Results 1,181-1,200 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (7 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: He should have his own budget and decide how he spends it.

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (7 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Is it courage on the part of the Fianna Fáil Party Government that——

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (7 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Yes, but it does not interfere with the Minister's rights.

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (7 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I have listened with interest to the contributions of Senator Fitzgerald and the Minister of State. The Senator referred to the State's requirement to make "proper" provision, whereas the Minister of State referred to the requirement on the Minister to make "adequate" provision. Neither word appears in the legislation nor in the relevant section of the Constitution. This is precisely the...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (7 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: ——one can specify the precise number of children with autism or other special needs and so on. The Minister for Finance would be required to prove that he had taken all these facts into consideration before allocating a provision that is adequate. The Bill does not provide any guarantee of such adequacy and allows the Minister for Finance to come up with a figure for special educational...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (7 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I am attempting to strengthen Senator Fitzgerald's hand for the next occasion he makes representations to the Department of Education or Science or the Department of Health and Children. He will be pleased that I made it possible for him to demand that adequate provision be made. This is about responding to the needs of children with special educational needs by ensuring that this legislation...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (7 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Hear, hear.

Seanad: International Development Association (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I welcome the Minister of State and I am glad to have the opportunity to say a few words on this issue. I support the Bill and hope it will pass through the House in good time. Senator Kitt touched on a number of issues about which I feel strongly. The first issue with which I want to deal is that of globalisation and the World Bank. We should recapture the term "globalisation" from those who...

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: The first item on the Order of Business regarding the designation of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service is simply a matter of dealing with the question of which groups and institutions should be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 1997. Recently we received the annual report of the Information Commissioner which has been dealt with by the Committee...

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: The Aer Rianta Bill, unfortunately, will be pushed through next week. The House will be prevented from making changes and it will be an absolute charade. I accept Second Stage will be useful to put issues on the record but, after that, it will be a charade. Did the Attorney General give advice to the Government on the Bill before it was published? Has the Attorney General been made aware of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: The figure is 80%.

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Second Stage. (13 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Most of the point-scoring is coming from the Government side.

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Second Stage. (13 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: The Senator should look at her own party.

Seanad: State Airports Bill 2004: Second Stage. (13 Jul 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I welcome the Minister to the House, although I wish he came here more often. I do not disagree with all of the many important things which are happening in transport. Although I am a critic of the Minister, I am not a constant critic of his. I like to give a balanced view of issues. I disagree fundamentally with the Minister on this legislation, but that does not mean I disagree with...

Seanad: Order of Business. (29 Sep 2004)

Joe O'Toole: The implication of welcoming people back is to give the impression, which is well understood outside the Houses, that politicians do nothing in the intervening period. I will not welcome anybody back because I have seen most Members around the Houses most days during the summer. This is just another form of work and it is important to make that point. A crucial point should be made with...

Seanad: Order of Business. (29 Sep 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I do not want to discuss the issue and I have not discussed it but we need a schedule for where it is going. Will we be able to get across the plinth to our cars this afternoon given the number of dissatisfied ex-Ministers, possible Ministers, potential Members, dissatisfied backbenchers and so on who will crowd it after the announcements?

Seanad: Disability Services: Motion. (29 Sep 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. The debate on disability is welcome in the House and among the media. Over the past two weeks I have had a lot of sympathy for disability groups trying to find their way through this quite opaque legislation. This legislation depends on goodwill. The point is not that it should be politically driven, but that it is, so that it will be dealt with...

Seanad: Disability Services: Motion. (29 Sep 2004)

Joe O'Toole: No. I do not disagree with your point.

Seanad: Disability Services: Motion. (29 Sep 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Could the Acting Chairman also invite interruptions to be made through the Chair, in order to have balance?

Seanad: Disability Services: Motion. (29 Sep 2004)

Joe O'Toole: It would be a little unfair for me to have a go at the Chair when I can answer the Senator's interruptions elsewhere. I will give a couple of examples, one of which is current, of why I have doubts about this legislation. The first relates to the right to an independent assessment. I have been observing this matter carefully. It has been under consideration for five years and discussed at all...