Results 421-440 of 605 for speaker:John Whelan

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2014)

John Whelan: Can we have the debate on energy policy that Senator Kelly and I have been requesting for months?

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2014)

John Whelan: We need to step back from walking this country into another NAMA for wind farm developers. The policy, as currently devised, is unsustainable economically and it will destroy the country environmentally for generations. This is a serious matter, which we will raise repeatedly.

Seanad: Mental Health Services Provision: Motion (19 Feb 2014)

John Whelan: The Senator has never agreed with anything.

Seanad: ESB (Electronic Communications Networks) Bill 2013: Second Stage (20 Feb 2014)

John Whelan: I welcome the Minister to the House. Any move to enhance and add value to the State's infrastructure is positive, including the extensive infrastructure overseen by ESB Networks. I echo Senator Mulcahy's commendation of the Trojan work in ferocious, difficult conditions over the past number of weeks of ESB crews who braved the elements and put their own health in risk to restore power to...

Seanad: Inland Waterways: Statements (26 Feb 2014)

John Whelan: I sincerely thank the Minister, Deputy Deenihan, for coming to the House for a good constructive debate on the proposed new by-laws for the canals and the proposed corporate development plan of Waterways Ireland. His attendance here is timely because it gives us an opportunity to contribute to the process, rather than discuss it when it is too late and after the horse as bolted, as it were....

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: As the Seanad commences its working week, the unfolding crisis in Ukraine may not seem to be the most pressing issue facing Irish people. It is, however, one of the most serious threats to peace in Europe and one of the gravest crises facing Ireland and the European Union since we joined the European Economic Community in the early 1970s. I commend the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: Never before have I come across an issue so divisive as the prospect of the development of joint industrial wind farms across the country from Mayo to Laois and in every county in between. We thought we had some respite on reading newspaper reports on Friday that the intergovernmental agreement on which these industrial wind farms were predicated had fallen through, but it has led only to...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: Yes, but the matter has become even more pressing because we learned today that the Taoiseach himself is in the United Kingdom meeting Prime Minister Cameron to give mouth-to-mouth to this dead-duck plan.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: I believed it was dead in the water.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: We believed we could sleep easy in our beds but now the Taoiseach is trying to revive and breathe new life into this agreement by giving it mouth-to-mouth with Prime Minister Cameron.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: My question is very straightforward.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: I have a question and it is very straightforward.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: Can the Leader confirm in one way or another whether this intergovernmental agreement is gone for good - if so, good riddance - or has just been shelved so as to be dusted down and revived in a few months?

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: Communities want to know the truth, and we need to know it.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: If the Deputy's party had spoken up when-----

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Wind Energy Generation (11 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: I welcome the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, to the House. I am very grateful to him for coming to the House to respond to my question. As the Minister is aware, there is a great deal of anxiety and speculation concerning the status of the intergovernmental agreement between the UK and the Government on the wind export project. I have been inundated with contact from communities from Knockmore...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Wind Energy Generation (11 Mar 2014)

John Whelan: I am grateful to the Minister for his response and agree with him on one issue, namely, that there has been a great deal of dishonesty surrounding much of the information concerning these projects, not least from those who, at some stage or other, claimed they would bring in 60,000 jobs. This has now been diluted to a projection of 6,000 jobs. Was it not the case that when this policy was...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Air Pollution (10 Apr 2014)

John Whelan: I wish to raise with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government a shocking matter of grave concern. In fact, it is the most serious matter that has ever come to my attention. I am not raising it lightly and it is causing me serious distress and anxiety. I ask the Minister to immediately call to task the Environmental Protection Agency over its lax oversight and light...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Air Pollution (10 Apr 2014)

John Whelan: I respect that the Minister of State is replying on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, but my fears are not in any way allayed. I accept that the EPA is an independent regulatory authority. I am saying it is not doing its job. Are we now saying there is no ministerial or Government oversight of this agency or authority? The...