Results 681-700 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Defence Forces (Second World War Amnesty and Immunity) Bill 2012: Second Stage (6 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister to the House. Like other Senators, I warmly support the Bill, which is part of the reconciliation between North and South within this island and between east and west. It is part of a wider reconciliation also and as Senator O'Donovan said, the EU 27 was formed to ensure we do not have further outbreaks of war like the First World War or Second World War. The...

Seanad: Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Bill 2013: Second Stage (6 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister and assure him of my support for all he is trying to do for the country. If there is good news tomorrow, the Minister will have our support in that but I am most unhappy about what is going on here this evening. It is scant regard for democracy. We have tried in this House to read every Bill thoroughly and table amendments, and several Ministers have complimented us...

Seanad: Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Bill 2013: Second Stage (6 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I worry about so many places in the Bill. The preamble states that, "Whereas in the achievement of the winding up of IBRC the common good may require permanent or temporary interference with the rights, including property rights, of persons". That theme goes right through it. I would ask whether we are worried about losing the Hall case in the Supreme Court. Why has the EU made us bring...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: It would help if the group could give us correspondence on what information it requested and what was refused, and what the group would like to have and what sections of the new legislation the group fears might be used to prevent it getting that information. As my colleagues have said, that is what we are here to do, to go through the legislation line by line and see if we can help by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: Has the group seen the death certificates for those people?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: Is that what is needed? We can help with information in cases where it is thought people died and it was not recorded, or where the group wants to know what a person died from. This has come up in the case of the Magdalen laundries, as Deputy McDonald pointed out. The State cannot lose people. People are entitled to know where their friends have gone, why they died and the causes of death.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2012: Discussion (6 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: The Chairman will be in touch and if the group can give those documents, that will help the committee a great deal.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank the staff of the House for remaining here until 6 a.m. In doing so, they were so helpful and courteous, as always. This service to the House was way above the call of duty. While it was so unexpected for any of us to be here, our staff were wonderful. Let me mention the various centenary celebrations that will be occurring. I ask that the parliamentary tradition be included...

Seanad: Industrial Development (Science Foundation Ireland) (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (7 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State. As Senator Clune said, it is a most important topic. We need the reforms which the Minister of State is proposing but we need to stay flexible. He referred to the need to fund applied research in addition to basic research and the need to promote awareness of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The 2003 Act specifies the areas of information...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: The Deputy Leader raised the possibility we might complete work today on the Taxi Regulation Bill. I wish to make the case to the contrary. The Bill was circulated on 3 December. Yesterday we were notified of two major amendments, one of which seems to seriously interfere with the rights of part-time workers and with what a person in employment should tell his or her employer; and the...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Deputy Leader. As a lawyer she would like to see workers have rights with regard to what they tell employers. There are many case studies on the rights of part-time workers. I very much welcome the Deputy Leader's decision and I thank her. With regard to the Magdalen laundries, a most interesting work by Eoin O'Sullivan and Ian O Donnell, Coercive Confinement in Ireland,...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for initiating this legislation here. The object, we hope, is to improve it if we can or to assist the Minister of State if we can, and if we cannot do so, I am sure it will go forward to the other House. My response is to ask what is the point. A dispatch operator is the person who provides a booking service for an intending passenger. It is...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State and amendments are always offered in this spirit. The crime we are creating merits a fine of ¤50,000 for telephoning for a taxi other than through somebody approved by the National Transport Authority. I know the Minister of State is trying to reform the body, but its record is always one of preventing competition at airports, between bus companies and...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: There are elements we need to regulate in transport, and there are others which would be a waste of time to regulate and will probably be overtaken by technology. I do not want to press the point. I am concerned about the priority of whoever drew up the Bill which designated a fine of ¤50,000 for telephoning for a taxi other than through somebody who got a licence from the Minister to do...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: What does withdrawing an "order" mean? I support the Minister of State and agree that the less of this technical detail the better. What is the difference, in this context, between a regulation and an order?

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I accept what the Minister of State had said. I know that it will not happen and I support his amendments.

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 5:In page 9, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following:?(d) the Taxi Regulation Act 2003 (Grant of Taxi Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 2010;?.Section 4 listed a number of laws to be repealed such as section 84 of the Road Traffic Act 1961. I have added, because it is draconian and probably unconstitutional, that we should also repeal SI 250 of 2010. Professor...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: The Minister of State is being disingenuous. He is erecting a huge barrier to new entrants by requiring that they must have a wheelchair accessible vehicle. He and his officials know that. It is a de facto barrier to entry which the High Court told the Department not to do. That is a serious step. I will vote against the measure. We should not be asked to undermine High Court decisions....

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I am pressing the amendment because of the level of cynicism here where wheelchair users are being invoked for 1% of vehicles to keep new entrants from the other 99% of the market. That is wrong and contravenes what the High Court said. It stands economics on its head, it is devious and underhand and I could not possibly withdraw the amendment in those circumstances. The Minister of State...

Seanad: Taxi Regulation Bill 2012: Committee Stage (12 Feb 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I draw Members' attention to-----