Results 881-900 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

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

Brendan Ryan: Taoisigh and Presidents genuflected before bishops and kissed their rings and thought that was the appropriate institutional relationship. If that is what Senator Fitzgerald hankers for, let him do so.

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

Brendan Ryan: My view of the role of religion in society is of service to society, not control, regulation or dominance. It corrupted both church and State. We are dealing today in these issues with the evidence of that corruption and its capacity to allow evil people access to the most vulnerable of our children to abuse them in an institutionalised fashion. I do not believe that all the institutions did...

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

Brendan Ryan: With the Acting Chairman's considerable defensive skill assisting me, the point I wish to make is that the argument that somehow society in the 1950s was at best equally and perhaps slightly more culpable because these poor institutions or religious orders were invited in to do the job the State would not do is a complete travesty of the situation at the time. They insisted on total control...

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

Brendan Ryan: About ten or 15 years ago, I attended a meeting and a question arose at the end about young people and their safety. A Garda chief superintendent was in attendance and he said that, in his view, most of the talk about child sex abuse that was heard in Ireland around 15 years ago was put about by people who wanted to undermine the family. That was the view of a huge section of society until...

Seanad: Benchmarking: Motion. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: There is no doubt about that.

Seanad: Benchmarking: Motion. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I do not do so ad nauseum.

Seanad: Benchmarking: Motion. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: Always the same from Senator Ross.

Seanad: Benchmarking: Motion. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: He joined the public sector.

Seanad: Benchmarking: Motion. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I am intrigued by Fine Gael's position, in the sense that I am intellectually challenged by it.

Seanad: Benchmarking: Motion. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: If well-off people like myself were the issue, Fine Gael would propose that we pay 50% tax on large parts of our income. However, if they did so a large number of Fine Gael supporters would drop dead with fright. People on incomes such as mine are not paying half enough income tax. I did not support the cuts in the top rate of income tax. They achieved nothing. They did not make me or anyone...

Seanad: Benchmarking: Motion. (8 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: It is easy to attack public servants, but Fine Gael wants the sort of people who save money to vote for them.

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I will leave it to my colleague, Senator McDowell, to deal with the issues relating to our motion tonight. I know he will encourage the Leader to be—

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I anticipate that people might comment on my not mentioning it.

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: Perhaps the Leader could extend it to everybody, or perhaps my colleague, who is after all the author of the report, could be allowed perhaps 20 minutes to explain the background to it.

Seanad: Public Transport: Motion. (15 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: There are a number of reasons for somebody based 160 miles from Dublin intervening in this debate, as I am doing now. For a variety of reasons over the last year, I have had to drive to Dublin virtually every week and, as a result, I have come to realise that Dublin's traffic is in an appalling mess. When I was a child living in south Kildare, when most cars could not exceed 40 mph and the...

Seanad: Public Transport: Motion. (15 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: How far does one have to go to be unhelpful to road users in doing things like that?

Seanad: Public Transport: Motion. (15 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I go around the M50 sometimes in desperation, trying to avoid coming in on the main, direct route. Therefore, I enter the M50, turn right and come in through Templeogue. On the main road from Clondalkin to the M50 roundabout there is a big sign telling one to take the right-hand lane if turning right, that is, going to the M50. Once in that lane, one discovers that the construction of the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: The issue raised by my two colleagues is perhaps the most serious that has confronted this country for quite some time. I want to elaborate a little on how we need to take this issue seriously. I do not want to make a political speech. I will not mention the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform but I want to remind this House of what it was like, say, 20 years ago at the height of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: They do not have a vote.

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Oct 2003)

Brendan Ryan: They had the resources to do it.