Results 2,401-2,420 of 4,717 for speaker:Martin Mansergh

Seanad: Education System: Motion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: A teacher told me she wished the Government would impose natural family planning because she needed to fill her junior infants class. She would have no trouble filling the class today. I quoted the European social survey, a good external reality check, on the Order of Business and will quote from it again now. It is a comparative benchmark of facilities in the local area, giving the...

Seanad: Education System: Motion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: Ireland comes high on the list, sixth out of 27, with 78% finding facilities satisfactory. Cyprus, Belgium, Finland are higher but the majority of countries are lower. The UK, our nearest neighbour, is at 62%, suggesting that we are not doing everything wrong. One of the good aspects of the Irish education system is that we pay our teachers a decent wage and give them social respect. It...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (20 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: It is amazing that there are still people in this country who do not realise that in cases of rape, it is the victims who suffer a life sentence. My learned friends say that there are many disadvantages with mandatory sentences. Is it the position that they do not work and, presumably, suspended sentences work better? This matter should be debated in the context of forthcoming justice...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: There is a net increase in manufacturing employment.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: Why does the Senator not join the company?

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: Is he present in the House?

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: I too would like to see the integrity of the public service ethos upheld. On rare occasions in days gone by one could work through until 5 a.m. or 7 a.m. without overtime, bonuses or incentives. I understand permanent civil servants now receive performance bonuses. I cannot state I wholly approve of this development. While most, or all, of us applaud the efforts of the Minister for...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: ——had in the legislation——

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: ——implementing the Patten report or purporting to implement the Patten report.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: I thought it particularly disloyal in the past week——

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: ——for criticism to appear of the British Prime Minister and to portray him as having rings run around him by Sinn Féin.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: A criticism made without justification because as was pointed out by Senator Norris, Sinn Féin has moved a lot further from its original position than the British Government.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: With a new Prime Minister in Britain perhaps his term will be up and he will retire to obscurity to write with his undoubted talents a new version of The Prince or The Discourses.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: Negotiating.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: The Minister is talking to one or two ex-columnists.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: I agree with some of the sentiments expressed by Senator Norris. I have a high regard for Fintan O'Toole who wrote a splendid biography of Sheridan. That is not to say I do not strongly disagree with his views on occasion. When I was a columnist with The Irish Times, I recall entering its headquarters in the company of two other journalists early in my career and one of them welcomed me to...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: And one or two in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: I accept the substance of the Minister's argument but wish to make a brief comment on what could be called his ideological digression. I agree with much of what he said but would not go all the way. For the past 20 years, whenever a prominent Deputy on the Opposition benches in the other House has used the words "private profit", he has spit them out as if they have represented some sort of...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: No, he or she would not.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

Martin Mansergh: The Senator's tirade against multinationals is terribly dated and it is obvious his economic and political education has not progressed since the 1970s. That is the thinking one would have expected at that time. Multinationals have been an important but not the sole ingredient in the building of the Celtic tiger and our social and economic progress. The issue is not simply about tax or...