Results 481-500 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2008)

Alex White: So, it is only when we agree with them that they are right.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2008)

Alex White: Pick and choose.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2008)

Alex White: Hear, hear. Let us have that debate.

Seanad: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008: Second Stage (Resumed) (1 May 2008)

Alex White: In the context of this debate on the Lisbon treaty, I have no difficulty with people raising profound issues on where Europe is going, the policies it takes in respect of world trade and the impact it has on different sectors of our economy and society. I do not criticise Senator Doherty or anybody else for raising such issues in this debate because we are thereby afforded an opportunity to...

Seanad: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008: Second Stage (Resumed) (1 May 2008)

Alex White: I accept the legitimate point he makes in respect of the need to have a debate about trade but it is inaccurate and dishonest to visit the issue at the door of the Lisbon treaty. I do not mean to personally attack the Senator because he has the right to raise these issues and I respect people who have different points of view on this debate. The Senator suggested that the Government is...

Seanad: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 May 2008)

Alex White: Tairgim leasú a 1: I gCuid 1, leathanach 7, idir línte 7 agus 8, an méid seo a leanas a chur isteach: "11° Amhail ar theacht i bhfeidhm agus ó theacht i bhfeidhm an Chonartha dá dtagraítear i bhfo-alt 10°, is feidhm de chuid Thithe an Oireachtais é na feidhmeanna a thugtar do Pharlaimintí Náisiúnta leis an gConradh sin a chomhall thar ceann an Stáit, de réir Theideal II...

Seanad: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 May 2008)

Alex White: I understand what the Minister of State has said. I am inclined towards the view he takes in respect of sparse language in the Constitution and that we should not overburden it with detail. We should not leave aside the responsibility these Houses will have. We have had scrutiny legislation before and people are alive to the need to ensure proper scrutiny. However, we need to put that...

Seanad: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 May 2008)

Alex White: There is a risk that inserting the phrase, "To this end the State shall, in particular, maintain a policy of non-membership of military alliances", into the Constitution may have an opposite effect. It would come after the phrase "any such exercise shall be subject to the prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas". It could give rise to the question whether we already have such a...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 May 2008)

Alex White: There have been many congratulations and we now have had a month of praise and thanksgiving. Much of it has been deserved, some of it less so, and some of it has been bordering on the nauseating. It is now time to get down to business. I wondered at one stage over the last few weeks whether the former Taoiseach would outdo Luciano Pavarotti, who has the world record of 165 curtain calls in...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 May 2008)

Alex White: The former Taoiseach went close to that record. Senator O'Toole's point about a debate anticipates precisely the point I was going to raise myself. He is right and I support him. While it is a matter for debate whether this is a new Government, it is an opportune moment for us to have that wider discussion. I ask the Leader to arrange for the new Taoiseach to come into this House and to...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 May 2008)

Alex White: The country has changed.

Seanad: Order of Business (8 May 2008)

Alex White: What is expected is 11 years in government.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 May 2008)

Alex White: I support and second Senator Fitzgerald's call for the amendment of Standing Orders to provide for a debate on the issues raised in the "Prime Time Investigates" television programme last night. It was a particularly good analytical programme, which set out in stark terms the reality of what is happening throughout the child protection services presided over by the Health Service Executive,...

Seanad: Legal Practitioners (Irish Language) Bill 2007: Second Stage (14 May 2008)

Alex White: Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a bhronnadh ar an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Devins, as ucht an phost nua atá bainte amach aige. Tá súil agam go n-éireoidh go maith leis sa jab nua sin. Is lá speisialta é inniu san Oireachtas ó thaobh na Gaeilge de. Bhí Deasún mac an Easpaig anseo ar maidin. Cé nach raibh mé i láthair ag na himeachtaí, tuigim gur ócáid an-taitneamhach a bhí ann....

Seanad: Order of Business (20 May 2008)

Alex White: There is a clear need for a debate on the matter alluded to by Senator Fitzgerald, namely, the collapse in the past 24 hours of the so-called public private partnership housing projects at St. Michael's House, O'Deveney Gardens and other areas of Dublin city. It is not an exaggeration to describe this event as a parable of our times. It tells us a number of things about where we are at this...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 May 2008)

Alex White: The third thing demonstrated by the collapse of the PPP should be of urgent interest to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and to Senator Boyle. It relates to the reason given for the abandonment of these projects. I have been told it relates to the downturn in the construction, but what was less well noticed were the other reasons proffered by Mr. McNamara for...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 May 2008)

Alex White: How is this a point of order?

Seanad: Order of Business (27 May 2008)

Alex White: I, too, would like clarification from the Leader on the Government's intentions in regard to the civil union legislation which was promised following several debates in this House and elsewhere. The frustration that the leader of the Green Party and Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government appears to display gives us cause for concern in that regard, and I would welcome...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 May 2008)

Alex White: No.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 May 2008)

Alex White: Another split.