Results 1,741-1,760 of 4,717 for speaker:Martin Mansergh

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: Of course we can.

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: And the Black Valley.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed). (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, and his officials. I warmly welcome the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006, which is important and necessary. There was no need for this legislation 20 or 30 years ago because not enough money was available to pay for infrastructural development. It could be argued that it did not make much difference at that...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed). (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: Enormous sums are being spent on infrastructure and it was an emphasis that was singularly lacking from Fine Gael and Labour Party coalitions during the same time.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed). (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: Why can the Senators not listen?

Seanad: Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed). (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: I did not interrupt Senator Ryan when he was speaking so he might do me the same courtesy.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed). (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: In the mid-1970s, there was no emphasis on modernising the telephone system. In the mid-1980s, the cutbacks occurred mostly in the capital investment area.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed). (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: The election literature of the rainbow coalition of the mid-1990s contain no emphasis on infrastructural deficiencies. Therefore, I get a little impatient when I hear Senators talking about incompetence and the lack of resources. You did not attach any priority to this area.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed). (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: There has been a tremendous investment programme in the past ten years. I always know I am on the right track when people try to interrupt me. They do not want to hear the truth and they do not want to hear any objective analysis of the situation. Members of the Opposition sometimes laugh and smile, as do some Members on this side, when the Taoiseach describes himself as a socialist. One of...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed). (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: The old Workers Party had a different economic emphasis to the Labour Party in the 1980s, based as it was on economic investment. Its members used to accuse the Labour Party of being a welfarist party. There is probably still some truth in that criticism. If resources and wealth are to be created, public investment is needed and this Government is providing that investment in spades. That is...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed). (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: ——but from its own resources, because of the excellent management of the economy, which the Senator is not prepared to recognise. There is a notion out there that this Bill is not needed. Many important projects have been seriously delayed. Given that some of them have now gone ahead, one might ask why they were held up. There were protests in the Glen of the Downs and in Carrickmines. I...

Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: I welcome the Minister of State and his officials to the House. I congratulate them on the work they are doing in making this a reality. A reference was made to "brass neck". With the amount of Opposition and media flak around, the Minister of State might well need such a brass neck. He is doing very well and is showing much steadiness under fire, for which I compliment him. The Minister of...

Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: I did not interrupt the Senator's speech once, although I might have been tempted to do so.

Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: The situation is presented as if the glass is 98% empty, instead of looking at all the positive progress. My criticism is not only of the Opposition; it is also of the Dublin-based media which has presented a grossly distorted view of what is happening. Decentralisation may not be happening quite as fast as originally planned, but according to the newspapers, nothing has happened and the...

Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: This was subsequently put into the programme for Government. The manifesto stated that decentralisation would be to those towns which had some difficulty in attracting industry. There was only one passing reference to decentralisation in the national spatial strategy, which was mainly about the location of private services, industrial investment and so on. If one were to take the national...

Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: What would an alternative Government do about decentralisation? Would it be committed to seeing the plans carried through? Would it call the whole thing to a halt? Such a scenario happened twice before. In 1981, a decentralisation programme was announced, but it was cancelled by the former Minister, Mr. John Bruton, whose brother is the finance spokesperson of Fine Gael. In 1982,...

Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: It had nothing to do with the 1977 election manifesto.

Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: Decentralisation saves money.

Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: As Minister for Finance, Ray MacSharry introduced a decentralisation programme in 1988 and it saved money.

Seanad: Decentralisation Programme: Statements. (8 Mar 2006)

Martin Mansergh: That remains to be seen.