Results 861-880 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Order of Business. (3 Jul 2003)

Brendan Ryan: The Dáil is perfectly entitled to amend legislation and nobody is disputing that, but many of these amendments were barely discussed in the Dáil because of the guillotine. We cannot discuss intelligently 62 amendments if we can speak only once on them and it reduces spectacularly Government accountability. In the meantime I ask the Leader to look at a motion to suspend or to amend...

Seanad: Death of Former Members: Expressions of Sympathy. (7 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: Is trua nach raibh aon cheangal pearsanta idir mé féin agus Lady Valerie Goulding riamh. However, despite not meeting her as she had left the House before I joined and despite the fact that I lived in Cork, I, like half the country, felt I knew her, which is a commentary on the woman's calibre. She represented a progressive voice in terms of how our country would be built for people who at...

Seanad: Death of Former Members: Expressions of Sympathy. (7 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I was in the House for a period when Bernard Markey was a Senator. To be described as a liberal in the times he served as a Senator and a Deputy was not a great political asset and required courage and conviction. I recall the phrase, "the forces of evil", being used to describe us collectively at one stage, and it took considerable courage to be of that mind in any political party at that...

Seanad: Death of Former Members: Expressions of Sympathy. (7 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: It is a reminder to us all of how quickly life passes that we are paying tribute to somebody nominated to this House by Éamon de Valera. The fact that somebody had a long and, I hope, fruitful life after his political career in this House does not detract from what we have been told, that Senator Walsh was an active and prominent Member of the House and a serious and thoughtful contributor....

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: It is a pity we did not have the debate that is now taking place between the various factions of Fianna Fáil about smoking—

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: Our party tends not to have Ministers in a Government feeling free to express an opinion and then taking off to Spain on holidays to duck the subsequent publicity, like the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey. He is in Spain on holiday, a convenient place from which to issue edicts about smoking.

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I will raise another issue to put this in perspective. There were ten road deaths over the weekend and approximately 100 road deaths over the three months since this House last met. There were 1,500 deaths from smoking related illnesses over the same period. When we recommence the debate about smoking, we should remember that it will kill, on average, 15 times more people than the appalling...

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: That will result in more Garda deaths, not fewer. The evidence—

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: We should have a debate on it. To float the issue and then say one is not expressing an opinion on it is not helping the matter. I do not believe arming uniformed gardaí would achieve anything. It would result in more deaths and tragedies.

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: The mind boggles.

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: Can I ask the Leader if we can have a debate on the apparent near-collapse of public use of the Freedom of Information Act 1997? There has been a reduction of 53% in the number of applications made under the Act since the Government emasculated it, in effect, in these Houses earlier this year. It would be very appropriate for this House to examine the Act and to invite the Government to...

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I suggest that all those under pressure should attend the meeting to hear the other side of the argument.

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: They should stay away from the publicans for a while.

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: They should listen to the people who know the truth and the whole story.

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I want to ensure that Senators are aware of the meeting in question. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate in this House about the non-cost elements of competitiveness. Too many people in this country, particularly economists, get away with examining the price of labour, goods or anything else and making judgments about competitiveness on that basis. A report published last year suggested that...

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: They are not terrorist attacks. The attackers are wrong but they are not terrorists.

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: Yes.

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: We know why.

Seanad: Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse: Statements (Resumed). (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I apologise for my late arrival. I had assumed that the Independent benches would be awash with people wishing to speak. I am reluctant, although I probably will be tempted, to accord political blame on this question. I remember when the issue of redress was being debated and the then Minister for Education and Science came into the House. In response to every question I asked him about...

Seanad: Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse: Statements (Resumed). (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I am sorry Senator Fitzgerald spoke because I would love to hear which part is rubbish. I cite J. H. Whyte's book, Church and State in Modern Ireland, in which he will see the degree to which the Roman Catholic hierarchy demanded subservience from everybody.