Results 121-140 of 445 for speaker:Eoghan Harris

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I strongly support what Senator Fitzgerald said concerning the shooting in Limerick. Sometimes it seems that the city's great anthem, "Alone It Stands", applies to that city. This is not only Limerick's problem but is Dublin's and Cork's problem too. I was very impressed yesterday by the powerful performance of Deputy Michael Noonan who put his finger on the central problem. He said that...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Nov 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I note that there is a great deal of business before the House and I will be brief. In my contributions to the Seanad I have concentrated on two matters: reform of the public sector and reform of the criminal justice system. On reform of the public sector, there is a task force report due in which I have no great confidence since it is top heavy with civil servants. Accordingly, it would...

Seanad: Death of Member: Expressions of Sympathy (18 Nov 2008)

Eoghan Harris: Unlike most people here, I would consider myself to have known Séamus Brennan as a political understudy. He came to me — this tells you much about his consummate grasp of politics — just after the 1977 general election. He picked me out in RTE and asked if I would like to do a programme on how they won the 1977 election. He was approaching someone he knew was a Workers' Party...

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Nov 2008)

Eoghan Harris: At the risk of the Seanad becoming the equivalent of a type of afternoon television confessional programme where everybody whinges about everything all the time, now and again, we should lift our eyes up and say something positive. This kind of demented obsession with Bertie Ahern and money just lets down the person going on with that kind of stuff.

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Nov 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I stood up to congratulate Deputy Enda Kenny, but diverted because I thought Senator Regan's coat-trailing was a bit much.

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Nov 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I wish to celebrate two bits of good news this week. First, I congratulate the leader of Fine Gael, Deputy Enda Kenny, on showing great courage in calling for a suspension of the current national agreement, which we cannot afford. Second, I welcome the Government decision to set up what has been wrongly called "an bord snip". It should be called "an bord snas". I do not believe in root...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Dec 2008)

Eoghan Harris: It is well known that every generation fights the next war with the weapons of the last. Nothing that I heard today from any Member still measures the extent of the economic crisis, recession and more that is ahead of us. Even the smallest anecdotal encounter with the public will tell one that there are more lay-offs, shorter working times and people being stood down than ever appears in...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Dec 2008)

Eoghan Harris: We need a national government, as we had in the Second World War and a state of national emergency to be declared.

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Feb 2009)

Eoghan Harris: Before Christmas, I predicted in this House that the number of people unemployed would reach 500,000. Some people outside this House told me I was insane to think that. I now believe that number will increase to 700,000, or 20%, by the end of the year. I was unable to be here yesterday, so I watched the proceedings of this House and the Lower House on television. I did not get any sense...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Feb 2009)

Eoghan Harris: Everybody in Ireland is now looking for a scapegoat. That kind of anger is of no use at this time. Like alcoholics on a binge, we need to reach rock bottom. We need a reality check before we can rebuild.

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Feb 2009)

Eoghan Harris: We need to face the fact that we might have the best part of a million people out of work. We need to stop playing party politics. I repeat the call I made before Christmas for a national Government. We need a national plan. We need to bring an end to this kind of partisan politics. We need reform and cutbacks, beginning with the political class. We should get real by making serious...

Seanad: Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Statements (5 Feb 2009)

Eoghan Harris: There are three questions we must ask ourselves. How bad is this recession, whose fault — if anyone's — is it and what should be done? Judging by what I saw on television yesterday — I was in hospital and had a chance to watch television — and as viewed through the eyes of the general people, I have no evidence thus far that colleagues in the Upper or Lower House grasp the...

Seanad: Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Statements (5 Feb 2009)

Eoghan Harris: I did not mean to pick out Mr. Tubridy or any other RTE presenter. We all come up with excuses. The truth is the Taoiseach was correct to cut into the public sector. His one mistake was that he did not cut more deeply. He will have to do so in the future. I predict that the shortfall in Exchequer revenues will be in the order of €25 billion rather than €18 billion. I commend the...

Seanad: Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Statements (5 Feb 2009)

Eoghan Harris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Feb 2009)

Eoghan Harris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Feb 2009)

Eoghan Harris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2009)

Eoghan Harris: In these hard times I ask that we take a moment to mark the passing of Christy Nolan. It is in no sentimental way that I say he is a metaphor for what we will have to do. He spent 43 years strapped in a wheelchair and with a device strapped to his forehead he tapped out three books, one of them a classic, namely, Under the Eye of the Clock. Yesterday, his sister, Yvonne, whom I know, wrote...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Feb 2009)

Eoghan Harris: I passed the picket twice this morning and I felt no discomfort whatsoever because I took the cut. If the rest of the Senators, Deputies and the political class did the same they could stand with some moral authority and posture before the public sector unions.

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Feb 2009)

Eoghan Harris: We, the political class, have no moral authority unless we give leadership. If we find it uncomfortable to pass a civilised picket like that of the Civil Public and Services Union this morning, how will we cope with the much less civilised pickets we will face before this terrible time is over in Ireland? Before Christmas I predicted there would be 500,000 unemployed. I called for a state...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Feb 2009)

Eoghan Harris: Hear, hear.