Results 61-80 of 891 for speaker:John Minihan
- Seanad: Order of Business. (25 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: We should be grateful.
- Seanad: Convention on the Future of Europe: Statements. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: I join other speakers in welcoming Proinsias De Rossa to the House and thanking him for his overview of the Convention, giving all sides of the story even though, in some respects, it may not correspond to his own political views. The overall concept of the Convention on the Future of Europe is, undoubtedly, an excellent and very welcome development. With EU enlargement on the agenda, such a...
- Seanad: Health Services: Motion. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: I move: That Seanad Ãireann, welcoming the allocation of â¬9 billion in health funding by the Government this year and mindful of the objective of delivering quality services and value for money with these resources, calls upon the Minister for Health and Children and the Government to take early and decisive action to reform the management structures and financial accountability of the...
- Seanad: Health Services: Motion. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: Does the Senator want me to answer?
- Seanad: Health Services: Motion. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: So the Senator agrees with our motion.
- Seanad: Health Services: Motion. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: I thank the Senators who contributed to the debate. On behalf of the Progressive Democrats, who put down this motion, I am delighted with the Minister's response and that he has directly addressed the spirit of our motion. I hope we have contributed somewhat to the reform of the health services that is so badly needed.
- Seanad: Health Services: Motion. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: We have had six consecutive Government speakers without any contribution from the Opposition. The Opposition made some remarks about our prepared scripts, but the difference between us and them is that we did prepare.
- Seanad: Health Services: Motion. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: We do not come from the Fine Gael crèche of unprepared scripts.
- Seanad: Health Services: Motion. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: The reality is that they are here with no prepared scripts. We expected themâ
- Seanad: Health Services: Motion. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: I expected at least that they would bring out their party's manifesto on health but they seem to have lost that now as well. The reality is that both Fine Gael and the Labour Party are bereft of any health policy whatsoever.
- Seanad: Health Services: Motion. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: It is a pity Senator Cummins did not read it before he came in. He might have had something to say. If Senator Bannon were here, I would remind him of the lecture he gave us on etiquette, having spent the previous ten minutes interrupting everybody who was speaking. That was his contribution on the health service. The Labour Party view was expressed by Senator McCarthy. He told us that we...
- Seanad: Health Services: Motion. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: Thankfully in order to keep this debate going our colleagues in Government were able to support the motion. We were able to achieve what we set out to achieve by obtaining a commitment from the Minister that will bring about the necessary management changes and accountability changes required to bring forward our health service. I hope that next time a serious Private Members' motion is...
- Seanad: Health Services: Motion. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: We got none. That is a non-prepared script, a reflection of the Opposition's contribution this evening. I thank the Senators on the Government side for their contributions and I thank the Chair for his patience over the past few minutes. Amendment put. Tá
- Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Defence Forces Property. (26 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: I thank the Minister for coming before the House to take this matter on the Adjournment.
- Seanad: Order of Business. (27 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: I join previous speakers in calling on the Leader to ask the Minister for Transport to take action with regard to Iarnród Ãireann. However, to suggest that we allocate rolling stock and decide where it should go is a little over the top. As we are talking about pulling rolling stock off the Sligo-Dublin line, I remind Members that last Sunday a train left Cork with absolutely no toilets. It...
- Seanad: Order of Business. (27 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: The problems are not unique to the Sligo line. (Interruptions).
- Seanad: Order of Business. (27 Feb 2003)
John Minihan: I got a lecture last night on manners from Senator Bannon. Perhaps he should lecture his own party members. For Iarnród Ãireann to offer the passengers concerned a 50% refund is a great insult. There is a basic contract between service provider and passenger and basic facilities must be provided. If they are not, Iarnród Ãireann has no right to charge the going rate or any fare at all.
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (4 Mar 2003)
John Minihan: I welcome the opportunity to debate the Bill. Unlike some debates on legislation in the House, the tone of this debate is often driven in advance by media articles. As Members, we have a primary responsibility to debate issues that come before us and to weigh them up, seek opinions and give our own, rather than echo the opinions of others. It is appropriate that the Bill is before the Seanad...
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (4 Mar 2003)
John Minihan: I listened to enough this morningâ
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (4 Mar 2003)
John Minihan: As I was saying, the controversy which has surrounded this Bill in recent days has been generated by the only credible opposition, the media, to suit media ends. Their political puppets in Fine Gael and the Labour Party march to the beat of a media drum.