Results 41-60 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: For 14,000 acute beds there are 17,000 administrators. If one is given a so-called semi-private bed, a phrase which defies definition - it means a patient is given a bed in a corridor and may be moved somewhere else later - the total cost of that bed provision is greater per night than that of staying in the best hotels in the country. I had a constituent who was charged €10,000 for the...

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State for returning to the House after lunch. I echo Senator Burke's concern about the two-year period. The five-year period for introducing competition in health insurance should come prior to this in order that hospitals will be competing and freeing up resources that are necessary. If these posts end after two years, the health insurance market has not been...

Seanad: Unfinished Housing Developments: Statements (13 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Penrose, to the House and wish him every success in dealing with this problem, which is literally a blot on the landscape. It is a testament to how we got into this situation. The effects can be seen in every county of reckless lending by financial institutions, more so in the western part of the country, and of a building industry which expected...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: At 1 p.m., Mr. Chopra will address the nation on television about the recovery package. Will the Leader impress upon the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, CPP, the need to expedite our request that Mr. Chopra should address the House? The Parliament has an important role to play in national recovery. Arising from our most useful debate last Friday on the health service, I call on the...

Seanad: Residential Institutions (Redress) Bill 2011: Second Stage (19 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister, Deputy Quinn, to the House. I have had the pleasure of knowing him for many years. Like Senator Cullinane, I fear so much of this is still unresolved that we may find ourselves back here again because even more scandals will have been unearthed. Like Senator Crown, I appreciate the Minister is seeking to draw a line under this but we do not know what lurks around...

Seanad: SPHE Curriculum: Motion (20 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. It is good to see him in the House again. I commend Senator McAleese and his colleagues on introducing the motion, which relates to a matter of vital importance. Senator Power referred to sarcasm. It is not that long since a former Senator, Owen Sheehy Skeffington, campaigned against people who administered physical beatings to children in schools. We must...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I request that the Leader address the issue of what the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, refers to as "regulatory capture" or "downtown office syndrome". We are approaching the third anniversary of the day on which representatives from the banks went into the Department of Finance and effectively bankrupted the country. As a share of GDP, Ireland provides the...

Seanad: Electoral Amendment Bill 2011: Committee Stage (21 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I wonder if reducing the number of Deputies, even by a small figure, and abolishing the Seanad misses how the country got into its current position. We need more scrutiny, checks and balances and parliamentary democracy. In recent times, the Executive as opposed to the Parliament, was all-powerful and the permanent government had massive power and was rarely questioned in the House. As we...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed). (21 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Coming so soon after the court finding that by-elections are not discretionary, to be seen to extend the proposed timeframe from six to nine months would reflect poorly on Parliament. Even if it the holding of a by-election is inconvenient or expensive, the will of the people must be heard.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I was very pleased to hear Senator Coghlan compare Killarney national park to St. Stephen's Green. Those of us who live in the greater Dublin area will help him defend Killarney and I ask him to help us defend St. Stephen's Green because it is under threat from an extremely expensive and wasteful project which is damaging in environmental terms, namely to dig it up to make an underground...

Seanad: Family Home Bill 2011: Second Stage (27 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes. He, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, were described by Senator Susan O'Keeffe as the "Celtic troika" in their attempts to right the country's finances. I welcome the Bill introduced by Senator Marc MacSharry. It is one element of the effort to...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Sep 2011)

Sean Barrett: I agree with the proposals from Senators Healy Eames and Conway to invite the Minister for Education and Skills to come to the House. The problem of mathematics in Ireland, which was first raised in this House, has been promoted heavily in one of the national newspapers. My fear is that it may be even bigger than has been stated so far. The expert group on future skills needs estimates...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Sep 2011)

Sean Barrett: I second Senator Darragh O'Brien's remarks about the Dubs. He did not mention that north Dublin is also good at cricket.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Sep 2011)

Sean Barrett: One of his constituents in Balbriggan defeated England. That was an achievement. Regarding Senator Bacik's comments, universities and the points mechanism comprise the subject of a statement today that has been covered widely by the media, certainly the broadcast media. The statement was made by seven people who all happen to be men. I am a member of a university governing body, but this...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill, 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 Sep 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. I do not welcome the Bill because I believe the Minister is better than this Bill would have him appear. It has the look of a Bill that has been hanging around Marlborough Street for a long time. There is a recent tradition of hostility to university autonomy from Marlborough Street and I regret that. On 17 September last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill, 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (20 Sep 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Sep 2011)

Sean Barrett: I strongly support the efforts of the Cathaoirleach and Leader to reform the House and make it more relevant and meaningful to citizens. Innovations such as the questions and answers session are commendable. I propose two addendums to that agenda. The first concerns the fact that the Government Publications Office no longer sells the printed versions of the debates in this House. One can...