Results 2,841-2,860 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: Schools Building Projects: Motion (23 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: The motion is not calling for resources.

Seanad: Schools Building Projects: Motion (23 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: That is right.

Seanad: Schools Building Projects: Motion (23 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: The customer charter reads well.

Seanad: Schools Building Projects: Motion (23 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, to the House and thank him for paying attention to the debate. I thank all the Senators who spoke in the debate. These include Senators Keaveney, Healy Eames, Hannigan, Boyle, Buttimer, Fitzgerald, Ormonde, O'Sullivan, Norris, Mullen, McFadden, O'Reilly, Phelan and Burke and their contributions contained a common theme. I refer to the point...

Seanad: Schools Building Projects: Motion (23 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: No, I did not. I asked for criteria. I am glad Senator Keaveney is paying such close attention. How does one go from the bands to the building? What have the bands got to do with a building being built?

Seanad: Schools Building Projects: Motion (23 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: There has been no mention in the debate of the stages of the building process. These are the preliminary stage, initial sketch scheme, sketch and design stage, detailed design, tender action and evaluation, construction and hand-over of works.

Seanad: Schools Building Projects: Motion (23 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: The Minister did not say a word about these stages. This leaves the House with a shortfall in information. It precisely illustrates the point I am making that one can hear much but learn nothing. If the Minister says a particular school is in band 1 and outlines the appropriate criteria, I accept that without question. The question is, as Senator Norris asked, how a school can move from...

Seanad: Schools Building Projects: Motion (23 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: I completely agree with the Minister that the urgent will always displace the less urgent. That is the nature of prioritising, and political leadership is about setting priorities. In the case at hand, I accept that a school which is considered the number one priority one week may, for various reasons, be displaced by another school the following week. There is nothing wrong with that....

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: I also welcome the clarification and withdrawal of that comment of Senator Walsh's. It is welcome it has been dealt with. I must gently disagree with my colleague, Senator Fitzgerald, on the matter of the Government pay increase. It was properly processed and dealt with and the figure was given by an independent body. I have said this here previously and I have been a single voice on this...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: Therefore, Members on this side have to say something on this. The Government members are entitled to their pay increase. However, I agree with the points Senator Fitzgerald made about the national wage agreement. I have been saying here for the past 20 years that these Houses should take an interest in national wage agreements. I have asked for debates on this issue here three times in...

Seanad: Good Friday Agreement and Lisbon Treaty: Statements (24 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: I am sure the Taoiseach, whom I welcome to the House, understands better than most that the Independent group does not have a leader. I am speaking on behalf of my colleagues, particularly the father of the House, Senator Ross. We wish to be associated with the remarks that have been made so far. I pay tribute to the Taoiseach's commitment and success in a number of areas, including his...

Seanad: Good Friday Agreement and Lisbon Treaty: Statements (24 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: I will conclude by taking issue, in a marginal way, with a line that appeared in the Taoiseach's speech, in which he described himself as "an Irish Nationalist in the republican tradition". I think he is selling himself short. I see him as a republican in the true and purest sense — a Tone republican with a vision of Catholic, Protestant and dissenter together in a country with a fair and...

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: A worrying rumour is in the House at the moment that the candles in Senator Cassidy's birthday shrine might have lead to difficulties in the Mayflower Hotel last night.

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: As long as the Deputy Leader can assure me of the Leader's wellbeing, that he has recovered and has emerged safely——

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: On a more serious note, although that is serious——

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: Fáilte go mór roimhis an cine ata déanta ag an Rialtais mar gheall ar ainm mo shean bhaile fhéin, Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis. Mar a dúras go minic roimhe seo bhí trí ainmneacha i gcónaí ar an áit sin agus beidh trí animneacha i gcónaí ann. Mar chríoch don scéal, níl aon ró-athrú déanta, ach fáiltím go bhfuil sé déanta. Níos mó agus níos tábhachtaí ná sin ná go...

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: Or if they will be in that portfolio.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2008: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2008)

Joe O'Toole: The Senator is so young.