Results 1,601-1,620 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (9 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: That is not an argument.

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: It is now six or eight months since I resigned from the committee on Seanad reform because I felt the Taoiseach was treating the Seanad as a little instrument of political patronage. Last week's revelations have confirmed the validity of my view that Seanad Éireann is an adjunct to the Taoiseach's policies, to be manipulated as suits him.

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I am now more than happy——

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: While the Leader can say whatever she wishes about the matter, I resigned for the reasons I have given. Throughout the courts system this week and last week, siblings and parents will have pleaded with judges to understand the tragedies of their siblings' and children's lives as they are charged with various offences, outlining the sad history of deprivation and neglect that characterises...

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I am not doing so. However, it appears to me that our judicial system operates on a basis that discriminates between those who are rich and those who are poor.

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I want to make a point on the issue raised by Senator O'Toole. The bank, which is taking over NIB, has twice the capitalisation of either of the two big Irish banks and generates about the same level of profits, which speaks volumes about the degree to which we are being ripped off. The Competition Authority has just issued a report, which did no more than confirm what we all knew, namely...

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: —— integrate into society. If we keep them out of work, we can keep them out of sight and away from public sympathy.

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I have been very reasonable. The Leader can tell me I am mistaken, but she cannot tell me I know that what I have said is not true. With all due respect, I do not know that it is not true. I do not want to be pushed into saying something to the Leader this week that both of us will regret at a later stage.

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: If she tells me that I am mistaken, I will sit back and accept it. I do not know that it is not true.

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I thank the Leader.

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: The Leader is entitled to her opinion in that regard.

Seanad: Northern Ireland Peace Process: Motion. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I am glad the Taoiseach came into the House. I will not bother with one detail of last week's business, with which I had a presentational difficulty, it is an issue for another day and a different debate. There are far more fundamental issues at stake. I will be partisan and mention Mr. Dick Spring for his considerable contribution, together with Mr. Albert Reynolds, to bringing about the...

Seanad: Northern Ireland Peace Process: Motion. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: That brought about the major change in climate and in saying that I am not belittling the contributions of others. As a party colleague and a friend of Dick Spring, it would be remiss of me, however, not to say it. I have always been in a peculiar position about the North in that I spoke sympathetically about Sinn Féin and its supporters when no one else did, at least publicly; I know of the...

Seanad: Northern Ireland Peace Process: Motion. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I have a good story about that, which I will share with the Senator privately. Senior Sinn Féin figures use a certain type of language when speaking about the minority Government party. If any of the rest of us used such language when talking about Sinn Féin, its members would be in front of the television cameras using the classic old phrase "hit me now, with the peace process in my arms",...

Seanad: Northern Ireland Peace Process: Motion. (15 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: While Senator O'Toole has a point, a fundamental of effective democracy is that people take responsibility for what is done in their names. The former British Home Secretary, Mr. Blunkett, stated: "[Any] perception of this application being speeded up requires me to take responsibility." Whether that responsibility should have extended to resignation is a separate issue. While I do not wish...

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I am not speaking on the issue but on the way the Government does business, which is by postponing and avoiding responsibility. That is not the way to run Government. The European Union will today decide — I gather the decision will be positive — whether to open negotiations with Turkey to join the EU. It is an extremely significant day. One of the ideas that has always floated is that...

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Dec 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jan 2005)

Brendan Ryan: It is some 12 or 15 years since I was suspended from the House for describing a particular individual as a disgrace. Now that he is locked up in Arbour Hill, I presume I can safely say he is a disgrace without the threat of sanction. I am happy to be able to say it. I hope the appalling tragedy in the Indian Ocean and south-east Asia has opened our eyes to the question of interdependency in...

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jan 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.