Results 4,261-4,280 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages (Resumed) (5 Dec 2007)

David Norris: I am glad the Minister has taken the arguments on the previous Committee Stage into account. I support the amendment because I believe the Minister has tightened up this provision. Public importance gives a free range for prurient interest, speculation and poking around unnecessarily in people's dirty linen with no good real investigative point. With so many lawyers around the joint, I am...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages (Resumed) (5 Dec 2007)

David Norris: I understand that the Minister is trying to make this section grammatically clear but would it not have been better in line 3 after the phrase "consisting of opinion," to include the phrase "and shall include the following"? There is no grammatical proscription on using the word "shall" twice, particularly when it covers slightly different elements. I am not insisting on it but it seems to...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages (Resumed) (5 Dec 2007)

David Norris: Is there any necessity for me to table an amendment on this?

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages (Resumed) (5 Dec 2007)

David Norris: I have a note in the margin of the Bill that I intend to table an amendment to the effect that the apology shall have at least the same prominence as the original defamatory statement. That is only fair because it is not appropriate for a newspaper to have the defence of an apology if it sticks it on the back page, in Irish.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages (Resumed) (5 Dec 2007)

David Norris: I am not at all sure we should debate who was hurt most as I thought the woman in question had a very reasonable case. She suffered the traumas of the accident and was then told she had been in the car with Mr. Lawlor for the purposes of prostitution. It was indicated that she was a well known teenage prostitute and I think that is a shocking thing to say about a person. I think she is...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages (Resumed) (5 Dec 2007)

David Norris: I am not completely convinced either by the Minister or Senator Alex White. They seem to be overly optimistic about the nature of the printed media in this country, particularly as it comes under very sustained pressure from the British market. I already referred to the way in which The Sun dealt with its apology under the press council. It made the apology and then repeated the offence....

Seanad: Budget Statement 2008: Statements (5 Dec 2007)

David Norris: I thank my colleague and friend, Senator Feargal Quinn, for allowing me time. I greatly enjoyed his schoolmasterly performance. I am sure the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Cowen, will be greatly heartened to know he has received a better report than in previous years. I also agree with Senator Quinn that the atmosphere in the Dáil was a little dull. The Budget...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2008: Statements (5 Dec 2007)

David Norris: It is a mean thing to raise the duty on cheques. It will not raise much money but will cause serious inconvenience. It will also hit small businesses. I do not see any virtue in it and it should be reconsidered.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2008: Statements (5 Dec 2007)

David Norris: I hope not of this life. What a frightful warning.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2008: Statements (5 Dec 2007)

David Norris: I feel weak as a result of it. There is a section of the budget dealing with health. It is fine that all this money is being spent, but there should be an audit. What I am interested in is not how much money is being spent but whether it is being spent wisely. Let me give an example to the Minister of State. I spoke to a person the other day who came to see me about an aspect of the...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2007)

David Norris: The Senator was great, was she not?

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2007)

David Norris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2007)

David Norris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2007)

David Norris: Well said.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2007)

David Norris: I am glad my colleague Senator O'Toole raised the matter of the Munster Literature Centre. I, too, received that fine book of poetry and the accompanying letter, which I immediately sent on to the director of the James Joyce Centre in Dublin. The James Joyce Centre is internationally known. We restored the entire building by raising €1.5 million through voluntary efforts and we are in...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2007)

David Norris: I will take up that. When I do, I will emphasise the fact that the Tallaght Hospital charter has been violated. There was a requirement to maintain the training of nurses, but this is not going to happen. There will be a hospital entrance but no hospital behind it. Will the Leader raise with Government the extraordinary interference by an agent of the Canadian Government in political...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Dec 2007)

David Norris: This lunch time the report on rendition by the Irish Human Rights Commission was published. Some of us heard on the radio news the comments of a senior person there which make it clear that the country has not met its human rights obligations. More importantly, that person made detailed reference to exchanges between the Department of Foreign Affairs and the IHRC in which it was clear that...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Dec 2007)

David Norris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Dec 2007)

David Norris: Senator Butler is an old poseur. He should withdraw that remark.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Dec 2007)

David Norris: Hear, hear.