Results 1,361-1,380 of 4,810 for speaker:Liam Twomey

Seanad: Order of Business (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: What should have been a watershed in efforts to improve road safety has degenerated into a chaotic and shambolic event. Is this the best the Government can do on road safety? There is an urgent need for the Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, to come into this House and explain why he was about to criminalise 120,000 drivers with provisional licences. He is covering up his significant...

Seanad: Order of Business (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: There should be a serious debate on this issue because it will have a significant effect, and not just on people who receive social welfare payments or family income support. They will not be the only ones hammered by this and the Minister should come to the House to explain what he proposes to do. Otherwise we will see fabulous empty buildings across the State because the Minister has lost...

Seanad: Order of Business (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: We should have those two very important issues debated in this House as soon as possible to show we have some sort of credibility, especially if the Government is to accept the pay rises it is throwing at its members like confetti at a wedding.

Seanad: Order of Business (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: I accept that.

Seanad: Order of Business (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: I would not worry too much about that because I have been misrepresented more than once on that side of the House.

Seanad: Order of Business (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: Did the Leader turn on "Today Tonight" as well?

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: The motivation behind section 16 has changed since we last discussed this Bill in the House. Was it based on other legislation lying around in the Department of Finance that just needed to be tidied up as part of other miscellaneous legislative measures, as we were led to believe? We were told by the Minister last week that there were eight sections in this Bill when it was first proposed...

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: On a point of order, I did not, as Senator Hanafin suggested, call civil servants liars. I believe it might be the politicians in Government who are not telling the truth on this issue. I have doubts about it as I cannot prove the allegations but that is the way this Government works.

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: I remember dealing with the illegal nursing home charges and the Travers report dealing with billions of euro of taxpayers' money which was lost——

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: My point of order was raised to correct the Senator and put on record that I referred to politicians and not civil servants. I believe civil servants are far more likely to tell the truth than the shower running this country.

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: Senator Hanafin should get on his high horse about something which might actually matter.

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: Yes.

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: I asked the Minister of State to explain the motivation behind this proposal and to outline how this section found its way into the Bill. The Minister of State's comments about the finance Bill were right, but the provision relating to ministerial pensions could be included in the forthcoming social welfare Bill. Perhaps it would not sit easily with the Government to include in that Bill,...

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: Deputy Richard Bruton is a man of great integrity. When he acknowledges that he did not know about this last week when he allowed this legislation to go through, he is attempting to preserve the integrity of the Houses of the Oireachtas. He allowed this legislation go through because he was not fully informed. We are now fully informed as to what is happening——

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: It was left at that, even though people on the other side of the House are usually quite good at giving far more information than just replying with a "Yes". This is a serious issue and it is a recent happening. I ask the Minister of State to provide the background information to this section of the Bill. When did the Department of Finance decide to include this provision in the Bill and...

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: It has not.

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: Is there anyone else involved?

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: This section applies also to Ministers who would have been——

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: There is a retrospective element to this section in the sense that any Minister who served less than three years but more than two years prior to 1993 could also be in line for a pension. Obviously that comes into the equation as well as what we have discussed. The motivation behind all this is quite specific in that one is looking after ministerial pensions and not just for the former...

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (31 Oct 2007)

Liam Twomey: One of the funny things is that when the Government is exposed for the codology it gets up to——