Results 361-380 of 34,029 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Seanad: Local Economic Initiatives: Motion (4 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach. I dtús báire, ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Chomhaontas Ghlas as ucht an rún seo a chur roimh an Seanad anocht. I welcome the motion which was tabled by the Green Party and which has drawn focus on the need to support microfinance. Equally, I welcome the amendment to the motion, put forward by Senator O'Toole, other...

Seanad: Cancer Services (4 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. An t-ábhar atá os comhair an tSeanaid anocht ná cúram ailse do dhaoine san iar-thuaisceart a bhfuil ailse brollaigh agus ailsí eile orthu agus an gá go mbeadh seirbhís radaiteiripe ann sa cheantar. Tá gealltanas tugtha ag an Rialtas seo i gcomhar leis an Fheidhmeannas go mbunófar an tseirbhís sin. Ba mhaith liom fosta an conradh idir ospideál...

Seanad: Cancer Services (4 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: I thank the Minister of State for his positive response. I wish to raise two points with him that I outlined in my original contribution. First, the date of 2015 is to be welcomed, but we need to ensure we meet it. I am not convinced or satisfied that we will have to buy this service again. It should be integral and jointly funded for the north west, rather than something the people of...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: I concur with Senator Alex White that we need to have a more informed, constructive debate on the economy. A rolling debate would be helpful in this regard because it would free us of time constraints. However, Senators must be given the relevant information. I agree with my colleagues that——

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: While I support calls for a debate, it must an informed debate. Senators must recognise that many members of the public perceive this House to be irrelevant. Seanad reform, for which all of us have argued, has not taken place. The issue is usually the set piece debate on the first day of each new Seanad. The Government needs to take the bull by the horns by reforming the Seanad and...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: I have been trying to find out for well over a year how many schools are using prefabricated classrooms.

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: I am saying this to the Leader because we need an informed debate. The only information the Department of Education and Science can give us is this 100-page file of 900 schools which, between them, have 2,700 prefabricated classrooms. That is only a fraction of the number of schools out there. The Department does not know where the €100 million it has invested in prefabricated classrooms...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: How are we supposed to know if these experts——

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: ——who supposedly have the figures at their fingertips cannot provide accurate information to Deputies or Senators a year later?

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: I tabled amendments Nos. 3a and 3b. There is much we could say about this Bill. It has been described as a technical Bill in one sense but it provides for what is potentially one of the most momentous decisions that will ever be taken by the Oireachtas in our time. The Government is about to commit the people's money, in the form of the National Pensions Reserve Fund, to recapitalise AIB...

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: I am not happy with the Minister of State's response. In trying to play down home repossessions, claiming the figures for them are not as great as they are in other countries, the reality is that home repossessions have increased 100% over the past year. Repossessions before and after Christmas have increased at an even higher rate. Home repossession is just not a statistic. It is the...

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: Bankers have made millions of euro every year through reckless behaviour. A decision can be taken on their remuneration now. However, a report is in the Minister's drawer and the Cabinet will decide on it after the legislation is passed. A statement will be made but there will have been no debate in these Houses in which we can hold the Minister to account and ask him did he cut their...

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: He only had the information for 900 schools out of over 4,000. He does not know about the other more than 3,000 schools.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: No wonder the bail-out Bill was so bad.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: No.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: Tell that to the special needs children. A marginal adjustment.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: That is an outrage. These are special needs children.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: The amendments make a straightforward proposal and, like Senator Twomey, I can find no reason the Government should not accept them. They do not propose to prevent the Government from investing in excess of €7 billion in the banks but simply to require it to seek the approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas before proceeding with any such measures. They seek to avoid giving the...

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Pearse Doherty: Yes. I move amendment No. 3b: In page 3, before section 2, to insert the following new section: "2.—Any senior manager or any executive of a financial institution which is availing of funds under the National Pension Reserve Fund shall return all bonuses which have been collected as part of his or her remuneration in that financial institution over the past three years.".