Results 2,901-2,920 of 7,123 for speaker:Mary O'Rourke
- Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: Senator Coghlan and I have other ways of meeting. The Senator also praised the current Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Environment and Local Government. I agree with Senator Browne that crash barriers should be removable in sections. While I do not know of the passport rule he has unearthed, it would make a good and pithy Adjournment matter. I was glad Senator Feighan referred to...
- Seanad: Fisheries Order: Motion. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: I move: That the proposal that Seanad Ãireann approve the following Order in draft: Fisheries (Miscellaneous Commercial Licences) (Alteration of Duties) Order, 2004, copies of which were laid before Seanad Ãireann on 25 November 2004, be referred to the Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, in accordance with paragraph (1) (Seanad) of the Orders of Reference of...
- Seanad: Treaty of Amsterdam: Motion. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: I move: That the proposal that Seanad Ãireann approves the exercise by the State of the option, provided by Article 3 of the fourth protocol set out in the Treaty of Amsterdam, to notify the President of the Council that it wishes to take part in the adoption and application of the following proposed measure: draft decision of the Council providing for certain areas covered by Title IV of...
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: He is coming to the point.
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: Who said that?
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: What would be wrong with that?
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: The Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, will announce it.
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for the comprehensive speech he gave. It is a script we should keep because it is very detailed. The former Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, established the decentralisation process a year ago. We always criticise Ministers for not laying out their objectives and working towards them but he set out his stall and tried to achieve...
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: I know about decentralisation. At the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s, when my brother was the Minister for Education, Athlone benefited from the transfer of over 400 Department of Education civil servants. There was no great fanfare, they came and loved the town. They are all settled in now, rearing families who go to local schools and college, they are part of the fabric of...
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: I am telling the House what happened, there is no reminiscence about it. The Department of Education and Science is there, phase one happened under Brian Lenihan and phase two happened under me. I am not reminiscing, I am telling the truth. This Government is committed to providing jobs for rural areas. Yesterday, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment announced 170 jobs in the...
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: There is something discordant about this debate. From the very beginning, the then Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, and the Taoiseach consistently said the scheme would be voluntary. It would be impossible to exert pressure in a matter such as this. It must be voluntary, of necessity. Therefore, one must move ahead with those who have applied. To...
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar are the three towns which form the apex of the strategy, where the education jobs are to be located. Athlone is willing to extend its mantle of education to the other two towns and allow them to share in its success. Everyone on the Opposition side is moaning, but I notice in the Minister of State's speech how many Departments are being decentralised. The...
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: I am sure it is. I notice that the Senator, not wanting to parade up and down the road from Longford to Dublin, has acquired a place in which to lay his head in Dublin. That is good. He does not have to do the long trek from Longford to Dublin all the time. I acquired a place for myself in Dublin many years ago. The Minister of State's script is a beauty in that it lays out comprehensively...
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: The Senator has been speaking much sense.
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: What about Fine Gael?
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: The Senator need not point his finger at me.
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: The Senator did not tell me he was coming to Athlone last night. I would have come to meet him.
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: I was not informed that he was coming. I was not invited.
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: Does the Senator believe decentralisation is voluntary? There is an argument about that.
- Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (30 Nov 2004)
Mary O'Rourke: It must be terrible to be so negative.