Results 361-380 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Mar 2003)

David Norris: I am supporting my colleague and I am seeking a proper debate. The Leader, and various people on the Government side, asked why we could not get to section 12 of the Bill. The answer is that it is our responsibility to try to extract information and it is pretty difficult to do so when the Minister of State has no competence in the area and his advisers do not seem to know much either. This...

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Mar 2003)

David Norris: The Leader graciously accepted that there might be a need for a debate on Tibet. Will she examine the matter with more urgency and arrange a time for such a debate? When I raised the matter yesterday, I did not realise that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, without consultation of either House of the Oireachtas or the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, has, on behalf of the people, made a...

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Mar 2003)

David Norris: Exactly.

Seanad: Motor Insurance: Motion. (12 Mar 2003)

David Norris: I congratulate my colleague, Senator Ross, on putting down this important motion. In terms of young drivers – regrettably I can no longer qualify as one myself – there is a great problem because of the enormous costs involved. They are really quite bizarre. I know that the insurance industry is based on the calculation of actuarial risk, and if certain categories of drivers have a...

Seanad: Motor Insurance: Motion. (12 Mar 2003)

David Norris: I did not, because I was at another committee meeting. I am very pleased and I offer my congratulations. I withdraw the contumely I was firing.

Seanad: Motor Insurance: Motion. (12 Mar 2003)

David Norris: I gather it was agreed to put the two together.

Seanad: Motor Insurance: Motion. (12 Mar 2003)

David Norris: I have some reservations about one section of what the Government put in. Recognising all –

Seanad: Motor Insurance: Motion. (12 Mar 2003)

David Norris: Splendid. What a brilliant political intellect I have. Self-praise is catching. The part I wanted to object to involved 11 September 2001. I have to say, a Leas-Cathaoirligh, this House is showing an increase in common sense over the past 24 hours that is quite remarkable. I congratulate the Members on what Chairman Mao would have called their Great Leap Forward. I believe insurance companies...

Seanad: Motor Insurance: Motion. (12 Mar 2003)

David Norris: We should say this is not justification. Why the hell should I pay for 11 September 2001? I do not believe it is a valid excuse. I want to make one parochial point, though the late Frank O'Connor did ask what was wrong with parochial, because if one knew one's own back yard one knew everyone else's. I would like to tell the House what is happening in my back yard, or in my automobile. My nice...

Seanad: Motor Insurance: Motion. (12 Mar 2003)

David Norris: However, my insurance has shot up to nearly €2,000.

Seanad: Motor Insurance: Motion. (12 Mar 2003)

David Norris: The problem relates to what I said at the outset, that I have no argument with any insurance equation that is the result of an actuarial calculation. There is risk. The insurance company insures you against a particular kind of risk. My motorcar is a very beautiful instrument, but its market value is only about €5,000 or €6,000, thanks to the snobbery of the Irish motorist, who does not...

Seanad: Motor Insurance: Motion. (12 Mar 2003)

David Norris: I congratulate him on his maturity.

Seanad: Order of Business. (13 Mar 2003)

David Norris: I also welcome the development this morning and it was not appropriate to call it a belated U-turn. We should be much more generous on this side of the House. We should welcome what the Leader and the Government have done. I had no difficulty with some of the main provisions of the Bill. The extension from five to ten years was reasonable and sensible. I objected to certain elements but my...

Seanad: Order of Business. (20 Mar 2003)

David Norris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business. (20 Mar 2003)

David Norris: While I had not expected to address this subject, I thank Senator Browne for raising it. The Government Ministers who attend these parades in America should make their displeasure clear. It is astonishing that these people in America, who think they are so Irish by excluding gay Irish people, ignore the fact that parades in Dublin and Cork have welcomed them for years and given them prizes.

Seanad: Order of Business. (20 Mar 2003)

David Norris: I understand that. However, we have some moral influence on our Ministers and we can ask the Leader to request Ministers to raise the issue with people when they are marching with them. The Cathaoirleach and Senator Browne are correct in that it was shamefully determined by a court in New York that the parade is controlled by a sectarian organisation which maintains it as an exclusively Roman...

Seanad: Order of Business. (20 Mar 2003)

David Norris: We are talking about freedom of information, yet Senator Callanan from Cork is trying to stop me speaking. That is the kind of freedom of information they like in Cork. Perhaps it is the kind of freedom of information Mr. Bush would like.

Seanad: Order of Business. (20 Mar 2003)

David Norris: The Goebbels-like process of disinformation has already begun. Like many others, I watched television news reports last night. We were informed that three-quarters of the Iraqi army had surrendered, whereas only 17 soldiers had done so. We were then told that Tariq Aziz had been shot trying to escape and that Saddam had been killed. All of these reports were untrue.

Seanad: Order of Business. (20 Mar 2003)

David Norris: I formally propose an amendment to the Order of Business that instead of No. 1 we take the item in the name of the Independent Senators concerning the situation in Iraq. I believe it is No. 25—

Seanad: Order of Business. (20 Mar 2003)

David Norris: — on the Order Paper. A number is not a speech. The Senator may be numerically challenged, but a number is not a speech. It is not even a figure of speech.