Results 1,621-1,640 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jan 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Sugar Beet Industry: Motion. (26 Jan 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Everybody with a heart and a sense of compassion and justice will be concerned about the workforce of the Carlow sugar factory, which is located only 12 miles from my home town. It was recognised as a serious, secure but difficult employment for full-time workers and people travelled in significant numbers during my childhood from Athy to work in the factory. The sugar company was a...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy. (27 Jan 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I cannot help thinking that if Eileen was here she would blush because although everything that was said about her this morning is true, she would not thank one for saying it like that. In thinking of her the word that springs to mind is "courageous" and it has already been used to describe her. We referred to courage in the political context but she was also extraordinarily courageous...

Seanad: Order of Business. (27 Jan 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I accept fully that we must all be careful about what we say. However, for ten minutes or so in the Dáil yesterday, every democrat in the Oireachtas — I believe that represents all of us bar five — was firmly behind the Taoiseach. Let me say unequivocally that there is no comparison between someone who fiddles their taxes or takes bribes and someone who conspires to shoot in the back of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (27 Jan 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I am as good as anyone in this House at making comments about the misbehaviour of former Members of the Oireachtas, but there is an infinite gap between these two offences. Let there be no equivocation that what the Taoiseach said yesterday was said on behalf of all of us. Politicians are often further ahead than people realise. It is time the organs of the media began to realise what has...

Seanad: Order of Business. (2 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I agree with my colleagues on the urgent need for a debate on privacy. The Houses of the Oireachtas need to send out a very clear statement that if the media cannot regulate themselves to defend people's privacy then somebody else may have to do it for them. While it is not a route I would wish to take, if the power of the media is on one side and the vulnerability of individuals is on the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (2 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Tsunami Disaster: Statements. (2 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Tsunami Disaster: Statements. (2 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: We have never received such a salutary and visible reminder that we are guests on this planet as that provided by the tsunami. It demonstrated too that our belief that science and technology can control the forces of nature is an illusion. We survive on this planet because the temperature fluctuates between limits which can support life, and because of other delicate balances. The positive...

Seanad: Tsunami Disaster: Statements. (2 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: As long as we do not meet that threshold, we will have room to manoeuvre. When we meet it, the Department will be stuck with a percentage. The fundamental problem is and has been the Department of Finance. It is a huge tragedy that despite the popular and political goodwill witnessed repeatedly in this country, the Government betrayed the target. This is despite the fact that the Government...

Seanad: Tsunami Disaster: Statements. (2 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I am about to finish.

Seanad: Tsunami Disaster: Statements. (2 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: It was one minute ago.

Seanad: Tsunami Disaster: Statements. (2 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I compliment the Government on its actions following the tsunami. The same values could motivate its attitude to ODA and the country would be much the better for it.

Seanad: Northern Ireland Issues: Motion. (2 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I do not often agree with the Progressive Democrats Party — politics would be the poorer if I did. During the past 25 years, when I have been in and around the House, I have in many cases taken a quite different view about the best way to move us away from the apparently perpetual middle level violence that had become almost endemic in this country until the beginning of the 1990s. Many...

Seanad: Northern Ireland Issues: Motion. (2 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I do not know of any monarchists or other groups here. Therefore, we are all republicans — an honourable term with an honourable history. I do not propose to hand it over any more than I was ever prepared to hand over a monopoly claim to socialism to those who destroyed human rights all over eastern Europe. In those days I believed that the republican movement, as it called itself, and...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy. (3 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Listening to the Leader I am reminded of the notion in chaos theory that a butterfly in the Amazonian jungle can change the weather here. It is clear that a single No. 1 vote, cast in 1981, had a fairly profound subsequent effect on Irish politics. We can all make an impact and Gordon Lambert had a huge impact. I have a passing interest in and enjoy modern art. I believe his contribution in...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy. (3 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: We must restrain ourselves.

Seanad: Order of Business. (3 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I join my colleague, Senator O'Toole, in his expression of good wishes to Senator Quinn. As regards Senator Quinn's poll-topping, I would not mind a little redistribution. While Senator O'Toole is correct that restraint is necessary, it is difficult. It must be clearly stated by all of those who accept there is only one way to pursue politics that no one is doing us a favour by maintaining a...

Seanad: Order of Business. (9 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I am sorry I was not here yesterday to say that I fully share the views so well expressed again this morning by Senator O'Toole. I add one comment. Great satirical writing that lasts is, inevitably, writing that is a challenge to the powerful. What makes it great writing is that it is well written and challenges the established and powerful. To write well to challenge the least powerful and...

Seanad: Order of Business. (9 Feb 2005)

Brendan Ryan: It has been overwhelmed gradually by rubbish which is now being diligently collected by the city council which then employs people to search through it to find some address so that it can prosecute somebody. Given that local authorities have managed not to notice hundreds of thousands of tonnes of material being dumped illegally, the diligence is, perhaps, admirable. However, the current...