Results 61-80 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Seanad: Witness Protection Programme Bill 2007: Second Stage (31 Oct 2007)

Alex White: It is important to reinforce the Bill's proposals. A witness protection programme exists in the State but the Bill proposes it be established on a statutory basis. It would allow the Houses of the Oireachtas and the community to participate in understanding what the programme should entail and putting it into law. It would also allow the programme's operation to have the wider confidence...

Seanad: Witness Protection Programme Bill 2007: Second Stage (31 Oct 2007)

Alex White: If Senator Walsh allows me to develop my point, it is possible he might agree with me. An important issue such as crime, where people's lives are at stake, may be most amenable to parties on both sides of the House working together.

Seanad: Witness Protection Programme Bill 2007: Second Stage (31 Oct 2007)

Alex White: I note the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Seán Power, is smiling. It is an issue on which all parties could work together to ensure the cycle of violence in our community is addressed. This is the spirit in which the Bill has been proposed and the basis on which we ask the Government side of the House to support it. I doubt the Bill, as...

Seanad: Witness Protection Programme Bill 2007: Second Stage (31 Oct 2007)

Alex White: I thank the Minister of State and colleagues for their contributions, including those who said it was a meritorious Bill but could not find their way to vote for it. That is one of the curious experiences one has as a newly elected Member. It is a pity that when one sees merit in something, one cannot find it possible to vote for it. I do not make that as a personalised remark to anybody...

Seanad: Witness Protection Programme Bill 2007: Second Stage (31 Oct 2007)

Alex White: Nor is that the point the Senator made, as he well knows. He can check it himself.

Seanad: Witness Protection Programme Bill 2007: Second Stage (31 Oct 2007)

Alex White: I do not agree with what Senator Harris said. While I understand all the slanging about the Law Library, every day prosecutions are secured in our courts. The protection of the principles of innocence until proven guilty, about which we all know, and proof beyond a reasonable doubt by the prosecution is not an obstacle to the fight against crime. Prosecutions will continue to be secured....

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Nov 2007)

Alex White: I strongly agree with what Senator Norris said and indicate to this House that my party, having raised the matter in the other one yesterday, will not flinch or pull back from raising it again. It will seek the maximum level of rights under our Constitution for gay people in this State. What Senator Norris said was absolutely right and he was, as always, eloquent and to the point. This is...

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2007)

Alex White: I support Senator Fitzgerald's call for a debate on cancer services. Political accountability is a fundamental part of this discussion and Senator O'Toole touched on this, the notion that politics should be taken out of politics, in other words, that difficult issues should be taken out of politics. While the Taoiseach is bemused that people wish to politicise the issue, the question of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2007)

Alex White: Everybody other than the Government.

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Nov 2007)

Alex White: I agree with Senator Fitzgerald that Senators should examine how the House does its business. If the other House holds a debate on its role, the Seanad should certainly have such a debate on how it orders its business and addresses issues of concern. I also agree with the Senator's views on a point I raised in the House yesterday regarding public and political accountability. The meeting we...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Nov 2007)

Alex White: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Nov 2007)

Alex White: On a point of order, will we all be permitted to have supplementary questions when the Deputy Leader is responding to the Order of Business? This has happened three or four times in the last few minutes and it is not fair to other Members. I would like to come back in with supplementary questions as well.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Nov 2007)

Alex White: The Government has indicated it intends to publish two important employment Bills in the coming weeks or months. Will the Leader indicate to this House the likely dates of publication of the Employment Law Compliance Bill 2007 and the Employment Agencies Regulation Bill 2007. There is consensus in the wider debate on immigration that it is vital that employees who come to this country not...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Nov 2007)

Alex White: From where does Senator Leyden's party get its funding?

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Nov 2007)

Alex White: Will the Senator tell the House from where he gets funding?

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Nov 2007)

Alex White: From where does the Senator get funding?

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Nov 2007)

Alex White: From anybody at all? Pull the other one.

Seanad: Government's Irish Aid Strategy: Statements (13 Nov 2007)

Alex White: This House has a high level of consensus on this issue. In his speech, the Minister of State stated Ireland has a moral obligation to address these issues and he is correct. However, it goes beyond a moral obligation. This matter has a political dimension which the Minister of State touched on in his speech and we should reflect on it in this discussion. If we are to rebalance the wealth...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Nov 2007)

Alex White: Senator Fitzgerald made a very strong point about school drop-out rates. I support her call for a debate with the Minister for Education and Science or perhaps, more appropriately, with the Minister of State with responsibility for children who will be in the House later today on a separate matter. Allied to that, I refer to another startling report in today's newspapers from the...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Nov 2007)

Alex White: Whose fault was that?