Results 4,221-4,240 of 26,396 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Choice of Court (Hague Convention) Bill 2015: Second Stage (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. It is a common sense Bill and one that Sinn Féin supports. It is not very often I agree with a Bill relating to EU and global justice issues because some of these EU initiatives overtly impact on Irish sovereignty and deal with issues that are not entirely in keeping with democratic or...

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: What is the point of Seanad election campaigns?

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: I can see a letter coming on.

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: To the councillors.

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: We would do it again.

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: I acknowledge the contribution by the Leader of the House and welcome our guests. I hope their contributions to the report will result in a Bill that brings reform to the Seanad but this is not the first occasion we have debated Seanad reform. I find these debates very amusing because we can hear some crackers from Senators. We heard one such cracker from Senator Paul Coghlan, who...

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: That is exactly what the Senator said.

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: I listened to what he said. This is a political Chamber.

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: Senator O'Neill said that.

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: No, he did not. This is a political Chamber.

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: We are here to practise politics. We tried to turn the Seanad into something that it was never meant to be. As one of the Houses of the Oireachtas, it is a political Chamber. Senator Mooney made an interesting contribution. He started by saying that he did not want to rain on anyone's parade but he gave us a monsoon of criticism of elements of the report. I agree with him regarding many...

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Second Stage (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: I cannot welcome this Bill and will not be supporting it. There is no doubt that it represents a sleight of hand on the part of the Government. Rather than bring forward legislation in the correct manner, once again it is abusing the parliamentary process for its own ends. It should have introduced a stand-alone Bill to deal with water charges. This legislation, which the Government...

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Second Stage (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: There is no point of order. We are entitled to make our political charges.

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Second Stage (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: As a previous Senator has stated, this Government has caused enough damage to the Seanad already this week. We are entitled to make whatever challenges we want in this House and it is about time Senators on the Government side of the House accept the democratic right of people to have their say. If they do not like it, they should leave the Chamber. I am entitled to have my say and I will...

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Second Stage (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: I understand this is very difficult for Senator Landy and his party but those are the choices it made.

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Second Stage (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: His party made those choices and the people will make their choice in the next election, which I am sure they will, and I very much look forward to having that discussion over the next number of months, but today is about the sneaky, underhanded attempt by this Government, this Minister of State and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government - a Labour Party Minister -...

Seanad: Conditions of Work: Motion (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: The Senator is speaking on a different matter.

Seanad: Conditions of Work: Motion (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: He was speaking on the wrong business.

Seanad: Conditions of Work: Motion (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister. I commend the Independent Senators on bringing forward this motion. It was bizarre earlier that we had a Labour Party Senator who gave us a Second Stage speech on a Bill we had discussed last week, and we had what can best be described as a Thatcherite speech from one of the Fine Gael Senators, so the debate did not get off to a good start. However, some very good...

Seanad: Conditions of Work: Motion (8 Jul 2015)

David Cullinane: They have done precious little to reverse inequality and poverty. In fact, they have deepened it, as all the evidence shows. This is a matter for all of us.It does not matter who is in government; the facts speak for themselves. At some point my party may be in government and will have to make tough decisions. All of the reports that have been published on the issue of low pay by...