Results 1,621-1,640 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (4 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: Louisburgh is a unique place, a Chathaoirligh, as you know, being from the same county. It is named after Louisburgh in Nova Scotia. Not many towns in this part of the world are named after towns in the New World. From there, Martin J. O'Toole served for 44 years on Mayo County Council, 12 years in the Seanad and three years in the Dáil. It is a fantastic record of public service...

Seanad: Economic Growth and Job Creation: Statements (4 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. I should congratulate him on his award as Minister for Finance I should congratulate the Minister on being European Finance Minister of 2013. As the Minister will be aware, in today's Irish Examiner, Oliver Mangan notes that there are 61,000 additional people at work in Ireland, which is a 3.3% increase in total employment, a 3.9% increase in full-time employment,...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: I presume the House would welcome President Clinton to Ireland today. He is in Derry at lunchtime to honour John Hume, he is then launching a new Clinton Institute at Queen's University Belfast this evening, and, of course, he is renewing his contacts to this country through the Cassidy family in Fermanagh. I propose to the Leader that we debate Northern Ireland. The peace process has to...

Seanad: Reform of Further Education and Training: Statements (5 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State and I thank him for his address on this important subject area. The Minister of State referred to the 330 apprenticeship options Germany compared to 24 to 25 in Ireland. We need to achieve the German level of apprenticeships without the inferior status associated with apprenticeships in Ireland. I refer to the OECD paper, Getting Youth on the Job Track,...

Seanad: Action Plan for Jobs: Statements (5 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: Ná habair é. I met a real entrepreneur when Senator Mary Ann O'Brien came over to tell me about that. I welcome the Minister to the House. The 61,000 figure is excellent news which shows how the economy has been restoring its competitiveness in the past three or four years. The increase in full-time employment is 3.9%, comprised of an increase in the private sector of 4.5% and a...

Seanad: Child Protection: Motion (5 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: I commend Senator van Turnhout for putting down this motion and welcome the Minister's strong speech on its behalf. I believe we are all at one on this, and certainly all five of the University Senators were honoured to sign the motion when Senator van Turnhout brought it to us. We have heard all about negative body image being promoted among people who lose in these competitions, as well as...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: The European People's Party, EPP, will be in Dublin in the next couple of days. The Taoiseach is in Brussels this morning attending the summit of heads of state discussing the issue of Russia, Ukraine and Crimea. I draw the attention of the House to the danger that we might slip into sanctions and the importance of negotiations before people start to talk of sanctions. I looked at some of...

Seanad: County Enterprise Boards (Dissolution) Bill 2013: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (6 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: It is a honour to defer to the Fighting 69th. They are very welcome. I also welcome the Minister of State. We had a comprehensive discussion on industrial development yesterday. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation was here for some hours and there was an interesting exchange of views on where we stand. There is genuine pleasure at the 61,000 jobs added in the past 12 months....

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the statement made by the Minister for Finance in Brussels last night on the warnings by the distinguished economist Professor Morgan Kelly. The Minister said the economist must be taken seriously. He was correct in the past when nobody else was. If the Central Bank were to make contact and gain access to some of the data underpinning the professor's speech, it would be helpful....

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: Can we trust the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte?

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: General Scheme of the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2014: Statements (11 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. Speaking in County Sligo on the day after losing the referendum, the Taoiseach said "We know now that like the all-Ireland final, it is not going to be replayed so we have to deal with the question of how you make a Seanad effective." I have my all-Ireland ticket from that fixture. Our side won. Normally it is the winning team whose captain gets to make the speech...

Seanad: General Scheme of the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2014: Statements (11 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: He had nothing to say before. He is now to seek revenge on the Independents, the five of us who defeated five political parties, namely, Fine Gael, the Labour Party, People Before Profit, Sinn Féin and the United Left Alliance. That was a major achievement. Why did we succeed in that? It was because we provide the vital checks and balances and, strictly, that is what a second Chamber...

Seanad: General Scheme of the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2014: Statements (11 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: Candidate A, who is well known, is nominated and when this person wins it is handed over as a gift to candidate X of whom nobody has ever heard.

Seanad: General Scheme of the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2014: Statements (11 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: This will be introduced in the Seanad and it is appalling. It is the worst aspect of the abuse of democracy in European elections. The general scheme proposes to extend this malpractice and abuse to this House. It really is a disgrace. Why does the Government have no ideas on reforming the Taoiseach's 11 nominees, the local authorities' 43 seats or the fact Independent Senators are...

Seanad: General Scheme of the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2014: Statements (11 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: For what did the people vote? We are entitled to make this speech because the Government side lost out. I am delighted to make the winning captain's speech, unlike the Taoiseach using Croke Park analogies in his. We found young people are totally alienated from the political party system because it is run more rigidly than anything by Mr. Stalin or any other enforcers of the party Whip...

Seanad: General Scheme of the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2014: Statements (11 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: Some of them were thinking of going to the courts to rebuke the Government on this. The leader of Fianna Fáil, Deputy Micheál Martin, asked me on the day of the count in Dublin Castle how on earth the "No" people won Donegal. It was because our supporters in Northern Ireland got their friends, hotels, grocery shops and the man who gives one a bag of potatoes over the hedge when...

Seanad: General Scheme of the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2014: Statements (11 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: Why does the Minister not make proper reforms instead of getting revenge on four or five people from the two university constituencies by abolishing their constituencies? It is a shameful thing to do and I am sure the Minister will acknowledge it.

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: I note Senator Susan O'Keeffe's comments on penalty points. Will the Minister for Justice and Equality come to the House to debate the material that is coming to light, including the report that will be published later and the work of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Garda Inspectorate? The problem the House highlighted, with which the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Mar 2014)

Sean Barrett: To add to what Senator Colm Burke has said, it was also designed with the intention of reducing the number of women entering medical school - another shameful aspect.