Results 3,381-3,400 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: It is time we got our act together and stopped whingeing about not getting coverage in the media or elsewhere. As long as we continue to talk on our own planet, when the world is somewhere else, we will never get coverage.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I ask the Leader to reassess the Order of Business today and to deal with the issues everybody else is discussing. I also ask the Leader to convey to the Minister for Foreign Affairs the need to meet with the Irish Ambassador to the Vatican, who has very little to do most of the time, and request that he speak to the Head of State in the Vatican to clarify for us——

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: ——that state's view on the rehabilitation of Bishop Williamson and to discover its view on that bishop's denial of the Holocaust. I was one of those who gave the benefit of the doubt to the Pope on the question of his being a member of the Hitler Youth or similar group, on the grounds that it was unfair to make judgments on what he did as a young man. However, I am really horrified at...

Seanad: Human Rights Issues: Motion (4 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Peter Power, to the House. I congratulate Senator Norris on proposing a motion covering such a wide range of issues which he has raised consistently, regularly and energetically for several years in the House. We should congratulate Senator Norris on highlighting these issues. We call on the Government to affirm...

Seanad: Human Rights Issues: Motion (4 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: That is extremely important. No matter what walk of life one comes from, a person who tells one what one wishes to hear, rather than what one needs to hear, is not needed. People who tell others what they need, but may not wish, to hear should be valued in a democracy. I believe that is what the Equality Authority was doing and I deeply regret the resignation of Niall Crowley. I say that...

Seanad: Human Rights Issues: Motion (4 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: That is unfortunate. As a former president of the ICTU, I regret that the two ICTU delegates to the Equality Authority, Louise O'Donnell and David Joyce, with whom I have worked closely over the years on many issues, have found it necessary to withdraw from it. This is terrible and tragic. These people have a great commitment to such issues, energetically make the effort and make it work....

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I thank the Leader of the House for addressing our request to have the issue we raised yesterday dealt with diplomatically with the Head of State at the Vatican. I note it worked wonders and that he responded fully by yesterday afternoon. That is the way the Seanad should be: effective, efficient and topical.

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I did not raise this at the Leader's meeting the other day, but I did not spot it until now. The discussion today should not just be about the stability of the public finances, but also about a general economic recovery. I wish to make one comment about what was said the other day and which I touched on yesterday. I would like the Leader to take one message back to the Government. A public...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: On a point of order, I thought we had dealt with this before. I thought there was an acknowledgement by the Government that when a Minister is on business in the Seanad he or she is automatically paired. I apologise for interrupting the Leader.

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: Is the Cathaoirleach informing me the Opposition parties will not allow a pair?

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: That is appalling.

Seanad: Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Statements (5 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Máire Hoctor, to the House. I will not get involved in a debate about who is to blame for all this. We are where we are and we need to find a solution to the problem. The Government's action, standing alone and unchanged, is unacceptable. I received a telephone call yesterday from a nurse who is married...

Seanad: Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Statements (5 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: Some people dipped into their pension, and they should be jailed. In the meantime, I want to tell those workers that this is what the State is for. If I have to pay extra to do that, I will be happy to do so. If people in the public or private sector are in danger of losing their houses because they cannot meet their mortgage repayments and if we are prepared to insure banks, then we...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I have regularly raised the issue of bank recapitalisation, but every time I raise this question people tell me why we need to do so. I have no problem with recapitalising the banks but can someone explain to me how that can lead to the release of credit to small shopkeepers and other small businesses?

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: It has not been explained. It has not worked in the United Kingdom or the United States. The British chancellor was almost in tears because after giving billions to the banks over there, they told him to go away. I am not trying to catch the Leader out on this, but if he does not know the answer I would like him to check it. Banks are owned by their shareholders who decide what is to be...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: Houses have been built for the past nine years under the wrong regulation and we have been aware of it. Nothing was done about it.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I accept that.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: On a point of order, we were warned by the Government not to call the levy a tax.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Feb 2009)

Joe O'Toole: Hear, hear.