Results 3,321-3,340 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I will conclude. The legislation is welcome and complicated and the penalties are proportionate in terms of the apparent abuses that have been going on. I hope it passes through both Houses reasonably quickly and is enforced with the vigour it deserves.

Seanad: Statute Law Revision Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I support the comments made. The legislation is a journey through our history. I wondered what I had got myself into when, as leader of my party in the Seanad, I was presented with the Bill, but when I began to read it, I wanted to read more about it and the interesting questions it raised. The production of the explanatory document may not have done much other than slow us down and give...

Seanad: Statute Law Revision Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: It may not even get debated in the other House, judging by the pile-up of legislation from the Seanad waiting for debate there. I wish the Minister of State well with the legislation which is worthwhile but which will not bring him a single vote in his constituency. None of us will get a vote on that basis either, but it is still more than worth doing.

Seanad: Health Service Reform: Statements (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Senator Minihan should be careful of the black box.

Seanad: Health Service Reform: Statements (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I would have reminded the Senator anyway.

Seanad: Health Service Reform: Statements (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I do not propose to launch into my usual type of diatribe about the quality of the health service.

Seanad: Health Service Reform: Statements (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: No. It will most assuredly not be kept if Senator Feeney keeps interrupting me. It is extremely important in dealing with reform of the health service to ensure the action taken is designed effectively to make it better. The word "reform" is one that is used too loosely. We must ask ourselves what type of service we want to provide. I am not sure everybody on the other side of the House...

Seanad: Health Service Reform: Statements (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I explained why it was the case during the debate last week on MRSA. The fundamental problem with the health service is that the quality of its management is abysmal. It is entirely recruited from inside the service and does not have the necessary injection of external expertise to manage the system. It has the largest budget in the country but is managed by people not qualified or...

Seanad: Mental Capacity and Guardianship Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Cuirim fáilte roimh an reachtaíocht seo agus roimh an Aire Stáit agus an méid dearfach a bhí le rá aige. He could have gone further but I will leave it to Senator Henry to deal with that. I am in and out of this House for a long time; Members opposite may consider it too long a time. It is 20 years since I first heard a Minister acknowledge the existence of offensive language in...

Seanad: Mental Capacity and Guardianship Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: They will not be used to introducing Private Members' business and it might be a good place to start. They have not been here for a while. Everybody has a story that illustrates the difficulties that arise in regard to the circumstances of vulnerable adults. Many of us have an immediate or extended family member who is in that area of capacity where one knows he or she is unable to make...

Seanad: Mental Capacity and Guardianship Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: It is. Many people, however, including many women, are exploited in sexual relations but that is not of itself illegal. I chose this area on which to speak because it exemplifies how difficult the issue is to resolve. The Law Reform Commission can be extraordinarily blunt when it wants to be. It describes the criteria for bringing a person into wardship as archaic and complex. It states,...

Seanad: Mental Capacity and Guardianship Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: We can change places.

Seanad: Mental Capacity and Guardianship Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: So Senator Norris will definitely be here?

Seanad: Business of Seanad (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I support Senator Brian Hayes. There is no reason of which I am aware why we have to rush through this Bill in 40 minutes——

Seanad: Business of Seanad (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: ——other than the fact somebody said it had to be done in 40 minutes. It could be done in 80 minutes. We are here late and it does not really matter at this stage if we are here longer. The experience of myself and other Members of this House in recent years is that legislation from the Department of Health and Children requires detailed scrutiny. To rush it through without a Committee...

Seanad: Business of Seanad (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: On a point of order, the only argument might be that the Bill must be enacted before 12 midnight. Even if it is passed at 11.55 p.m. unless the President is sitting downstairs it will not be signed into law before midnight.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Is it in order for me to point out something? The Bill will not be passed until after midnight if there is a vote at 11.55 p.m., therefore, the midnight argument is a smokescreen.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: To say this Bill is the consequence of peculiar decision making is to put it generously. The fundamental problem is the belief that competition is the remedy. In my view, good regulation is the solution and we have never had that. There was a cosy consensus, an easy relationship, between the VHI and public and private hospitals. They effectively made deals which made fortunes for private...

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: The Minister should consider the United States — 16% of gross domestic product.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: On a point of order, is it in order for the Leader to give us a reason we had to finish, which was that this Bill had to be passed before midnight and then for us to sit for ten minutes after midnight to have the Bill passed?