Results 1,261-1,280 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Twenty years in some cases.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I am conscious that the Minister of State has not had an opportunity yet to address the amendment. Perhaps I should have waited until he spoke. Is it the case that section 23 deals with, as Senator Daly outlined, people who find themselves in financial difficulty with the banks or otherwise? That was not immediately apparent to me, but if that is what is intended, I would be interested to...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: The Minister of State was to reply on the issue of further conditionality. In terms of the overall intention of section 23, we are familiar with situations where developments have been substantially completed. It is a new section 42 of the principal Act. There is no controversy about that, but the Minister of State is adding the new circumstance where developments have not been completed...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: In fairness to Senator Daly, I did not mean canvassing in that sense.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: In terms of the phrase "commercial, economic or technical", does the Minister of State have in mind a person who has run out of money?

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I, too, will be very interested in the Report Stage debate on this aspect and what the Minister of State will bring before the House, particularly in regard to the phrase "commercial, economic or technical". I am not saying we should not do it but we should be careful about allowing a non-planning circumstance to find its way into planning decisions. If a person has funding at a particular...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Yes.

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Nov 2009)

Alex White: When Members ask themselves what service they can give to the people in the context of the flooding crisis, it pertains to what should be done in the future. In part, Members can give voice and have a role in giving voice to people who are faced with this situation on a daily basis. I refer to those whose homes and lives have been destroyed or almost destroyed in many cases. While this is...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Otherwise, they have no real role. Members have been debating the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill in this House in the past week or two. I consider it to be good legislation in the main and my party has made this clear in the course of the debate. If memory serves, it includes a reference in the context of development plans to the risk associated with flooding. I ask the Deputy...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Nov 2009)

Alex White: ——and in this House in respect of improper, ill-advised and inappropriate development and planning carried out in an improper and unsustainable way. This is the difficulty we face. It is not simply about the weather. Some people across this debate like to suggest this is about the weather and that the Government has no control over it and so they throw their heads back. However, John...

Seanad: EU Council Decision: Motion (26 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I am prepared to accept we will be better served by this measure from what the Minister of State explained to the House and the relatively limited information we have about it. It prompts me, however, to make a general point which will arise in the House every week following the coming into force of the Lisbon treaty. There will be a much more advanced engagement by the EU's national...

Seanad: Pre-Budget Outlook: Statements (1 Dec 2009)

Alex White: I would like to share my time with Senator Doherty.

Seanad: Pre-Budget Outlook: Statements (1 Dec 2009)

Alex White: There is one reason for a change of Government, and it is related to credibility. We have a deficit that is the most serious in our lifetimes. Historically, it ranks very high on the list of economic crises anywhere in the world. We have seen one of the biggest collapses of a country anywhere on record. However, people accept that there are two components to our deficit. There is a...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Dec 2009)

Alex White: I am not sure about the particular media outlet which was briefed by the Government and I am interested in hearing more about the matter. It is interesting to read reports in newspapers which in the past stated — perhaps hoped — the public service unions would be beaten. They are now leading with headlines that the Government has caved in to the public service unions. It cannot be...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Dec 2009)

Alex White: They have no reason to be jubilant and they are not looking for jubilation. They are not looking for humiliation and defeat either, which appears to be what some commentators and politicians want. It seems the only way some think we can make progress is through confrontation, with people being beaten and shot down. I do not agree with this or see it as the way forward for the country or...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Dec 2009)

Alex White: That is fanciful.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Dec 2009)

Alex White: It is the last thing the Leader wants.

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Dec 2009)

Alex White: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Dec 2009)

Alex White: The one thing to note is this cannot be done in two weeks and I stated as much on the Order of Business yesterday. It is crazy for the Government or anyone to believe this process of transformation can be carried out, negotiated and wrapped up in a period of ten days or two weeks of negotiations. That is nonsensical and it cannot be done. The reason that everything appears so shaky this...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Dec 2009)

Alex White: Hear, hear.