Results 5,781-5,800 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Eel Fisheries (18 Feb 2009)

David Norris: I thank the Minister of State.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: Exactly.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: I have been saying it for months.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: Where can one get a pick-axe?

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: I have the highest respect for my colleague, Senator MacSharry, but the present Government has been in power for so long that, accident or not, it has presided over a situation where the four pillars of society have come into disrepute, the church, the law, the banks and politics. Not a single one of them can stand with its head high in this State. That is partly because the Government has...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: I support them strongly for the reasons I have set out. An attempt was made to conceal this measure by sticking it into the final, non-procedural section of the Bill. I want to address the question of the pensions levy. It is astonishing to me that the Government did not seem to know what it was doing. Two Ministers gave two totally different answers to the question of whether the levy...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: Everybody receives a tax break on pensions. The Government set the levy at 3%, 6% and 10% depending on the rates of taxation. The actual rate is therefore 2%, 5% and 6% because the people on the highest salaries receive the largest tax breaks. That is a difference of €215 million.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: These people are obviously asleep at the wheel. Unlike private sector pensions, which are paid directly into a pension fund, public sector pensions were until recently paid from current expenditure. Now that we have the National Pensions Reserve Fund, that is where the money will go. Instead of reducing Government debt, it will top up the emergency fund to get Seán FitzPatrick and the...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: I hope to God she goes to the European Court of Justice and we get a bloody nose.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: Yes, he is. There is no doubt about that.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: They simply use brown envelopes.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: That is not an answer.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: I am not satisfied with that. The Leader has made very broad-ranging, swingeing accusations against every Member on this side of the House and I object to it. If he has something to say he should put it clearly on the record and say what he is alleging.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: He should name the people of whom he is alleging that. Otherwise he is bringing the whole House into disrepute.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: I got nothing, unlike some of my colleagues.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: We should read the entire thing into the record tomorrow or next week.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: That includes all the financial associations on both sides of the House. That would make most interesting reading.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

David Norris: On a point of information, we are already in Europe.

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2009)

David Norris: I am glad Senator Harris mentioned the late Christopher Nolan who was a very remarkable writer. Approximately 20 years ago, I gave a course of lectures in Trinity College Dublin about Ulysses and I heard a snorting, choking sound from the back of the lecture hall, which I realised was the most wonderful of sounds — the human laugh. Christopher Nolan's mother was there. He did not get...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2009)

David Norris: It has that all right.