Results 821-840 of 14,090 for speaker:Marc MacSharry
- Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jan 2012)
Marc MacSharry: I agree wholeheartedly with Senator Healy Eames. I would welcome such a debate. Next week, the Private Members' debate in the Dáil will give all Government Deputies the opportunity to reverse these cuts and ensure that our local rural schools are protected. I call on all Members of that House to do that. As co-author of the Family Home Bill, which was defeated in the House by just three...
- Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jan 2012)
Marc MacSharry: I am pleased, if I could just speak for a moment. While I appreciate that the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality is considering this issue, can the heads of the Bill also be put before this House for a debate at this time, to feed into the joint committee's deliberations on the issue? While the Bill contains many welcome features, many of them were included in the Bills Fianna...
- Seanad: Order of Business (31 Jan 2012)
Marc MacSharry: I join other Members in seeking a debate on the motion. We will use our Private Members' time next week to discuss the rural schools, which is an important issue. Notwithstanding that these are difficult times and cuts are necessary, this cut is not necessary. The cost to society generally and to rural Ireland far outweighs any benefit in the context of savings in the Department of...
- Seanad: Health (Provision of General Practitioner Services) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: As always, I welcome the Minister to the House. He has a very difficult job. He is very busy and we are glad to see him here in person. That is not to say his Ministers of State are not very welcome here. Fianna Fáil, as the Minister will have heard from Deputy Kelleher in the Dáil, welcomes this Bill in principle and would like to assist in improving it on Committee Stage, if possible....
- Seanad: Health (Provision of General Practitioner Services) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: The Minister is an exception in that regard.
- Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: I join with others in welcoming the Minister to the House. While we are afforded many opportunities to score political points and to have a go at each other about various issues, I do not intend to use my few minutes today to do that. There are not many people in the Visitors Gallery, just as was the case last week for the motion on this issue in the Dáil, where the media refused to cover...
- Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: Give us the books.
- Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: What about value for children?
- Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: We could cut the electricity in rural Ireland while we are at it as I am sure it is expensive.
- Seanad: Order of Business (9 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: I ask the Leader to arrange a debate at an early date on the issue of higher education. Senators may be aware of a proposal from the institutes of technology in the north west in particular to come together as a multi-campus university of technology. This proposal is not getting the kind of attention it requires from the Higher Education Authority and from the Government and should be...
- Seanad: Order of Business (21 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: I agree with Senator Darragh O'Brien in calling for some action on the personal insolvency Bill and the tragedy of mortgage arrears, a silent crisis that is still continuing three years after it was first highlighted in this House and when solutions were debated. There has still been no tangible action. As the Senator stated, the latest figures show a significant increase in the number of...
- Seanad: Order of Business (22 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: I support the proposed amendment to the Order of Business because, while I welcome aspects of the Minister's announcement, it does not go far enough. It is ridiculous that rural schools have not been adequately dealt with within this framework in terms of achieving â¬15 million in savings. As I noted several weeks ago in a debate which gave Members had an opportunity to vote on this issue,...
- Seanad: Order of Business (22 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: As the Sinn Féin Senator rightly pointed out, the situation of rural schools will now worsen as the cost of saving some of the DEIS positions will be spread over the entirety of the country through cuts to capitation grants. Notwithstanding the difficulties that every Administration faces in providing funding on an ongoing basis, the current Government will go down in history as the most...
- Seanad: Order of Business (22 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: Yes, I do. I call for a debate on procurement because it has come to my attention that some of the tenders for professional advice to State agencies are written specifically for the winning applicant. The parameters are so narrow that they exclude the vast majority of people who provide these services, with the exception of the chosen few firmly embedded within the gin and tonic belt in...
- Seanad: Order of Business (22 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: They will be hit equally.
- Seanad: Order of Business (22 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: It is customary.
- Seanad: Health (Provision of General Practitioner Services) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: I thank the Minister for always making himself available to this House. Given the busy nature of the Minister's Department, it is welcome that the senior Minister has always done so. Legislation such as this, the Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Bill and others are less of a priority in the public mind and I thank the Minister for attending the Chamber on these matters. While...
- Seanad: Health (Provision of General Practitioner Services) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: While he is on that point, does the Minister have any thoughts about the number of children on trolleys?
- Seanad: Order of Business (23 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, namely, that the Minister for Health come to the House immediately to explain the implications of this morning's decision by An Bord Pleanála which is an outrage. An Bord Pleanála's decision refers to the impact on visual amenity, detraction from the character of protected buildings and the overdevelopment of the site. Are these issues...
- Seanad: Order of Business (23 Feb 2012)
Marc MacSharry: There must be a level of joined up Government in this regard. I recall the imagination of one tweeter who said: "So Bord Pleanála which oversaw the Celtic tiger planning fiasco stops the only viable construction project for the entire country." This is an outrage. That is why I demand that the Minister for Health come to the House immediately to explain this decision, which is a disaster,...