Results 3,341-3,360 of 4,085 for speaker:Dan Boyle

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: We know what the Senator's vested interests are.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: That is the Senator's problem; he is always trying to lecture everyone else in the House.

Seanad: Proposed Postcodes: Statements (21 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: The comedian Dara Ó Briain has a routine in which he lauds the efficiency of the Irish postal service, claiming any letter from Britain will reach its destination here if it has the name of the person and "Ireland" written after it. It would be good if that were the case and Senator Brady has made a strong case for the efficiencies in our current system. However, the fact is postcodes make...

Seanad: National Marine Mapping Programme: Motion (21 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: I assure Senator McCarthy that whatever list of names is flying around as the next Irish Commissioner, or the next European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, I am not part of that list, even though the bookmaker Paddy Power is quoting me at 14/1. I am quite happy to stay in this Chamber, despite all the turbulence of recent days.

Seanad: National Marine Mapping Programme: Motion (21 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: That is true. This debate may, in many respects, seem esoteric but that is one of the reasons the Seanad should exist. While we need to balance our daily Order of Business in respect of current events and the change agenda as represented in the preceding statements on postal codes, we also need a Chamber that takes a long-term view of Ireland and its resources. We have not fared too well...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: On Senator Alex White's call for more decorum in the House, I suggest that at its next meeting the Committee on Procedure and Privileges examine the events of yesterday. I would go some way towards agreeing with what the Senator had to say. However, the House must also be a place in which Members show anger and passion when the need arises. I disagree vehemently that the party opposite...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: That is the opinion I am expressing. I am grateful to have 30 seconds to speak on the Order of Business without being interrupted because I consider myself to be the Member who probably is most interrupted in the House.

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: On the call for a special debate on social partnership already made by several Members today, I agree that such a debate must happen and that it should help to inform the process. In particular, I accept the need for employers' representatives to step up to the plate at this time of national need, as there has been little indication of an apparent change of culture among that sector of the...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: We are members.

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (22 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: Like Senator Alex White I regret that having become a Member of the 23rd Seanad I did not have as much opportunity to interact with Senator Kett due to the nature of his illness. On the irregular occasions when we did meet, I always found him to be friendly, amiable and cordial. I was very struck by his funeral service where I got a better sense of the man. On that occasion his sense of...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: I am not adverse to debates in this House on the report of the Commission on Taxation, or on the McCarthy report. Such debates will inform the debate that will eventually take place when a budget is formed on 9 December. I do not think anybody in this House should second guess what is likely to happen on 9 December. The Government is committed to a budget adjustment of €4 billion. The...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: The Local Government (Planning and Development) Act 1963 is thought off as seminal legislation in our legal canon. It was important in that it drafted, for the first time, legal principles on planning. It is disappointing that the means to enforce the principles included in that Act were never applied. The 1960s were seen as a time of attack on our built infrastructure. There were many...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: I will get to that point. Access to services, the existence of a transport infrastructure, the provision of key elements of infrastructure such as shopping facilities, schools, access to Garda stations and libraries are the principles that should inform the proper planning of any community but, sadly, they have not done so in too many of our communities. While the 1960s were a time of trying...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: I would argue that much of the planning that has occurred over the past 30 years has been bad planning. That is to our shame as a country and to our failure as a political system. The bits of planning legislation there have been since 1963 have only involved tinkering around the edges. Senator Coghlan spoke of the overuse of what was section 4 and, I believe, is section 32 in more recent...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: -----to overturn the decision of county managers in particular planning decisions. The rules in relation to three quarters in a local electoral area and two thirds of a local council are meant to be a constraint in preventing that being done.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: Of course, they are for material contraventions and amendments of the development plan itself. Because these things have happened, and in a quite cynical way, all of us who have been involved in local government have seen where political parties collectively have protected their representatives where a controversial planning application has been made to allow their three, four or five...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, has earned a reputation among some county councils for intervening more than his predecessors. The two interventions he has made have been more than justified. The interventions in Mayo County Council and Monaghan County Council raised serious questions about the scale of development that was being proposed...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: -----at present needs and does not build towards future progress in the communities concerned. Much of the debate on planning in this country has been about blind alleys. There has been much talk about one-off housing. Most of the planning permissions in this country are for one-off housing. There are said to be difficulties in obtaining such permission, especially for family members. I...

Seanad: Appointments to Public Bodies Bill 2009: Second Stage. (28 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: I thank Senator Ross and the Independent Members of this House for doing me the honour of resubmitting a Bill I brought before the Dáil when I was a Member of that House. I have to start by saying I agree with everything that is in the Bill. It is what I aspire to see in the area of public appointments. I hope the Bill can be accepted in one form or other by this and the other House. I...

Seanad: Appointments to Public Bodies Bill 2009: Second Stage. (28 Oct 2009)

Dan Boyle: The nature of politics dictates that one must respond to developments of this nature.