Results 341-360 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I was pleased when Senator Jim D'Arcy raised the issue of the Minister for Education and Skill's annoyance with the university heads for their failure to respond. The problem has to do with the Trade Descriptions Act and perhaps the cartel legislation. The problem is that Irish Universities Association does not represent anybody who lectures in Irish universities. It is the Conference of...

Seanad: Business Undertakings (Disclosure of Overpayments) Bill 2012: Second Stage (13 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. It is always a pleasure to listen to this Minister. I second Senator Mullen's Bill. It is trying to extend the dormant accounts legislation to include other forms of dormant property and to increase the property rights of persons over such property. Senator Mullen mentioned the US Federal Unclaimed Property Act 1995. We Googled it today and found that there...

Seanad: Competition (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (14 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 1: In page 8, between lines 36 and 37, to insert the following: "6.—(1) Subsection (1) of section 30 of the principal Act is amended by inserting the following paragraphs after paragraph (g) - "(h) to study and analyse any practice or method of competition or decision with implications for competition in markets for goods and services that has its origins in a decision...

Seanad: Competition (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (14 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister, as always, for his wisdom. There is exasperation about how slowly we are moving in this field. We will support the Minister's efforts to move things on. This is a sentiment expressed in an announcement by the International Monetary Fund this morning. On page 24 of the IMF agreement of December 2010, Ireland agreed to require the Competition Authority to lift...

Seanad: Competition (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (14 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister for his sentiments. Dr. Fingleton estimated that restrictive practices were costing every household €2,500 per annum. The international ranking of Ireland for competition policy is 25th, which is way below OECD countries. I hope the Minister's reforms will reduce that €2,500 cost and move Ireland up the rankings. I wish him well in that regard. We have sought to...

Seanad: Competition (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (14 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: One of the Spanish players went to school in County Meath.

Seanad: Euroscience Open Forum 2012: Statements (14 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State and thank Senator Susan O'Keeffe for reintroducing W. B. Yeats to this Chamber which he graced for so many years. This is a wonderful project for which the Minister of State will have the support of everyone in the House, as Senators Susan O'Keeffe and Averil Power stated. There is excitement about it. I can inform the House that the Science Gallery which...

Seanad: Referendum on the Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution: Statements (14 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: When I proposed the Fiscal Responsibility (Statement) Bill 2011 in December of last year, it received wide support in this House. The problem with the recent referendum is that it was an attempt to make a fiscal response to a monetary problem. As Senator Healy Eames and others have said, the design faults in the euro destroyed the banking system which we then bailed out. The report of the...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: A conference is being held in this Chamber next Monday on the matter of abolishing or reforming Seanad Éireann, which will be attended by "invited Senators". Perhaps the Leader will tell us the Senators who have been invited to defend this House. I express the hope that this does not set a precedent. Also, perhaps a group seeking to abolish Dáil Éireann might be facilitated in the Dáil...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I refer to the meeting in the Chamber on Monday, about the abolition or reform of the Seanad.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I hoped the Leader would represent us, as a reformer and a sturdy defender of the House, against a media person who, as the Leader pointed out at the time, never attended or reported here. Who will represent us? I hope it will be Senator Cummins.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (21 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: Who are they? Who are the invited Senators?

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I thank the technical staff for repairing the translation equipment during the debate on the Gaeltacht Bill. The staff who serve this House always deserve thanks for showing patience and professionalism. There is still a problem with the Gaeltacht Bill. There has been a view in the permanent Government for some time that one cannot have elections in the Gaeltacht areas. The previous...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: While I thank the Cathaoirleach for his advice on this matter, further points arise in this regard. A regulatory impact assessment was not carried out, as is the case when human rights issues arise. The decision of the court in the Doherty case should also be assessed. As Senator Paul Coghlan stated, the Bill deserves more consideration at the Cabinet than appeared to have been the case...

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State as I always look forward to his visits here. As noted, this is a moment of crisis. We were bounced into the bank rescues, which brings us back to the design faults in the euro in the first instance, with no banking regulation, exit mechanism or anything to protect small countries like us from tsunamis of credit from large countries like Germany, and the one...

Seanad: European Communities (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Tánaiste to the Chamber. This is yet another historic day when Her Majesty, the Queen of England is visiting County Fermanagh, another part of our island. That is a tribute, as I said during our last discussion on foreign affairs, to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and his Department. It was not that long ago that officials had to live under...

Seanad: National Cultural Institutions: Motion (27 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. When he spoke about fellows who dropped the ball, the phrase occurred to me was to be careful what you ask for because you might get it. If one was afraid of the fellow in one corner-back position, there was an even tougher fellow over in the other corner and one could end up in a worse state. The Minister referred to what went on in the years in which the money was...

Seanad: National Cultural Institutions: Motion (27 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: Go raibh maith agat, a Aire. That is what the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, must address. He referred to low-hanging fruit. I think much low-hanging fruit hit him on the head. The pattern of increases in non-pay administration budgets is evident right across the board. The Minister and his Cabinet colleagues must come to terms with...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: Yesterday, Enterprise Ireland issued its annual report. I am afraid that on page 7 it reported that expenditure of more than €110 million resulted in only six net jobs being created. It touched on issues we have discussed in the Chamber and the Leader has facilitated these discussions, such as that grants are not the solution to Ireland's employment problems. There is a range of issues...