Results 901-920 of 2,735 for speaker:Marie Louise O'Donnell

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: Yes. Hear, hear.

Seanad: Irish Water: Statements (5 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Irish Water: Statements (5 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: I welcome the Minister. I think we should pay for water and we should pay for it when it is fair and when it is just. However, we should only pay for water when it is entirely and distinctly our own in perpetuity. It is interesting that we were never taught the words "preserve", "purify" and "supply"; we were taught the words "install" and "meter". I wonder what Irish Water was paying its...

Seanad: Irish Water: Statements (5 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: Countries have been brought to their knees by vulture funds, bank speculators and corporations which put up bills, beggar the poor and rape those countries of their natural resources. The privatisation of state waters around the world has one common denominator - it always happened under pressure of international lenders. Some 34% of water throughout the world is privatised and we will not...

Seanad: Irish Water: Statements (5 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: On a point of order, I am not a Government Senator.

Seanad: Irish Water: Statements (5 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: I am an Independent Senator and voted as such this morning.

Seanad: Seanad Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Seanad Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: Ten.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Further Education and Training Strategy: Discussion (12 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: We had to go for a vote in the Seanad, so I apologise for not being here earlier. Funnily enough, the vote was on the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, so it was very important that we were there. I wish to ask a very general question. I have written and spoken quite a lot about the apartheid nature of education as evident in the differentiation between university education and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Further Education and Training Strategy: Discussion (12 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: There were 76 submissions to the former Minister from sectors all over Ireland, including the forestry and conservation sectors, and also those associated with electronics, tax and business. What is the position of these? Will they be used by the national apprenticeship council? Where is the expansion? What are the areas of expansion beyond plumbing and electrical apprenticeships?

Seanad: Commemoration Planning: Statements (13 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: We do not have a quorum.

Seanad: Commemoration Planning: Statements (13 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: I just want to make people aware of it.

Seanad: Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014: Second Stage (19 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: Not fell pregnant but got pregnant.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: State Examinations (19 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: I thank the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, for being here. She knows that the secondary school teachers are going on strike in December and January with very good reason, because they want the junior certificate externally examined in all subjects and forms of subjects. They do not want 40% internal examination regardless of what the 40% entails. Teachers are in...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: State Examinations (19 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: The teachers are going on strike, so they clearly disagree. They are not agreeing with these proposals. We have heard them before - I nearly know them off by heart. They do agree - and the Minister keeps making this point - that assessment practices must change. I know many brilliant, creative, imaginative teachers who have changed practices within schools for the benefit of young minds....

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: State Examinations (19 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: The arts have been devastated in the secondary school curriculum. We gave 25 points to mathematics and we forgot about music. That is the value system we have.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: State Examinations (19 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: The Minister can talk about reform all she likes, but the fact is that the teachers are going on strike, not because they are not brilliant and creative, but because internal assessment will not work. They want external assessment of their great work, and the honesty and national standardisation that comes with that, which we all grew up with. It does not matter what the subject is, it...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: State Examinations (19 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: How?

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: State Examinations (19 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: Checks on 10-15% - it is minimal.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: State Examinations (19 Nov 2014)

Marie Louise O'Donnell: I was a senior lecturer in one of the biggest teacher-training colleges in this country for ten years. It was called Carysfort-----