Results 521-540 of 605 for speaker:John Whelan

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: The Minister is doing his utmost to listen to the public and we would be grateful if the Members from Sinn Féin would do the same for a moment and allow me to make my point. I was quoting the former British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, when I made the remark. That has nothing to do with Israel and I do not want to start another international incident. It has nothing to do with...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: I am doing so.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: We are certainly taking it seriously, to the same extent that anyone from Sinn Féin or the Reform Alliance spoke to the amendments on Friday. I could not follow what they were saying then. We are going around in circles.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: The forum, as set out by the Minister in the Bill, clearly has the capacity to be wholly and fully representative of all the stakeholders in the community - commercial users, householders, workers and so on and there is no requirement or necessity to enshrine that in the primary legislation. Clearly, the Minister is listening here and responding, but now he is being castigated for...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: In regard to the amendment, I am saying the forum will be able to address and tease out all of these issues in the best interest of communities and the public and people in places like Strokestown in County Roscommon. I proposed someone from Roscommon should be on the forum, because Roscommon people have suffered most in regard to bad quality water that nobody can drink, thanks to 20 years...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: I would like to see this forum established as early as possible. I would like it to be as representative as possible and I believe the Minister is going about it in the correct way.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: This is a worthwhile amendment in that it gives us the opportunity in this section to address this issue and for the Minister to come back with the Government perspective and Department's outlook on it. We are well versed with the issue in the Seanad, because as far back as three years ago Senators Norris and Quinn tabled a strong and worthy motion to deal with the issue. I came to the...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: I have done so on a number of occasions.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: On more than half a dozen occasions.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: Yes.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: In any event, the motion was debated. Like other colleagues, I had been contacted by genuinely concerned citizens across the country who were fearful of what they see as mass medication through the public water system. Some people genuinely believe that exposure to fluoride poses a risk or a danger to their health and well-being. I do not take the view that just because the State is party...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: The Senators did not put it to a vote, but I am saying, as the Senator has said, that the case for doing so was not sufficiently strong to warrant that course of action. At the time, the Minister set out the existence of the 20-member scientific advisory panel to the Department. To be fair, I will defer to those who have qualifications in specific areas-----

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: Actually, there are one or two people going around the country, scaring the living daylights out of people, trying to suggest to them that they are being poisoned, virtually, with the fluoride in the water. It is tantamount to reckless scaremongering. They have no peer review of that science and no endorsement from any reputable scientific or health agency in Ireland, in Europe or within...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: There is a lot of misinformation swirling around in the mix on this issue. For example, we put chlorine in public swimming pools but we do not go around advising people to absorb chlorine.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: It is used in proportion, on the basis that it purifies and keeps the water safe. There is an idea that, somehow, by putting minute quantities of fluoride in the public system, there is a virtual conspiracy to sedate the entire population. We have to be sensible about this. I believe the amendment is well-intentioned. Senator Ó Clochartaigh generally has a sound basis for his...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: Exactly.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: It is a debate on toothpaste

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: On a point of order, is this a debate on the amendment or on toothpaste?

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: This is ridiculous.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Provision (20 Jan 2015)

John Whelan: I am particularly heartened to see the Minister, Deputy Varadkar. I am grateful to him for taking these questions from myself and Senator Byrne. It is not unfair to say the Minister is regarded as one of the most forthright, upstanding and decent politicians of all time. His reputation and credibility precede him. I am not saying that, in any way, as a charm offensive but I know he is a...