Results 1,641-1,660 of 1,683 for speaker:Derek McDowell
- Seanad: Consumer Protection Bill 2007: Second Stage (6 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: I broadly welcome the Bill. Members will forgive me for being a bit churlish at the beginning of my contribution but some of the rhetoric used by the Government side in welcoming the Bill was a bit over the top. The Bill, in effect, consolidates existing legislation and transposes into Irish law the unfair commercial practices directive of 1995. It also gives significant additional powers...
- Seanad: National Development Plan: Motion (7 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: On the contrary, I believe the Minister's spontaneous response was fine; it would be so much the better if we had more of that in the House. I am satisfied to take his script as read. It simply summarised what is in the plan, which we all know about already.
- Seanad: National Development Plan: Motion (7 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: I meant no disrespect to the Minister or the unfortunate officials who had to write his speech. His spontaneous response is far more helpful and informs discourse in a much better way than a delivery of his script would have done.
- Seanad: National Development Plan: Motion (7 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: I have no difficulty with most of the vision to which the Minister refers. On the contrary, it is encouraging and inspiring to hear. Neither do I have any difficulty with what is in the plan in terms of vision, even though it is in far drier language. The trouble is that we have read and heard it many times before.
- Seanad: National Development Plan: Motion (7 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: Many of us remain to be convinced that the proposed developments will happen. The Minister tells us with certainty that a metro is included in the plan and will be constructed. The Leader told us the same in 2000, however, when she was Minister. She announced it solemnly in the Department of Transport seven years ago.
- Seanad: National Development Plan: Motion (7 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: Senator McDowell without interruption.
- Seanad: National Development Plan: Motion (7 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: That is merely a detail. I am sure she meant it at the time. Seven years later, however, we have only just agreed the route.
- Seanad: National Development Plan: Motion (7 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: The Minister tells us with certainty that there will be investment in rail services. Again, the Leader, as Minister, told us there would be a feasibility plan for the Cork commuter route and that the Galway route would be examined. She also said that the Maynooth route would be expanded, which has only just happened, and that the Kildare route would be expanded, something we are still only...
- Seanad: National Development Plan: Motion (7 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: It is fine to tell us there will be investment in rail services but we have been hearing that for ten years and little of it has been delivered.
- Seanad: National Development Plan: Motion (7 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: The Minister tells us with certainty that we will have a national road network. A commitment was made in this respect in the last plan and those improvements should already be in place. The reality is that we have approximately one third of a national motorway network. Perhaps we have learned much in the last ten years but there was clearly an awful lot to be learned. The Minister must, if...
- Seanad: National Development Plan: Motion (7 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: Yes, let me go to the boring part.
- Seanad: National Development Plan: Motion (7 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: The problem with the plan is that it includes much that we have heard before. One example is the provisions in regard to the health service, an area with which the Minister is particularly familiar. I have read the full section on health and find it deliberately dodges the two major issues in health, both of which require significant additional infrastructural investment. It dodges the...
- Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: A body corporate could be a county council or, even worse, the fellows and scholars of Trinity College Dublin.
- Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: Let us imagine it from the point of view of somebody getting an award of â¬500,000 against Senator Norris and he or she is coming up North Great George's Street with the order for possession. Not having done so spectacularly the first time around, instead of going back down to the High Court for a second outing, Senator Norris might be pleasedââ
- Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2007)
Derek McDowell: He might be much happier to have the Supreme Court state this was never worth more than â¬20,000 and that one should forget about the â¬500,000. I imagine if an individual were concerned rather than an institutional defendant, it could be very punitive to send the case back to the High Court for a second trial. It could be very onerous. For example, if a politician were being sued for a...
- Seanad: Credit Union Savings Protection Bill 2007: Second Stage (1 Mar 2007)
Derek McDowell: I am pleased to contribute to the debate. The legislation provides the opportunity for a useful discussion on an issue that demands early resolution. I join others in acknowledging the important and vibrant role of credit unions in our society over many decades. However, their role has changed significantly in recent years. When most credit unions were established, they largely dealt with...
- Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)
Derek McDowell: For the record, the 1987 deal was a bad deal. Everybody in this House knows it was a bad deal. The Minister accepts it was a bad deal but it was 1987. I say that because I sometimes think colleagues do not realise how much of a turn-off it is for the electorate for politicians to spend all of their time talking about something that happened 20 years ago or even ten years ago. In so far as...
- Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)
Derek McDowell: There is a political choice to be made; whether we believe it is correct to write a cheque of that magnitude to NTR for each of the next 12 years or whether we believe that should be done by virtue of the tolls paid by road users. It is not an easy choice for somebody like me who does not believe we should be tolling it in the first place. However, on balance, it appears some sort of...
- Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)
Derek McDowell: So it is a net figure.
- Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)
Derek McDowell: Does the company pay tax, licence fees or anything of that kind out of that? I take it, it does not.