Results 3,061-3,080 of 5,046 for speaker:Paschal Mooney

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Child Care Services Provision (4 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I welcome the Minister of State. The shocking revelations on the RTE "Prime Time" programme about the inspection procedures in crèches and child care facilities throughout the country appalled the nation. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, in the immediate aftermath of the programme, promised a great deal of reform and I have tabled this matter in that context. As chairman...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Child Care Services Provision (4 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: While I accept fully what the Minister of State said and I am pleased that arrangements are under way to recruit a replacement, the reply is not focused on my query in the context of child care inspections. He has referred to what the HSE is doing in the context of the overall complement of public health nurses. This matter is about child care and inspections of facilities. I hope in the...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Child Care Services Provision (4 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I understand the vacancy is not recent in the context of child care inspections. It may have become vacant recently in the overall context and I would be grateful if the Minister of State conveyed that point.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Child Care Services Provision (4 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I welcome the Minister of State. The shocking revelations on the RTE "Prime Time" programme about the inspection procedures in crèches and child care facilities throughout the country appalled the nation. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, in the immediate aftermath of the programme, promised a great deal of reform and I have tabled this matter in that context. As chairman...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Child Care Services Provision (4 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: While I accept fully what the Minister of State said and I am pleased that arrangements are under way to recruit a replacement, the reply is not focused on my query in the context of child care inspections. He has referred to what the HSE is doing in the context of the overall complement of public health nurses. This matter is about child care and inspections of facilities. I hope in the...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Child Care Services Provision (4 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I understand the vacancy is not recent in the context of child care inspections. It may have become vacant recently in the overall context and I would be grateful if the Minister of State conveyed that point.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I have great sympathy for our colleague, Senator Brennan. It appeared this project would go ahead but whatever has happened, there is a need for intense discussions North and South, and even east-west on it. I suggest the Senator use his good offices to talk to his colleagues in Government who are members of the British Irish Council and suggest that this matter should be raised at that...

Seanad: Parental Leave Bill 2013: Second Stage (10 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: Before I call on the proposal to be moved, on my behalf and that of my colleague from County Leitrim, Senator Comiskey, I welcome Councillor Frank Dolan and some friends and neighbours from Sligo and Leitrim who have joined us in the Visitors Gallery. As Leitrim people we are particularly pleased to welcome you. With that, our little bit of parochialism is out of the way. I hope the...

Seanad: Parental Leave Bill 2013: Second Stage (10 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive reply. I also join my colleagues on this side of the House in complimenting Senator White, as the Minister of State has done, on her initiative in bringing this forward. It is rather interesting that while the main thrust of the Bill is about specific details, as discussed by the Minister of State and outlined by Senator White, the overall...

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I welcome the Minister of State again. When I dealt with this on Second Stage I referred to the Act of Union and it has been brought home to me even more what it must have been like in the dying hours of the debate on the abolition of Grattan's Parliament as Members fought and strove valiantly to try to change the minds of not only the Minister but the rotten boroughs. I do not for one...

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: The figure of €9 million is being put out to the people-----

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: According to Mr. Kieran Coughlan, the Clerk of the Dáil, the figure is €9 million. The rest of the figure, with respect, that brings it up to €22 million is an accumulation of a figure that will be transferred to existing resources. Will the two men sitting over there lose their jobs as a result of the abolition of the Seanad? Will the Minister of State stop paying them...

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: That is the figure regardless of whether the Minister of State likes it. The direct saving is €9 million. Even if I was to go half way with the Minister of State and say it was €12 million or €15 million, as against €55 billion and €1 billion of borrowings per month, it pales into insignificance.

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: It is not an argument to put before the people. It is not an argument to say to the people that we are going to save these few measly millions. The Secretary General informed the Committee of Public Accounts in January 2012 that he estimated that there would be €13.3 million in indirect savings which relate "to the apportionment of the support costs for the Seanad" from the joint...

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: Again, going back to the Danish model and the wider context of the democratic deficit in Ireland, the document prepared by the Library and Research Service states that, "It should be noted that local government is stronger in the Scandinavian countries with greater powers and autonomy than is the case in Ireland and that in all four parliaments [which is the four Scandinavian countries] the...

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: It also makes another reference to the effect that there are calls for enhanced scrutiny of secondary and EU legislation. Another set of commentators, who have together formed an independent group called Democracy Matters, proposed that Executive dominance should be addressed by reform of the Seanad. The Seanad's abolition would, the group argues, lead to "a political elite in the...

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I need to say it again - "a political elite in the Dáil running the country without any scrutiny". This is the question that will be put to the people. It will not be a simple matter of answering "Yes" or "No", but of whether they are prepared to engage in a new political environment in which a political elite in the Dáil will run the country without any scrutiny.

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: Céim an Choiste (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: The former Tánaiste and Minister, Michael McDowell, argued that the abolition of the Seanad would leave the Dáil, which he described as "a deeply dysfunctional chamber totally dominated by members of the Executive and savagely ruled by the party whip system," as the only parliamentary body concerned with legislation. Based on these arguments at this relatively early stage in the...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: We know what Senator Bacik wants.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Jul 2013)

Paschal Mooney: They obviously care more about it than Senator Bacik.