Results 10,641-10,660 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: I am not.
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: Exactly. I believe that I am discussing that idea, as we are being told that these powers are justified by the emergency. There is a serious situation, but it is not an emergency. The real cause is the dysfunction of the entire system. I sincerely hope that the Minister is right. I said the same to Brian Lenihan when he sat where the Minister is sitting now. Sadly, he proved not to be...
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: The Minister may mean that the taxpayers are our paymasters, but they no longer are. Neither are the citizens of this country our paymasters. Unfortunately, our paymasters are located elsewhere and are the interests of capital. I oppose that. We need to find a more nuanced system, one that is a hybrid of capitalism and socialism.
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: We would be interested in the Minister's comments.
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: I shall pass it to the Senator.
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: I will make a final comment and then we will move on. This is one of the Bill's most important sections and I am grateful to the Minister for his clarity and honesty and for placing on the record the subsection in the 2009 Act. This section is bad, but that subsection was worse. They are both damnable. If I was around, and I must have been, as I voted against the bloody thing-----
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: I am "ag'n the Government", whatever its complaint.
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: I thank the Minister. His information has been helpful. My instinct is 100% against this provision, but I would be overwhelmed and it is time to move on and face the reality. The arithmetic does not stack up to give us a chance, but at least we will have put the arguments on behalf of the people, just as the Minister's heart is on their side. I do not envy him his job. When I was in my...
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: The troika members are our paymasters.
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: I will vote against the section because it contains a fundamentally coercive element, which concerns me. It undermines democracy when we say to people that they can vote but that if they do not vote the way we want, we will give them a slap. That is basically what is in this section. The Minister may say we are in difficult times and we need to take drastic measures. He is well able to...
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: I thought I had escaped the working class but it seems to be all over the place nowadays.
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: I do not say that.
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: I must correct the Minister. What I said was that an incorrect impression had been given that none of the judges, or a tiny minority, had accepted voluntary cuts - 85% did.
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: I am sorry to interrupt but I wish to make one brief comment. The Minister has confirmed what I felt in what he said and I regret that. He appeared to suggest that people had no right to withhold their assent from these proposals.
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: Yes, and that is precisely the point I am teasing out. If they do not have the right to dissent or if that dissent will lead to punishment, why give them that right in the first place? Why consult them? Why not just ram it through? The flaw in the argument, in my opinion, is that it suggests that democracy is discretional and that is a dangerous road to go down. Nobody would deny that...
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: He says, very clearly, that it is not but I believe it is. We could argue about it all night. I am only a politician so I cannot be trusted. I am saying it now and will not speak again, but one never knows.
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: I would not be jailed for trying to persuade the Government to introduce laws to change society-----
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: What would the consequence be of campaigning or voting to drive on the right hand side of the road?
- Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 May 2013)
David Norris: If I was driving on the right hand side of the road, I might end up with a black eye.
- Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jun 2013)
David Norris: Disgusting and sanctimonious.