Results 1,541-1,560 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jan 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: I am sure Senators will join me in wishing for the best in the talks in Northern Ireland. It is a tense and difficult situation but we all hope the efforts will be successful. No one ever said power sharing would be easy but there is no way back for Northern Ireland to its bloody and violent past. We all want to see progress being made in today's critical talks. There have been reports...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jan 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: A Labour councillor introduced it.

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jan 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: Yes.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: The talks in Northern Ireland are due to continue later today. I hope they will prove fruitful, as it is the wish of everybody on this island that Northern Ireland find the solutions that it so desperately needs in these critical times. This week marks the fourth anniversary of the publication of A Vision for Change, the Government's mental health strategy. It is critical that we have a...

Seanad: Site Acquisitions (27 Jan 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, to the House. I thank him for the opportunity to raise the need for the Minister for Education and Science to outline what progress has been made on the acquisition of sites required by St. Andrew's primary school and Esker Educate Together primary school in Lucan. I would also like the Minister of State to update the House on the progress...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: If the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government is so committed to helping those in difficulty with their mortgages, why did it refuse the Fine Gael amendment to the NAMA legislation to provide for a home owners' support scheme to protect them? Government Members voted against it in this House and in the Dáil. It is somewhat similar to their position on the banking inquiry. Over the weekend...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: On another issue, namely, the story reported in The Irish Times today by Carl O'Brien, I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that the Minister of State, Deputy Moloney, come to the House because the 8,000 adults with intellectual disabilities have waited long enough for proper standards and independent inspection.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: It is outrageous that we are still in a situation where there have been 500 complaints, many of them about abuse in residential institutions over the past two and a half years, and we still do not have independent inspection of these facilities or any mandatory scheme in place to look at the standards to ensure adults and children in these settings are cared for properly. Apart from the fact...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: Look at the damage the Senator's party has done.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: Yes.

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: I am sure Senators on both sides will agree with me when I say the work of the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation which is ably headed by its CEO, Mr. Jonathan Irwin, should be supported by the House and the Government, particularly when one hears from it today about the cost of caring for a child in a residential institution, as opposed to at home. The contrast in the figures is...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: It reminds one of the statement by Michael McDowell that gangland crime was over. He referred to gangland murders as the last sting of a dying wasp. We saw George Bush on a warship saying, "Mission accomplished"; that the war was over. We must face the reality we see every week when we meet people who are unemployed. They are offered courses, very often by FÁS, which are not appropriate...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: Is the Senator questioning its integrity?

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: It is the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation.

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Leader is losing the plot.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: Although a great deal of media attention is undoubtedly currently focused on the resignation of Mr. George Lee from politics, I agree with our party leader in his comment that the real challenges facing us involve helping those people who are struggling to pay mortgages, getting credit flowing to the businesses in need of it and dealing with ever-growing unemployment. When the Government...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move an amendment to the effect that the Minister for Finance should come to the House to discuss recent revelations relating to NAMA.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Feb 2010)

Frances Fitzgerald: Yes.