Results 1,841-1,860 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Immigrant Workers: Motion. (4 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The punchline was taken from me.

Seanad: Immigrant Workers: Motion. (4 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Immigrant Workers: Motion. (4 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Good old Irish employers.

Seanad: Immigrant Workers: Motion. (4 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I have tried to avoid excessive accusations other than criticising the Government's lethargy on this matter. The Minister's proposals are interesting but I wish to ask him one question. Given the range of nationalities of immigrants, in what language will the prospective employee sign the section of the application for a work permit which lists the functions of the job, salary, wages,...

Seanad: Immigrant Workers: Motion. (4 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I thought Deputy Joe Higgins got his hands on the Fianna Fáil amendment. This is not simply a moral issue but it is also an important business one. We do not need extensive legislation to deal with the immediate issue. We need to spend €50,000 to translate all our basic documentation into the language of each significant group working here. A Ukrainian immigrant worker should have a copy...

Seanad: Immigrant Workers: Motion. (4 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I base my information on the Department's website.

Seanad: Immigrant Workers: Motion. (4 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Am I to accept that the 150 Moldovans, 450 Ukrainians or 122 Bulgarians who received work permits since 1 January are all highly skilled? They are not. If those people are brought here and tied to their employers' work permits, they will remain vulnerable to the threat of exploitation. This workforce is complex in terms of language, culture and political history. In addition to changing the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Like everybody else, I am mystified by what is happening in the Marino Institute of Education. The Government should not take the easier route and say it is a matter for the college. We cannot have the sort of chaos which has descended. The ESRI report meshes with some of the particularly eccentric comments made yesterday regarding benchmarking. The last benchmarking report had no background...

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Any disagreements between myself and my colleagues in Fine Gael are far less than the ideological gap that should exist between Fianna Fáil, as I recall it, and the Progressive Democrats.

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: On the Order of Business, the ESRI report on pensions is worthy of debate in this House. There has been a massive rush towards tax incentives for private pensions and while one has no problem with that in principle, it ought to be a form of incentive which is not simply making well-off people even better off. This is essentially what the ESRI is saying.

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: This House has stood firmly behind the family and friends of the late Robert McCartney. Yesterday it was stated on RTE that the family insisted Mr. McCartney was killed by the Provisional IRA. Today it was stated on RTE that Mr. McCartney was alleged to have been killed by members of the Provisional IRA. Robert McCartney was murdered by members of the IRA. It is not an allegation made on the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The Senator will have noted my silence on the matter.

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Will the Leader ask the Minister of Transport to attend the House? There is great concern in my home city regarding the Aer Rianta debt, which we were told would be entirely attributed to Dublin Airport. It is now suggested that €160 million of that debt will be payable by the Cork Airport Authority. That authority did not decide to spend €160 million on the new terminal. Aer Rianta did...

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I can now read the Leader's mind.

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I just had to look into my heart to know what the Leader was thinking. The fundamental issue is that an undertaking was given on the handling of the Aer Rianta break-up, and there now appears to be a retreat from that undertaking. Dublin Airport has dominated the headlines in this area, but the spin-off from the break-up of Aer Rianta needs to be debated in the House again. I ask the Leader...

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Yes. There is a great tendency to employ such consultants, and we could show the Dáil how to deal with legislation in a reasonably efficient fashion. It clearly needs some guidance from somewhere. Three Dáil Bills are listed on the Order Paper today. One is delayed because other people cannot deal with it. That is the Interpretation Bill 2000. I suppose we are lucky it does not date from...

Seanad: Pension Provisions: Statements. (11 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I had not intended to contribute but I observed from my office that the numbers were a little scarcer than I thought and I would like to make a few comments. The Minister deserves to be complimented because he has kicked out a ball and forced people to debate issues such as compulsion that they were circumnavigating. I am not sure we will be as laudatory when he proposes his solutions. It is...

Seanad: Pension Provisions: Statements. (11 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I accept many of Senator Mansergh's corrections but I do not want him to leap up yet again. In one of the richest countries in Europe in terms of——

Seanad: Pension Provisions: Statements. (11 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: ——in terms of current income per head it is inevitable that costs will rise as, otherwise, 25% of the population will be forced to sit still while everybody else gets rich. To have any fairness in society people on lower wages must advance.

Seanad: Pension Provisions: Statements. (11 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: That will push up the costs. Other costs are due to appalling inefficiencies in our society because of the lack of competition in areas such as banking, insurance and the failure to invest in infrastructure, but I do not wish to be diverted. The fundamental issue, and I do not understand the hostility to this, is that the only way to provide for people in their retirement is by funding it...