Results 1,461-1,480 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Order of Business. (9 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: The director is too busy chasing the petrol industry.

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: The best way to deal with people who claim to be non-residents is to require them to prove they are non-resident, rather than the reverse whereby the Revenue Commissioners must prove they are resident. We should adopt the approach of the United States. Any tax paid by Irish citizens abroad, if they are non-resident, should be offset against their Irish tax but if this still leaves them owing...

Seanad: Competitiveness and Consumer Protection Policy: Statements. (10 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I am tempted to respond to Senator Leyden but I will resist the temptation. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, whom I have known for quite a while. His recent promotion was long overdue.

Seanad: Competitiveness and Consumer Protection Policy: Statements. (10 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: When I hear references to Ireland being the most open economy in the world, I wonder if I am living in the same country. Senator Leyden, whom I understand to be Fianna Fáil's Seanad spokesman on matters such as trade, has suggested that we should draw a cordon sanitaire around the country. He thinks we should con people from other countries into coming to Ireland by failing to tell them...

Seanad: Competitiveness and Consumer Protection Policy: Statements. (10 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: If we pretend that Ireland is a low-cost economy, business people who come here will last for a couple of days before they disappear when they realise they have been conned. They will head for Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong or the free trade zones in China where they can access as much cheap labour and low costs as they want. Regardless of whether the website mentioned by Senator Leyden...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (10 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: As I once had a small hand in Professor Murphy's departure from the House, I am not sure what I should say.

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (10 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: He is most welcome in the House as an old friend. I feel the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists had a point on the use of language, particularly having read its admirably succinct submission. So many bodies believe that unless a submission is 20 pages long, one will not be impressed. The opposite is the case and I share the views of the former Taoiseach, Mr. Reynolds. If it cannot be put...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (10 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I have enough of it to keep me going for a while.

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (10 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: There is no profession in the list to which I object. I am not suggesting that chiropody should not be on the list but while the harm a chiropodist can do is quite significant, the harm a poorly-trained therapist can do when starting to explore people's subconscious and working into that area is significant for individuals, for their relationships and sometimes for society. The area of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (17 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I agree with Senator O'Toole on Margaret Hassan. I would rather wait until there is certainty about her death before saying anything. We could have a debate on Aer Lingus. Something intriguing is happening in this country — the Taoiseach has discovered socialism and Senator O'Toole has obviously rediscovered socialism.

Seanad: Order of Business. (17 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: The only difference between the Taoiseach and me is that I discovered socialism when I was 20. It took him until his mid-50s to discover it. Perhaps he will show the zeal of a recent convert. We could have a debate before Christmas on the pre-budget submission of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the response to which would be a good test of anybody's socialism. It should not be a question...

Seanad: Order of Business. (17 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I compliment Senator Maurice Hayes on a fine piece he wrote in The Sunday Tribune last Sunday about the apparent act of vandalism about to be perpetrated by the National Roads Authority. A former member of this House and former professor of archaeology, George Eogan, also subscribes to that view. I am not sure I would want this House to discuss the routing of motorways in the normal course of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (17 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: They have made money but they have not made a national airline. I would like a debate on the question of a national strategy so there is national access to international air services, which we are liable to lose outside Dublin if the present policies continue.

Seanad: Order of Business. (17 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: And national.

Seanad: Order of Business. (17 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business. (17 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Aer Arann charges €200.

Seanad: Public Private Partnerships: Statements. (17 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: There was some jousting during the Order of Business about ideologies and "isms" of various kinds. I have no objection to public private partnerships. Any concerns I have are based on a feeling that perhaps the driving force behind such schemes is ideological. Where they work properly, however, nobody could object to them. Who could object to the introduction of additional finance into public...

Seanad: Public Private Partnerships: Statements. (17 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I have raised this point previously in the House. One comes off a roundabout on the M50 and sees a sign, "toll ahead", but there is no sign indicating the toll one is required to pay or which lane one should be in. By the time one knows which lane one should be in, one is irretrievably committed to the lane one is in. An extraordinary profitable company should be able to put together proper...

Seanad: Public Private Partnerships: Statements. (17 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: That and much more I would say. That does not prove I was inefficient. It was simply the way it was done. I will return to the subject. The answer to the question of whether we are getting extra funding is "Yes". Are we getting a sharing of risk? In some cases the answer is undoubtedly "Yes" and in the case of schools the answer is "Yes". Are we getting good value for money? In terms of...

Seanad: Health and Social Care Professionals Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (17 Nov 2004)

Brendan Ryan: It is an old chorus of mine, and a general commentary on our public administration to ask why we cannot have deadlines for the enforcement of legislation. It appears we are expected to write legislation for the convenience of Government rather than the other way around. I do not care if the Minister sets a timeframe of six months, nine months or 12 months, but to insert the standard provision...