Results 2,481-2,500 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Apr 2007)

Joe O'Toole: The point made by Senator Coghlan is true. The House will recall that on the last day we met before Easter, we both raised the issue of coastal erosion in County Kerry and said that certain roads were falling into the sea. One week later, one half of a mile of road fell into the Atlantic Ocean, which had to be dealt with. The issue of Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis has gone beyond a joke. I...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Apr 2007)

Joe O'Toole: Dingle men are not afraid of unpopular causes.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2007)

Joe O'Toole: I wish to echo much of what Senator Brian Hayes has said. I wish all colleagues standing for election in either the Seanad or the Dáil the best of luck. I do not subscribe to the view that if somebody fails to be elected to one House and stands for another, this in some way diminishes the House. The Seanad has been extraordinarily enriched by the contributions of people who were defeated...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2007)

Joe O'Toole: I notice it. Even if I were never to profit from reform of the House, it is something of a failure that we have not managed to do it. I know the Leader set out to do it, as did the leader of Fine Gael, Senator Brian Hayes, the leader of the Labour Party, Senator Ryan and Senator Dardis, leader of the Progressive Democrats. We all set out to get this done and it did not happen. However,...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2007)

Joe O'Toole: ——during his period in the Seanad and I am pleased to recognise that. While it is important for us, as Independents, to assert our independence, that does not mean we are in opposition. We vote on merit as we think right as issues are raised, and will continue to do so.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Joe O'Toole: I listened to a most heated and energetic debate at the INTO Annual Congress this year on that issue. The Minister has met representatives of the educational communities at local level who have pointed out to him how inadequate are their grants to meet the demands on them in terms of different local authority charges. I am not opposed to local authority charges in a general sense but it is...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Joe O'Toole: Would it not be an easy thing for the Government to compensate schools for the additional cost?

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Joe O'Toole: I compliment the Minister and his officials on bringing forward this important legislation. I always like to leave the Minister with an idea when he visits the House. It would be very helpful if Sustainable Energy Ireland were to make grants available for rainwater harvesting. I have raised the matter with the Minister before. It would be a simple policy to implement and I do not...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Joe O'Toole: The same was done in every country house in Ireland.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Joe O'Toole: My wife says it puts a shine on her hair. It is taken out of the barrel and boiled on the Aga.

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Jul 2007)

Joe O'Toole: Fáiltim go mór roimh na daoine nua atá tagtha isteach sa Seanad inniu. Tá mé ag tosnú leis na entrances and exits, etc. I welcome the new people — fáiltím go mór roimh an fhear nua ó Chorca Dhuibhne atá istigh anseo den chéad uair. In addressing a word of welcome to Senator Dorgan from west Kerry, I say to my friends on this side of the House that the word on Senator Dorgan...

Seanad: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2007: Second Stage. (3 Jul 2007)

Joe O'Toole: I welcome the Minister to the House and I welcome this legislation. I believe the Minister has done a good job. While I agree with much of what is contained in the Bill, I must take up Senator Ross's final point. I do not mind facing a howling crowd or facing down an argument. However, what I find most difficult to deal with is a telephone call on a Sunday afternoon from an elderly lady...

Seanad: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2007: Committee Stage (3 Jul 2007)

Joe O'Toole: I thank the Minister for his reply on Second Stage. It was a very interesting outline of the economy as he saw it and it is very important for us in this House to hear these things. I value it. I must always make the point to Ministers that we are on the non-Government side, which is not the Opposition side. These are the Independent benches and we look at the issues as they appear before...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (3 Jul 2007)

Joe O'Toole: He lost the vote as well.

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (3 Jul 2007)

Joe O'Toole: I thank the Minister for bringing this legislation before the House. My colleague and fellow Kerry man, Senator Coghlan, accused the Minister of rushing the legislation but if I had my way, it would have been before this House last April. Far from being rushed, the Bill was published last April and there have been newspaper articles about it over the last three months. Everybody has had a...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (3 Jul 2007)

Joe O'Toole: Senator Coghlan's remarks are very helpful because they reduce this to a simple issue. For the past four or five years, Senator Coghlan has been a supporter of the work of the PIAB in reforming this area. I wish to focus on the issue of access to the courts. I reiterate the point I made in 2004, namely, that if the PIAB was doing anything to curtail the rights, constitutional or otherwise,...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (3 Jul 2007)

Joe O'Toole: I take the point made by Senator Coghlan and know now where he is coming from. I have not read the explanatory memorandum but I know what he is talking about. It is a misinterpretation. Perhaps the memorandum is inelegantly written. It says that people may not have legal costs awarded to them because there was no legal activity. What it is saying is that when somebody fills in a form and...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Jul 2007)

Joe O'Toole: I wish to be associated with the sentiments expressed by Senator Finucane regarding the Leas-Chathaoirleach. I appreciate the way he brought his Mayo sense of calm to the workings of this House over the past five years, and I wish him well in the election.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Jul 2007)

Joe O'Toole: I neglected to welcome our new Leader back yesterday. He has not taken umbrage in regard to that, but I wish to put my welcome on the record now. There are many people whose last day in the Seanad this is. However, on behalf of the Independent Members I would like to say a special thanks to our colleague, Senator Mary Henry, who has been a Trojan worker in all aspects of her work while she...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Jul 2007)

Joe O'Toole: But she is not the Whip.