Results 461-480 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (4 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I support the amendment.

Seanad: Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (4 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 14: In page 5, line 40, to delete ?may? and substitute ?shall?.This concerns the use of the words "may" and "shall". Indecisiveness or conditionality surrounds the word "may". We are talking about an officer of the State charged with most important duties which are being exercised expeditiously. Why, therefore, do we use the word "may"? Why is there doubt or...

Seanad: Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (4 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: My concern was that the word "may" could have provided a loophole by which people could escape scrutiny. I accept the response of my learned legal colleague and the Minister.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: The general scheme of a universities (amendment) Bill 2012 is now in circulation. It is draconian and allows an investigator to take over many of the functions of a university for two years at the instigation of the Minister for Education and Skills. It is a time of excitable moods in the sector - excitable bureaucrats and so on. However, the implications are far reaching. There are...

Seanad: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Statements (9 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State. I always enjoy his visits to the House because we have good debates on this important topic. We reoriented the economy too much towards construction and public administration. It is very difficult that correcting that orientation increases unemployment from 4% to 14.8%, as it currently stands. However, the Minister is moving in the right direction. We must...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, before section 2, to insert the following new section: "2.?The Health Service Executive shall cease to exist on 1 January 2014.".The Minister and I have had many interesting debates, including debates before he became Minister for Health and I became a Member of this House. The great Fintan O'Toole chaired one debate we had in TCD. It is a great pleasure...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I agree with what Senator Colm Burke has said that the ratings which were published by the Minister show that we seem to think we are healthy but we have problems with the health service. I have made a proposition to the Minister and as I have heard his reply I withdraw the amendment and look forward to seeing it appear, under the Minister's name, in due course.

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: Amendment No. 8 substituted ?(3) A person? for ?(4) A person? and the Minister is seeking legal advice. As I am not sure my amendment contradicts what the Minister has said, I seek to indulge the patience of the House. I sought to delete the section stating: "A person may not be appointed as an appointed director unless he or she is a person who is an employee of the Executive holding the...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 18: In page 13, line 17, to delete ", or is likely to be".This amendment is to delete ", or is likely to be" from the line "The Director General is not required to give an account before any Oireachtas Committee of any matter relating to the general administration of the Executive that is, or is likely to be, the subject of proceedings before a court or tribunal in the...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Senators for their views on these amendments. It is a pity that the occurrence of "or is likely to be" is widespread in legislation. We are facing a problem when so much public administration has failed. It gives a defence against answering questions and a considerable amount is wrong. While I do not have a background in the health service, in the area of economics, during the...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 24: In page 20, line 22, to delete "policies and".Perhaps the Minister will consider a small adjustment for Report Stage. It is proposed to delete where it does not accord with "policies and" objectives of the Minister. We should discuss "policies". One would appreciate that everybody involved has the objective of extending healthiness, life spans and so on. Some...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 25: In page 22, lines 42 to 44, to delete all words from and including ", in" in line 42 down to and including "to" in line 44 and in page 23 to delete lines 1 and 2 and substitute "have professional qualifications in auditing.".This relates to a consideration expressed earlier by Senator Burke. He is probably better equipped to deal with this matter than I. The...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister and look forward to hearing what he has to say on these matters on Report Stage. It is important this onerous task, in a sector wherein there was a tradition of auditing not being done by professional people, is undertaken by those with the best skills. In other fields, such as banking, the accounts were not very reliable either and those people had professional...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (10 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: This raises a major point which we do need to address, namely, the tax avoidance industry. As Senator Burke stated, it may be more appropriate to finance legislation, but the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, was particularly keen on targeting this when she was in opposition. A major scandal emerged in the UK where the head of the student grants agency had such an...

Seanad: Primary Care Centres: Motion (10 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy White, my former colleague from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, to his new post. He was a brilliant Chairman of that committee and the expertise in finance he will be bringing to the Department of Health is most important. I wish him well in his role. I wish to outline some thoughts about primary care centres....

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I support the sentiments of Senator Byrne on the Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, particularly as the acting Leader hails from Killarney. The documents submitted to us by the Irish Hotels Federation were very well argued. They were not the usual lobbying documents and appear to make some serious points about the way in which this commissioner could value properties without the right to...

Seanad: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State. In our own mini-Croke Park agreement, the last time the Minister of State was in the Seanad we saved a large amount of money by not building a high wall in Clontarf, making the people there much happier. I make it my object to invent new reductions in public expenditure every time the Minister of State comes to the Seanad, to help him balance the books....

Seanad: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I compliment the Minister and will support any further measures he has in mind along those lines. I will table amendments on Committee Stage. The concerns of the hoteliers about appeals and that the commissioner must be subject to checks and balances in his activities, are important. The agreement by Senator Coghlan earlier that the views of those directly involved will be heard and putting...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I agree with what Senator Moran said about last Friday. The meeting of the North-South Interparliamentary Association in this Chamber, chaired jointly by the Speaker, William Hay, and the Ceann Comhairle was a remarkable event. There were superb presentations by Geoffrey Shannon and Ian Elliott on the cross-Border dimension of child protection. For lighter relief in the afternoon Brian...

Seanad: Alcohol Consumption: Statements (17 Oct 2012)

Sean Barrett: I will try to be brief as I know many Senators wish to speak on this issue. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. There are certain dangers inherent in this debate and we must be careful in our use of data. The Minister of State made reference to certain data but I drew the attention of the House to data last November which indicate that drink consumption is falling in Ireland,...