Results 381-400 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: We have now had 20 summits on the eurozone crisis. The latest continued for nine hours and has been adjourned until October. The Ministers at those conferences have kicked the can down the road so often they could go to a concert in the Phoenix Park and fit in with the other people attending. We have to move away from the nods and winks, and the "It will be all right on the night" style of...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: They should know something about the subject, and it should include economists from outside the eurozone. I ask that our Ministers make that point because we cannot continue with euro crises happening all the time when there is massive unemployment throughout so many member countries.

Seanad: Industrial Relations (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2011: Second Stage (10 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State. There are several aspects to this legislation. When the industrial relations machinery was overturned in the High Court and sections 42, 43 and 45 of the Industrial Relations Act 1946 and section 48 of the 1990 Act were all found to violate Article 15.2 of the Constitution, we should have accepted it. The economy was far better off afterwards. Most of what...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. He has had an interest in these matters for a long time. I have tabled amendments but I too will be guided by the Leas-Chathaoirleach. May I respond to the Minister?

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: We will deal with the Senator's amendments separately later, but the Senator may speak on the groupings.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: My concern is that this is adding yet another layer of bureaucracy. At present two people are responsible, the person who gives the lectures and the external examiner. We had a very good discussion with the Minister of State on that point and he assured me that it will remain and has been a feature of Irish universities for 400 to 500 years. I am glad to report my personal experience at...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 1: In page 22, line 25, to delete "An tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas" and substitute "the institutions". I have made some of the points already and I do not wish to detain the Minister.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: Senator John Crown is here for that purpose. In the printing of the Bill, the line numbers may have been changed. I think the amendment I am seeking to introduce is on page 22, lines 15 and 16, rather than line 25, in case I cause unnecessary distress in various offices in trying to amend something that is not in place. The second amendment is on page 27, lines 5 and 6, the third amendment...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I certainly do not wish to interfere with the timetable. I thank the Minister for his response. I hope copies of his speech will be circulated as a bulwark against the bureaucratic menace we have discussed. In regard to the Higher Education Authority, it is not long since an bord snip nua recommended its abolition, yet it is now assuming new powers which will see it supervising a...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: Yes and I thank the Minister for it. I will assist the Leas-Chathaoirleach in this matter by not pressing the amendment.

Seanad: Access to Cancer Treatment Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch to the House, even though I am very disappointed with her response to the Bill. It is a problem for this Government that it has been absorbed by the permanent government. Today, another Minister abolished voting rights in Gaeltacht areas because the civil servants told him to do it and it was to save money as well.

Seanad: Access to Cancer Treatment Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I think that is what has happened here.

Seanad: Access to Cancer Treatment Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: We asked the Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Dinny McGinley, to justify how he changed his mind in two years from being pro-democracy. Let us turn to this matter. There is always a committee and the Department of Health claims it is in favour of fairness. However, if one looks at the size of the waiting list as well as the extension of the...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: Yesterday, Senator Higgins collected signatures from all Members in respect of a petition relating to the suspension of the imposition of bank charges during the current debacle at Ulster Bank. I ask the Leader to take up this issue with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan. The banks intend to abolish chequebooks but in light of the debacle to which I refer, any action in this regard...

Seanad: Industrial Relations (Amendment)(No. 3) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (12 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. The worrying point made by Senator Cullinane was in regard to people not paying the minimum wage. Do we have any figures in that regard? Perhaps Senator Cullinane might inform me. The IBEC approach to the legislation was that we had a relatively high minimum wage and it had been defended by the Government. When the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, was in the...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill 2012: Second Stage (12 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister and thank him for his presence. In many ways, this is an inspired Bill. What we are doing is getting to the person in Belmullet, the high unemployment zones in Limerick that we discussed with the Minister for Finance last week, or even in Knocktopher in the constituency of the Minister. Getting directly to the citizen through the electoral register is important...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I agree with the Minister. As Senator van Turnhout has said, citizenship is a vital part of the Bill. The experts have been in the media. They have written books and newspaper articles and have access to Deputies and Senators. It is the citizens that we want to target. The experts can help but the citizens, the sovereign people, are the kings and queens of the process. An important role...

Seanad: Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Bill 2011: Second Stage (13 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin. As is so often the case, I agree with much of what my colleague, Senator Feargal Quinn, has said. It is interesting to consider a number of the recommendations by an bord snip nua in the context of what is proposed in this legislation. In a period when the total number of public servants rose by 27%, the numbers in senior management increased...

Seanad: Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Bill 2011: Second Stage (13 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I can envisage a situation where successor Senators in the mould of Senator Ivana Bacik will argue for the raising of the retirement age past 70 as a human rights issue. The fashions in these matters tend to change. I support the measures the Minister is introducing in this Bill as a necessary correction to the public finances. I take this opportunity to warn against any future recurrence...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I wish to speak on the same topic raised by Senator Burke. I propose that the Leader send to the Cabinet a transcript of our debate on 16 November 2011, during which all the points we have heard today were made. All of the points we have heard today were put at that debate. There are two sides to this argument. The price of alcohol has not been falling, although consumption has done. The...