Results 8,941-8,960 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: This is the day on which the fiscal treaty referendum is being launched by the Government-----

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: -----but again we have no Order of Business. This is a disgrace.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: I will obey the Cathaoirleach's ruling on this occasion but I am serving notice that if this happens again-----

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: -----I will proceed until the moment I am thrown out of the House.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: On this point, and I am not being disruptive but merely seeking information, will there be a break between the end of Committee Stage and the beginning of Report Stage?

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: I agree with my Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin colleagues on this issue. There is a clear conflict between what the Minister said a week or so ago and what is proposed. With the best will in the world, I do not believe for one second that it will be possible to produce the required number of affordable places. It has not happened in the past so why would it happen now? What evidence can the...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: Indeed they are.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: The Minister is sometimes given to long thoughts but they are always valuable and instructive. To a large extent I am on her side. I was once described in Dublin City Corporation - the Minister may well have been a member at the time-----

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: It was Mr. Carroll. I was described as a "wet, gin and tonic drinking liberal".

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: I can be quite tough on these. I asked the question as to whether photographic identification was required to collect social welfare benefit and I was told that the then Minister - a predecessor to the current Minister - did not even know. It took a year-----

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: I am establishing my credentials. I also stated my opinion that the child care benefit, of which Senator Bacik has spoken so eloquently, should be means-tested. I do not mind being means-tested for anything I get so I am not arguing that we should fire money at everything. The services North of the Border and in other countries are incomparably better. The wife of Victor Griffin, a good...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: Actually we are. Had you listened to the Minister, a Chathaoirligh, you would have discovered that she said she was making provision-----

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: -----which will not start until 2014.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: The Minister thought it was, but perhaps you know better.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: I know, but you want to put me on a different track. I want to be on the same track as the Minister, and she says that one of her reasons is that this will not come into operation until 2014. However, she does not know anything about what the budgetary provision will be then. She might not have the money. If the treaty is passed, she will not.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: A very small number of us on all sides and I was one of them.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: I understand that when the original metro north project was discussed in this House 20 years ago, it cost-----

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: I am not outside the Chamber.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: I am sorry the Senator is so unfamiliar with the geography of this beautiful building.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Apr 2012)

David Norris: Hear, hear.