Results 941-960 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Order of Business. (13 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: The decision to bring troops home from Iraq is not a sign of weakness. In many cases, it could be a sign of people realising what is correct and moral. To use silly language about Italian mammas was to trivialise one side of a serious argument.

Seanad: Order of Business. (13 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: Was the Leader not supporting Government policy?

Seanad: United Nations Mission in Liberia: Statements. (13 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: It is difficult to see Liberia as an easier issue than Nenagh hospital.

Seanad: United Nations Mission in Liberia: Statements. (13 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I am glad the Minister for Defence, although not obliged to do so, has come to the Seanad to give Members the opportunity to speak on this issue. Despite all my smart remarks, I acknowledge he has always been prepared to facilitate this House and has taken it seriously. Most Ministers who have spent a period here retain a certain affection when they have moved on to higher things—

Seanad: United Nations Mission in Liberia: Statements. (13 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: —and even when they come back to us in one form or another.

Seanad: United Nations Mission in Liberia: Statements. (13 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I speak on this motion, first because I want to wish our troops well. As the nearest thing to a pacifist in this House, I believe our Army does a superb job abroad. I have had the opportunity, as part of various Oireachtas delegations, to meet the troops serving abroad. I met them in Cyprus on one occasion and, although not on an official visit, I met some of our troops in a dodgy environment...

Seanad: United Nations Mission in Liberia: Statements. (13 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I was only 13 at the time but it was an enormous shock to all of us. Nevertheless, the people of this country could see that what was being done was worth doing. That trauma, if anything, deepened our sense that this was a worthwhile thing for our Defence Forces to do. The history of Liberia is an enormous reproach to western civilisation. Liberia is a consequence of the slave trade. It was...

Seanad: Address by Ms Mary Banotti, MEP. (13 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: Cuirim fáilte roimh Ms Banotti, Comhalta de Pharlaimint na hEorpa. Senator Henry talked about her Sunday morning walks. I remember being on holidays one August in the wilds of west Kerry and discovered that, in the house next door, a certain MEP was assiduously practising her Irish for a few weeks. One meets Ms Banotti in the strangest of places. We saw Ms Banotti earlier today and I tried...

Seanad: Order of Business. (20 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I agree with Senator O'Toole's remarks in regard to the rights of Members of both Houses. I have been as good as anyone at handing out criticism and hope to continue to do so as long as I am here. I do not know anyone in these Houses who does not work hard doing their job in a variety of ways. The pathetic nonsense which emanates from the media about the hours we work comes from people who,...

Seanad: Order of Business. (20 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: Whoever said it is a shameless individual who is grabbing the cheapest of all cheap shots against his or her own colleagues. Senator O'Toole is correct that we should stand up for ourselves. We should have a debate on politics and the media, a suggestion which is not meant to threaten anyone. The problem with journalists is that if one criticises them, they accuse one of threatening them. If...

Seanad: Order of Business. (20 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Second Stage. (20 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: Unlike other Members, with the exception of Senator O'Toole, I have vast numbers of solicitors as law graduates among the electorate for my panel, as do all university Senators. One might think this would temper my language. It will not because they are well used to my utterances. Those in the legal profession who voted for me have come to a reasonable modus vivendi with me after 20 years.

Seanad: Order of Business. (25 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: In my home city, the flagship project of the European Capital of Culture 2005 has been put on the long finger because the Department of Finance was worried about the European Stability and Growth Pact. As a result we will not have a school of music by 2005 because the Department of Finance, led by its political master, decided it would be too great a risk. The same Minister then goes to...

Seanad: Order of Business. (25 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I am grateful to the Cathaoirleach's alter ego behind me.

Seanad: Order of Business. (25 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I have every faith in the ability of the Cathaoirleach to defend me.

Seanad: Order of Business. (25 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I am some socialist. I rarely disagree with my party leader in public but when he said he hoped to shame Fianna Fáil into reversing the social welfare cuts, he made a huge mistake because Fianna Fáil has no shame, as Senator Leyden has demonstrated. On the same topic, could I call for a debate—

Seanad: Order of Business. (25 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: I will restrain myself because I would hate to be the cause of Senator Leyden having to leave the House on his day of triumph. I am calling for a debate on child poverty in this State because it appears the Taoiseach knows differently from everyone else. The Combat Poverty Agency tells us there are 300,000 children living in relative poverty but the Taoiseach said that the Society of St....

Seanad: Order of Business. (25 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: That matter should go to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges before it is raised here.

Seanad: Order of Business. (25 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: The rules should be changed, not broken.

Seanad: Order of Business. (27 Nov 2003)

Brendan Ryan: While I am reluctant to go back over old ground, I have a fundamental issue that I wish to raise yet again, namely, the way in which our policy on embryonic stem cell research was reached. While a compromise is apparently being worked out, the Oireachtas will not know what this is until the vote takes place on 3 December at a meeting of the Council of Ministers. For most of my political...