Results 3,661-3,680 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: Hang on.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: I am receiving a terrible walloping here. I lost both legs and only got €100,000 for each, I was libelled and what is the Minister doing to me now?

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: I did not.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: I am a little tempted to say I would not trust one of those old judges as far as I could spit them. If one looked sideways at one of them they would blow the head off a person, as we know since last week. I will restrain myself from such utterances. The Tánaiste is very open and clear when he states that the newspapers were lobbying for this. I am not a bit surprised.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: The Tánaiste went a little bit of the way with them, or at least that is the way it looks to me.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: The Tánaiste is eminently reasonable, which is why we in this House love him so much. I have been saying for a number of years that law should be written in accessible language. I may not be a lawyer and I may be economically illiterate but I have a nodding acquaintance with the English language. The term "give directions" means to give directions, and we cannot buck that. If I give...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: Yes, fine. If the Tánaiste returns, why not clean up the language and give us proper law in accessible language so we do not have this problem.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: Joyce is immediately accessible.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: The Acting Chairman can ask all he likes, but I will reply to the Tánaiste, who invoked Joyce, which one does not do in my——

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: After this, we will restrain ourselves. I do a celebrated one-man show about the life and works of James Joyce, almost all of the second half of which is Finnegans Wake, but I never include it in the programme because people would go to the bar if they saw those words. However, they enjoy it thoroughly when they do not know what it is because it is immediately accessible when performed....

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: They could do that with the wording "may advise".

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: I am not suggesting a judge should do that.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: I feel a vote coming on.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: In response to what Senator Walsh has said, I do not believe for a minute that judges read transcripts of Oireachtas debates. They do not decide that certain things must be done because Members of the Oireachtas said they should be done. I am perfectly certain that judges never bother to check what we say. The measures which are passed into law are parsed and analysed by judges. They do...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: I see. That is what I thought the Minister was saying. I am certainly not trying to do that. Nothing in what I have proposed would prevent a judge from saying that a certain precedent was set in a previous case. There is nothing in my amendment to inhibit a judge from deciding that an appropriate award was given. I am sorry that the Minister has seduced away my colleague on the...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: Which remark does the Chair consider to be unparliamentary?

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: That is not unparliamentary at all. I meant it in the nicest possible sense. As we all know, the experience of seduction is very nice, in all senses, and immensely pleasurable. I will try to stop my mind from going down that track. Senator Jim Walsh was very acute in his perception because I felt a vote gathering in my waters, so to speak. The Minister has been flexible up to now, but he...

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: I welcome this motion. The original Labour Party motion was one in Irish about the education system and I thought to myself "What fools". They have missed the obvious issue which is climate change. I had decided to table a motion and I got my colleague, Senator O'Toole, to second it. However, the issue is what is important rather than the personalities involved. I congratulate the Labour...

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: I could not cycle. I flew, thus adding to my carbon footprint. However, the Norwegian ambassador was extremely helpful in making the arrangements and I saw the impact of climate change on the glaciers. All Members are aware that lumps have been falling off the Matterhorn and villages are threatened by the collapse, not simply of the ice formations, but also of the rock formations behind...

Seanad: National Climate Change Strategy 2000: Motion (21 Mar 2007)

David Norris: He told me that washing machines last for only five years, after which they are expected to conk out. I saw a programme recently in which it was stated that television sets provide good value for only approximately two years. I have sets going back to the 1960s, including a black and white 12-inch set in the kitchen, which still adequately receives the RTE television news while I am washing...