Results 3,041-3,060 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: I join my colleagues in seeking a debate on the siting of the new children's hospital. I raised this matter some time ago on the Order of Business, well in advance of the Government's decision on the matter. What I asked for then is what is now being sought, an international review of the siting. Quite a number of consultants from the different hospitals are seeking such a review. While...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: Yes. This statement highlights a clear discrepancy. If the Chinese authorities only harvested the organs of every single person executed, almost 1,600, then how can they explain the discrepancy of many thousands of organs being harvested? It is believed that members of Falun Gong are kept alive — almost as if in cold storage — awaiting an organ order and then callously murdered. It is...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: ——mouth wash. I was told that even though it was less than 100 ml, it was the container that was the danger. Yet one can buy a large bottle of water to carry on board. What was the problem with the container? Did they think I would go into the cabin and squirt the toothpaste in the pilot's eye, take over the plane and land it on the White House? It is absurd. Will the Leader ask the...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: Hear, hear. Good old Sir George.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: He is in Ulysses.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: Of course.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: It is unusual, however, to have such a varied and significant chorus of objections.

Seanad: Prisons Bill 2006: Committee Stage (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: I am somewhat concerned about this notion. Perhaps I did not fully understand the argument put forward by Senator Henry. I am aware that a number of people are concerned with regard to the stigmatisation of individuals, but I am sure the latter was not the Senator's intention. I put on the record of the House last week the view of a senior doctor who is concerned about such stigmatisation,...

Seanad: Prisons Bill 2006: Committee Stage (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: We are on the same side regarding the welfare of people.

Seanad: Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: Is there a speaker from the Government side?

Seanad: Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: In that case I shall have to leap into the breach, unprepared as I am.

Seanad: Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: I was not really offering but the Cathaoirleach's benign paternal eye spotted me. This is a matter on which I had thought I might have an opportunity to speak but there have been many other engagements this evening, such as the launch of Deputy Michael D. Higgins' book and the launch of a programme for the restoration of St. Patrick's Cathedral by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage...

Seanad: Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: I want to divert here. We are after all a nation of digressors.

Seanad: Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: Of course it is. If it was not in order the Cathaoirleach would have stopped me long ago. Laurence Sterne not only wrote digressions in Tristram Shandy but also wrote a whole chapter entitled "A Digression upon Digressions". I assure the Cathaoirleach that I will be modest and control myself. This is germane to the question of the safety of gas pipelines as contemplated by the Bill....

Seanad: Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Nov 2006)

David Norris: Everything is relevant. It is all a matter of degree. That is why the Cathaoirleach is so wisely tolerant of me. There are now two Ministers of State present in the House and we hope that some of these protests will make their way back to Government, even if it requires a certain elegance of construction to make them appear relevant. I would like to take up the question of fuel allowances,...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Nov 2006)

David Norris: I support Senator Ryan's comments on the report of the European Parliament into so-called extraordinary rendition flights. There was a disgraceful performance on radio today by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern. It was a mixture of bluster, evasion and deceit, as usual. He continually interrupted and harassed other speakers and then accused them of interrupting him.

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Nov 2006)

David Norris: It was a shaming performance and Senator Ryan is correct to say he answered questions that were never asked. Nobody said we could prove people were transported in the aeroplanes in question. He said he relied on Condoleezza Rice's assurance but has he forgotten that a prisoner in shackles was found on an aeroplane at Shannon Airport? Admittedly it was an American prisoner but it should not...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Nov 2006)

David Norris: I am and wish to give my reasons. I hope I will be allowed to because, as the Cathaoirleach knows, my attempt to establish a committee was stifled by the Government and Members on the Government side of this House.

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Nov 2006)

David Norris: Then the Minister attempted to make a few feeble jokes, which shows how seriously the Government takes it. It has been proved that the aeroplane involved in the rendition of a particular named person was refuelled on the return leg and that amounts to complicity.