Results 881-900 of 14,090 for speaker:Marc MacSharry

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Mar 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I concur with other Senators, particularly Senator Bradford. On this occasion contempt has been shown for all Members of the House. I have been vocal in the past in praising the Leader and Deputy Leader for changes to procedures here and how we do our business in the House. The Government, however, has shown absolute disrespect to all Members of the House and to the Leader. I do not hold...

Seanad: Programme for Government: Motion (21 Mar 2012)

Marc MacSharry: Biggest in the Oireachtas.

Seanad: Programme for Government: Motion (21 Mar 2012)

Marc MacSharry: What about Deputy Willie Penrose?

Seanad: Programme for Government: Motion (21 Mar 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I am glad to have the opportunity to make a few points on this issue. I have enjoyed the debate immensely so far. Debates are always filled with colour when we get into some of the political crossfire. Members of these Houses are not yet ready to consider some of the facts calmly without getting high on certain aspects. It will probably be several years before an assessment of the global...

Seanad: Programme for Government: Motion (21 Mar 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I will always praise the Government when it does good things but I will not let it go when it knowingly and openly misleads the public.

Seanad: Clotting Factor Concentrates and Other Biological Products Bill 2012: Second and Subsequent Stages (21 Mar 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Fianna Fáil will be supporting this Bill which is technical in nature and makes some improvements by giving all the responsibility for the procurement of clotting factor products to St. James's Hospital. It is a good opportunity to remember the system's failings for people with blood disorders in the past. When we consider legislation such as...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Mar 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I join with others in calling for a debate on these issues. One would have to welcome the developments in the past number of days but the reality is, not to take from the negotiating ability of the Government team, whom we support, Europe has thrown us a bone, Europe owes us big time. As I said before, the first skirmish of the international financial crisis happened on Irish soil. The...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Mar 2012)

Marc MacSharry: When the banks were making millions of euro the reality was that people did not have to face prohibitive charges such as those being proposed. Rather than the back stairs in the Department of Finance,so often referred to by Senator Barrett, exclusively for the use of the senior bankers and that shareholder bottom line, it is time the House united in demanding that the Minister summon the...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Mar 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I join others in welcoming the publication of the Mahon report. It is particularly welcome given the 15 years of drip-feeding of information which, despite the wishes of many while the deliberations were ongoing, prevented many actions being taken during that period. I say, as a relatively young Member, that a start can finally be made, following some legislative improvements in recent...

Seanad: Small Business: Motion (28 Mar 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I welcome the opportunity to make a few points on small business. I also welcome my constituency colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy John Perry. We are very proud in the north west to have a local representative as the Minister of State with responsibility for small business who, as Senator Paschal Mooney said, is doing the best job he can in difficult circumstances. I have read the...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Apr 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I join with other Senators in calling for an early debate on the water charge. Like Senator Leyden, I am concerned that the service provider in this regard will be a subsidiary of Bord Gáis, which under the Gas Acts is a commercial entity. One wonders if the people of Ireland will be responsible for delivering profits for that company and if, as correctly pointed out by Senator Leyden,...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Apr 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I note Senators opposite are shaking their heads. Perhaps that is not the case but the questions are legitimate. Senator Leyden has pointed out that there is no legislative basis for the Government announcing that a new semi-State entity is to be operated by a company that has a commercial mandate as determined under the Gas Acts, which is a real cause for concern. Members opposite can...

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Apr 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I follow Senator Denis Landy by referring to news reports today that highlight the epidemic of house repossessions. There are now two per day and over one year into the term of office of the Government, despite many promises, we have made no progress. Solutions have been put forward on all sides of the House; this side has tabled two Bills, but there has not been any action and still the...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I call on the Leader to arrange a debate on health, in particular waiting lists at Beaumont Hospital, which is the centre of excellence for neurosurgery and neurology for the entire country. People who have had aneurysms are experiencing difficulty getting an appointment for an angiogram at Beaumont Hospital as it is currently only dealing with one appointment per day in this regard. That...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 May 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I join Senator Susan O'Keeffe in calling for a debate on the issues raised in last night's BBC television programme which were shocking in the extreme. As a Catholic, it is incumbent on the Catholic Church and the institutions of the State, including the Houses of the Oireachtas, to ensure appropriate action is taken. How many more revelations are to be made? How much more do we not know?...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (2 May 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I join others in welcoming the opportunity to make a few points on the Bill, many of which have been made already. At this stage I do not want to take from Senator Power's concluding comments. I agree with our Leader on this side of the House that it is a basic question of all people in the country being equal and as such the same rights should be available to everybody. For far too long...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 May 2012)

Marc MacSharry: Will the Deputy Leader ask the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, to come to the House to comment on the statements made by the Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Patrick Honohan, in London in recent days. The Governor strongly advocated a European-level resolution agency for banking debt. The European Union and the euro, in particular, were saved as a result of the severe actions...

Seanad: Protection of Children's Health from Tobacco Smoke Bill 2012: Second Stage (9 May 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I commend Senators Crown, Daly and van Turnhout for their initiative in bringing forward this legislation. Eight years ago, Fianna Fáil and our current leader, Deputy Martin, brought forward the smoking ban. As a smoker at the time, I opposed this internally in the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party. Now, having been off cigarettes for six and...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 May 2012)

Marc MacSharry: I welcome the announcement today from Aviva that an additional 200 jobs are to be created in Galway and that fewer jobs will be cut than the numbers announced before Christmas. In early autumn Senator Darragh O'Brien was aware that there were some issues in Aviva. He raised that issue many times and called on the Department, as I did, to engage directly with Aviva and all major employers in...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 May 2012)

Marc MacSharry: Hear, hear.