Results 161-180 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 1: In page 5, to delete line 15, and substitute the following: "the Central Bank of Ireland, require the Central Bank of Ireland to prepare any report". I thank the Minister of State. I dislike the extension for a year and I have discussed it with four or five Ministers, and in a much more heated way than this morning. We have had plenty of notice of when we were to...

Seanad: Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: I intend to withdraw amendment No. 1. With regard to desired reform, the 12-month period ought to be the outer limit. We need something other than the incumbents determining policy and making assumptions about their potential and actual competitors. Cases have been taken in the courts at a vast cost to the taxpayer. Many of the arguments have not stood up. While people may have been...

Seanad: Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: I was suggesting that the Milliman report be circulated to the Senators who debated this point with the Minister of State.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: The Long Title was part of the controversy in the Supreme Court on 16 July 2008. It is going too far to say it makes provision for specific matters. That would be to accord a Long Title the unprecedented status of constituting a substantive provision. The Bill does not do what is stated in the Long Title and that is what the Chief Justice pointed out on 16 July 2008.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: Yesterday the integrated ticketing system, Leap, was launched in Dublin at a cost of €55.5 million. In 2002 it was estimated the scheme would cost £24.9 million. This represents a cost overrun of 77% on the project. I ask the Leader to take up the issue of cost overruns on public projects with the Ministers for Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Transport, Tourism and Sport and...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the announcement that the Minister will convene a forum with health insurers to address the issue of the excessive price increases they seek. He is quoted as saying that in some cases he feels 4% would be adequate while some of the companies are claiming as much as 25%. Last week we referred to our wish that the regulation of the health insurance sector should be moved to the...

Seanad: Fiscal Responsibility (Statement) Bill 2011: Order for Second Stage (14 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: I move: "That Second Stage be taken today."

Seanad: Fiscal Responsibility (Statement) Bill 2011: Second Stage (14 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State to the House, as always. On 25 May last, this Seanad convened for the first time and we were then concerned about the implications of the IMF having to rescue us about this time last year, as well as the need to change the way in which governance operated in this country. It was obviously unsustainable to have to be bailed out by the IMF and to have the troika...

Seanad: Fiscal Responsibility (Statement) Bill 2011: Second Stage (14 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: Is the time allocation——

Seanad: Fiscal Responsibility (Statement) Bill 2011: Second Stage (14 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: I thank all ten Senators who contributed. I also welcome the Minister of State. He heard a wonderful debate this afternoon and we have them quite regularly. I hope he will communicate to anybody in authority who might ask him that the Seanad is a wonderful and most meaningful place where all sorts of ideas——

Seanad: Fiscal Responsibility (Statement) Bill 2011: Second Stage (14 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: ——are thrashed out.

Seanad: Fiscal Responsibility (Statement) Bill 2011: Second Stage (14 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: We put on a special performance for the Minister of State this afternoon. I thank all my colleagues for their comments. Some of the compliments were fulsome. They reminded me of something Dr. McDowell of TCD said when he attended a funeral and listened to the eulogy. He said: "I must be at the wrong funeral because I knew the diseased". The Fiscal Advisory Council already has a Barrett...

Seanad: Fiscal Responsibility (Statement) Bill 2011: Second Stage (14 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: I propose to adjourn the debate in the circumstances that have been mentioned. I gather that the Bill will stay on the Order Paper and that we shall return to this topic in the spring.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: This morning, the chairman of the fiscal council stated that he hoped to have his proposals on the promised fiscal responsibility Bill ready by February. Yesterday, we learned that the Department of Finance hoped to have its proposals ready by April. With the agreement of all speakers, we had a wide-ranging and superb discussion on fiscal responsibility yesterday, some three months ahead of...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: Guim Nollaig shona agus athbhliain faoi mhaise ar gach duine. I join with my colleagues in extending Christmas wishes to everybody here. I thank the Cathaoirleach for his very judicious choice of Leas-Chathaoirleach and Acting Chairmen, who are in the same tradition of himself in their courtesy and fairness. I also thank the Leader. This House could not operate without the wonderful work...

Seanad: Recent Developments in Eurozone and European Council: Statements (16 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: I warmly welcome the Minister of State for her commitment and enthusiasm on these issues and she is a most welcome visitor to the House. Towards the end of her contribution, the Minister of State referred to lightening the load on Ireland. In taking my cue from Senator Quinn, this might be something the Seanad will address, as it will be important for Members to assist the Government in...

Seanad: Recent Developments in Eurozone and European Council: Statements (16 Dec 2011)

Sean Barrett: In conjunction with John Esmond Birnie, former member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, I wrote a pamphlet on the reason I thought that jurisdiction should stay out of the euro and I believe the decision made by Mr. Gordon Brown to stay out was correct. Moreover, I heard the Swedish Minister for Finance speak on BBC Radio 4 yesterday when he stated that opinion polls suggest 10% of people...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Jan 2012)

Sean Barrett: I would like to express sympathy to the widow and family of the late John Ross, a former Member of this House, who died during the Christmas vacation. His son, Shane, is a current Member of the Dáil. Mr. Ross represented the Dublin University constituency in this House for three years. The 40% increase in the levy on private health insurance is a problem that has arisen. During our...