Results 741-760 of 4,168 for speaker:Susan O'Keeffe

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: If I may, I wish to agree with the observations this morning of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, with regard to the bonus culture that is apparent in Irish Water. We await more details but I oppose such a culture, and I suspect everybody in the House does so too. I welcome the Government announcement on the rural development programme and the billions of euro being put into...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Bill 2013: Irish Timber Council and IFFPA (15 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: I will allow Senator Comiskey to speak first as he must leave later.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Bill 2013: Irish Timber Council and IFFPA (15 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I share the concern about Ministers not being available. Perhaps the witnesses can afford some clarity about the reasons given. Mr. Glennon said that the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, will not meet them on the proposed merger. Is that an interpretation or was it said by him in a letter? Perhaps...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Bill 2013: Irish Timber Council and IFFPA (15 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: Having heard the observations about the breakdown of trust, no trust and the lack of trust, and given the three big issues involving the policy review group, the forestry Bill and the merger of Bord na Móna and Coillte, my view is that it will be very difficult to make any progress because there is a lack of trust on the other side also. We have a serious dilemma in that unless there is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Bill 2013: Irish Timber Council and IFFPA (15 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: Will the Chair please repeat that?

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by Mr. Tom Arnold (16 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: I welcome Mr. Arnold; it is good to have him here. I was honoured to be at the convention and there were moments when I pinched myself and had to think it was really happening and that I was part of it. Much of the collegiality about which Mr. Arnold spoke was cemented by cake and there were many good cakes. That is important, as sometimes we forget about the small things. There was a...

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by Mr. Tom Arnold (16 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: We can allow frivolous moments. The role of women in public life and same sex marriage were highlights in the very important matters of our time that were discussed. The subjects were pretty tough and the discussions timely, but are there as many again that could be discussed? We could go on and several of my colleagues suggested many topics that were of importance. Was the...

Seanad: Common Agricultural Policy and Rural Development Programme: Statements (22 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: We have the Minister in the House.

Seanad: Common Agricultural Policy and Rural Development Programme: Statements (22 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: I welcome the Minister to the House. Credit is due to him and his officials for a huge body of work done over the last few months. A person who is under the age of 40, lives on an island and owns sheep is probably very happy indeed, because such a person will qualify for all manner of things. I wish to concentrate most of my remarks on the rural development side. The Minister has been in...

Seanad: Common Agricultural Policy and Rural Development Programme: Statements (22 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that we be allowed to continue this debate and that the Minister reply no later than 3.35 p.m.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (22 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: I support Senator Ó Clochartaigh's suggestion. There is a case to answer, as other jurisdictions manage to equality proof their budgets. There may be a time constraint, but where there is a will, there is a way. The idea that we would exclude the ESRI and Equality Authority from having a role in the budget merits our further examination. I would like the petitioner to attend to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (22 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: The petitioner had a valid thought in her head, namely, to make Ireland a more welcoming place for foreign drivers. However, the matter of road safety will always be the determining factor. In this matter, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has stated that it is not a question of which side of the road one drives on, but of whether other countries' driving licence standards are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Decisions on Public Petitions Received (22 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: Yes. People generally believe that the left-hand side issue is the only reason, but that is not the case. For example, many authorities issue licences in the US. We should give a coherent explanation to the petitioner, whose purpose in raising this matter was valid.

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: I pay my respects to the late Ted Nealon. There are many in the House who would have known him as a former Deputy for Sligo-Leitrim. I extend my condolences to his family. He was a journalist, a footballer and a politician who will be missed.

Seanad: Freedom of Information Act 1997 (Prescribed Bodies) Regulations 2014: Motion (29 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: I welcome the Minister, who has been dedicated and has come to this House himself every time we discuss issues of reform, as promised in the programme for Government. That reform, as the Minister and others have said, is needed in order to restore public confidence in politics and in Government. I would laugh - but laughing is probably not appropriate - at the mere idea ---

Seanad: Freedom of Information Act 1997 (Prescribed Bodies) Regulations 2014: Motion (29 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: --- of a member of Fianna Fáil describing the Minister as having his tail between his legs when it was a Fianna Fáil Government which introduced the constraints to the Freedom of Information Act in 2003, which this Government has overturned, as Senator Byrne well knows. I am not going to cite chapter and verse ---

Seanad: Freedom of Information Act 1997 (Prescribed Bodies) Regulations 2014: Motion (29 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: If the Senator would allow me to finish, I will tell him. Of course, the Senator also knows that the reform of the freedom of information legislation is still in train. The Bill is only on Report Stage at the moment. The Minister is still progressing that legislation through the House. The Minister is being asked to do something he cannot do.

Seanad: Freedom of Information Act 1997 (Prescribed Bodies) Regulations 2014: Motion (29 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: The record will show the Minister knew and understood that Irish Water should be included in the freedom of information legislation. Now, at the end of January we are including it. Evidently, the Senator does not know much about how government works if he thinks it is going to be forced to introduce such legislation because of a conversation on the radio. Irish Water was always going to be...

Seanad: Humanitarian Situation in Syria, South Sudan and Central African Republic: Statements (30 Jan 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: I welcome the Minister of State. As others have said, his commitment to this work is not in question. At a time like this when there seems so little any of us can do in a crisis, particularly the crisis in Syria, which is so alarming and so enormous, at least Ireland is giving the aid and support it can. While €26 million is small in world terms, it is a significant amount for this...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Feb 2014)

Susan O'Keeffe: On World Cancer Day and despite all the challenges, I wish to pay tribute to the work of safefood and RTE who through the "Operation Transformation" programme in recent years have brought to life the idea of living and eating more healthily. It is a great community-based activity which in the true sense of public education encourages us to have better eating habits and to take more exercise....