairs, let us leave it at that. It is nonsense. It is one of de Valera's aberrations, a man for whom I have great admiration. It was a de Valera aberration that foreign affairs was his preserve and everybody else should butt out. That was always his view but he was wrong.

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: We continue to be told there is no evidence. I could read out to the House the evidence of an Italian prosecutor on what was going on in terms of the 22 CIA operatives whom he has indicted but I do not have enough time. How much evidence do the Senators need to know this is going on?

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Senator Dooley can interrupt me as often as he likes——

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I do not allow myself to be diverted from fundamental principles by matters of local inconvenience. I have done it all my life and I have dealt with members of Senator Dooley's party who used race as an election issue. I did not let electoral concerns interfere with——

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I am proud of the fact that it might have cost me votes because it was the right thing to do.

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: The Government says it has investigated the matter. How did it investigate it? It will not tell us. It tells us there is no need for this investigation because the Council of Europe and the European Parliament have done that. It is fine for the European Parliament and the Council of Europe to investigate it but it is not appropriate for the Irish Parliament. I know the reason for that. It is...

Seanad: Use of Irish Airports: Motion. (8 Mar 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Senator Mansergh, in his naivety or perhaps because he is by nature a very honest man, let the cat out of the bag when he said that the fundamental issue is that the Government wants to hold on to foreign policy. It wants to be accountable to nobody except——