Results 1,181-1,200 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: I support something which has already been mentioned by the Opposition side, namely, the issue of autism, as raised in the other House. I cannot understand why some issues are discussed in the other House, but are not allowed to be discussed in the Seanad. I commend the Opposition for its motion on autism, debated last night in the Dáil. I have been asking the Leader for several months...

Seanad: Inter-Country Adoptions (19 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: This matter on the Adjournment concerns the need for the Minister for Health and Children to hasten the process for Irish citizens to adopt children from overseas. The Minister of State will be familiar with this subject and I hope she will be familiar with the extreme pain, difficulties and sadness this problem causes a large number of families in Ireland. I am struck by the number of...

Seanad: Inter-Country Adoptions (19 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: I have been a Member of this House for a very long time but I do not believe I ever digested such rhubarb as was offered in that reply, which was unbelievable garbage. I am extremely disappointed as it is no good to tell us there will be reviews of this, that and the other. The next time this matter arises I hope the Minister of State will not wipe his hands of the issue, as happened today,...

Seanad: Inter-Country Adoptions (19 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: I did not say the Irish system was solely responsible.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: I endorse what Senator de Búrca said. It is important and relevant to the point I want to make. I heard what Senator Ormonde had to say about the media covering the Seanad. We should not get too prickly about a few pieces written by journalists who do not have much to do late at night.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: I was the butt of one of those pieces and I sent the journalist a short e-mail yesterday saying I did not know he was writing for The Sunday Business Post. The way to deal with this is not to respond in a sensitive way if we are confident about what we are doing. The point that should be made, and this is where I part from Senator Ormonde, is that perhaps some of those criticisms are right....

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: ——and for some reason we, the Members of the second House of the Oireachtas, cannot even discuss it. That is crazy and if someone from the press tells us we are irrelevant and that we cannot even discuss the pharmacy sector, he is right. The Government should not be too critical of the media criticising it if it does not respond to that and allow us debate relevant issues. That is what...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: There is one procedure in this House which does work in terms of bringing in Ministers, namely, the Adjournment but that takes place at the end of the day when nobody notices anything happening. The only time pharmacists have been debated in this House is when the Minister, Deputy Harney, came here to reply to my Adjournment matter. She gave me a ticking off for raising the pharmacy sector...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: That may be so but they are not. We should raise the issue on the Order of Business or later in the day when members of the press are here.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: It is no coincidence that some of those very relevant issues, including autism, which we will debate tomorrow — I thank the Leader for allowing time for a debate on autism, which is a major improvement — the pharmacies and adoption of foreign children, which I raised last night, end with the Health Service Executive. It would be relevant if we debated not only the Lisbon treaty, which is...

Seanad: Economic Outlook: Motion (20 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: I have supported the Government's economic policy in almost every debate for some years. Not only have I spoken in favour of its policy, I have voted with the Government in this House, although I acknowledge that this is not of great significance. After a long period of support for what has happened under various Ministers for Finance I am now beginning to change my mind. Much of what...

Seanad: Special Educational Needs: Statements (21 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: I thank the Minister for attending the House after several appeals from me and many others for a debate on this issue. I do not agree with many of her comments, but I appreciate that she is prepared to explain her position to both Houses. I do not agree with Senator Norris on costs. I do not care about costs as it is not a cost issue. However, there were some unnecessary costs in the Ó...

Seanad: Special Educational Needs: Statements (21 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: If I may, I will refer to——

Seanad: Special Educational Needs: Statements (21 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: ——a letter I received from a parent to put on the record the personal and human feelings involved. The person is a parent of a five year old boy who suffers from autism and is aware of the lack of services provided in Ireland and how one's place of birth can decide how one can cope with the condition. The debate on ABA is, according to this person, a no-brainer. The person claims that,...

Seanad: Special Educational Needs: Statements (21 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: The Minister must deliver this to people now.

Seanad: Special Educational Needs: Statements (21 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: As Senator Healy Eames and others have argued, the difference between the pupil-teacher ratio of 6:1 in national schools with autism units and the ratio of 1:1 is infinitesimal; we should concentrate on what parents want and that is a 1:1 pupil-teacher ratio.

Seanad: Schools Building Programme (28 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: My item concerns the need for the Minister for Education and Science to advance the planning process for Howth Road national school to development stage. This is a bad case of a delay in the development of a school on the north side of Dublin which has been inexplicably caught up in bureaucracy and difficulties. It has caused immense frustration to the pupils, parents, board of management,...

Seanad: Schools Building Programme (28 Feb 2008)

Shane Ross: I am disappointed with the Minister of State's reply because he gives no date. Will he please ask the Minister for Education and Science to assure me that the Department is doing everything it can to hasten the construction on this site, not doing anything to block it, and that this school has not been relegated to a lower place on the waiting list?

Seanad: Order of Business. (4 Mar 2008)

Shane Ross: I join the call for a debate on the Middle East, but perhaps it should not happen quite yet. It is somewhat dangerous to talk in the heat and passion of the incident which has just happened. As all right-thinking Members in the House have said, it is an appalling situation where babies and children, or any innocent human beings, lose their lives. It appears this debate provokes sometimes...

Seanad: Order of Business. (4 Mar 2008)

Shane Ross: It is a question of language, Senator Norris.