Results 761-780 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: I will conclude in their favour.

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: The Minister should set the toll at zero. That is the solution to this problem.

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: The two year wait the Minister now promises is unacceptable. He could set the toll at zero tomorrow, which would open the toll gates.

Seanad: Northern Ireland Issues: Statements. (2 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: With the permission of the House I wish to share my time with Senators Norris and Quinn.

Seanad: Northern Ireland Issues: Statements. (2 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: I was struck by the speech made by Senator Ó Murchú on the Order of Business. I was one of those who broke the rules of the House by applauding what he stated because I identified strongly with it. Perhaps the House finds that difficult to understand. His statement that his mother wore a poppy resonates with me. My parents also wore poppies when I was brought up. Perhaps they even sold...

Seanad: Northern Ireland Issues: Statements. (2 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: I am.

Seanad: Northern Ireland Issues: Statements. (2 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: While the IRA has given up its arms, it seems to have handed over a legacy of criminality, which is yielding an extraordinary amount of money to an organisation which will perpetuate it. I am worried that the Government is not pursuing this with the vigour we should expect. I am worried because I suspect that, unbeknown to us, things are going on behind the scenes that may lead to a certain...

Seanad: Social Partnership: Statements. (7 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: Hear, hear. Not in the Seanad though.

Seanad: Social Partnership: Statements. (7 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: I thank Senator O'Toole for sharing his time with me and I want to congratulate him. I notice that sometimes in this House people make strange conversions from one position to another. When Senator O'Toole was negotiating the benchmarking deal, I did not hear him crying about the interests of the poor or the voluntary pillar. When Senator O'Toole was negotiating the deal for the teachers, I...

Seanad: Social Partnership: Statements. (7 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: ——let him not forget from whence he came.

Seanad: Social Partnership: Statements. (7 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: I congratulate Senator O'Toole on the deals he did in the past in terms of benchmarking. They were brilliant, but the did nothing for the poor or underprivileged. They did a great deal for the public service, and that was his job at the time. I come to the main issue, to which Senator O'Toole is not party, because he is a Member of this House and not a member of a union. His words today are...

Seanad: Social Partnership: Statements. (7 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: I said a political eunuch, not a eunuch. I want to get to the main issue before my time runs out. Senator O'Toole was not too generous, incidentally, in sharing his time.

Seanad: Social Partnership: Statements. (7 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: I want to refer to one or two of the issues addressed by the Minister of State today, because it is a very serious subject. I have not much time to quote from the Minister of State's speech, but he made a cardinal mistake. Both he and Senator O'Toole advocated social partnership and then cited the great benefits the economy has reaped in the last few years. They go straight to quod est...

Seanad: Social Partnership: Statements. (7 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: However, let us look at the overall economy and who participates in social partnership because I suggest this is a very convenient confidence trick for which a great many people are falling. I have pointed out here before that the trades unions as portrayed in these social partnerships are supposedly representing the entire workforce. They do not although they give this impression and are...

Seanad: Social Partnership: Statements. (7 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: That is right, Independent Newspapers, as well, and the semi-States——

Seanad: Social Partnership: Statements. (7 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: The big paymasters of IBEC are the semi-States, Aer Rianta, Aer Lingus, the ESB, RTE, which all pay well over €100,000 a year into IBEC's coffers. Can anyone tell me that these people somehow represent small business, the backbone of this economy, or the enterprise economy? Whatever one's personal feelings what can anybody say about the most successful company in this country in the past...

Seanad: Social Partnership: Statements. (7 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: What does he mean by ten more years of this?

Seanad: Social Partnership: Statements. (7 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: He means ten more years of tying people up to a lack of democracy. We see from the Minister of State's speech that within that, somehow, there will be some confusing types of wage deals from time to time. The Taoiseach, for some reason, wants to tie people up to ten more years in this straitjacket. What will happen is that more and more employers, unions and workers will secede from it...

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: I propose an amendment to the Order of Business to allow for statements on the Great Southern Hotels.

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Feb 2006)

Shane Ross: I am not doing this out of mischief because I detect a difference between the Government parties, but to facilitate Senators Morrissey, Dooley and Cox in their desire to discuss the matter today.