Results 1,881-1,900 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Tourism Industry: Motion. (18 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: We served here when he was in a far less significant role. He is very welcome and we worked together in many places. The Irish Government and Margaret Thatcher's government persisted for years in protecting a cartel between Dublin and London. I want to emphasise the two governments involved. Ryanair is the beneficiary of deregulation and not the cause of it. It is the beneficiary of the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I will briefly refer to No. 1 on the Order Paper, the referral motion, particularly since it is to be passed without debate. I do not wish to start a big row about it. This EU directive has enormous ramifications for the country. We produce 25% of all desktop computers used in the European Union. Those in this country who produce them will now be responsible for taking them back. If I lived...

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I think they got his name right again.

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: They were calling him Tommy for a while.

Seanad: Suicide Incidence: Statements. (19 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I thank Senator Henry for sharing time with me. There are issues on which politicians can and do show considerable sensitivity. For the most part, they avoid turning such things into political confrontations. Of course, as an Opposition spokesperson I would say that we should have more resources. However, it would be dishonest to pretend that if we flipped around, with me over there on the...

Seanad: Suicide Incidence: Statements. (19 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Senator Minihan is very charitable. I never in my entire life set out to get blind drunk; I had no interest in it. I claim no virtue, but circumstances caused things to happen. However, it seems to me that there is now a peculiar value system among some young people in society — I say that not judgmentally but with concern — that necessitates such self-destructive behaviour. The tragic...

Seanad: Suicide Incidence: Statements. (19 May 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Senator Henry considers him to be among the best. I am reluctant to use the word "consumerism", as criticism of consumerism seems to blame the working class for getting their hands on the goods that the ruling class always had anyway. The papacy and the other ruling orders of 100 years ago lived in a life of ostentatious luxury. The fact that ordinary people can now do that should not be a...

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I support fully the proposal by the Leader of the Opposition, Senator Brian Hayes. We would be well advised to deal with this matter on which I sympathise fully with him. I want to elaborate on it in terms of this country's incapacity to enforce the regulations it makes. The nursing homes have a peculiar history. Until 1998, all inspection reports were secret documents until the Freedom of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (1 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Those who have the good fortune not to suffer from a disability, in many cases, do not notice the phenomenon. For many able bodied people the first shock they receive as regards disability is when they try to wheel a buggy around a supermarket for the first time. That brings the realisation of how difficult it must be for somebody in a wheelchair when so many supermarkets and multiple stores...

Seanad: Disability Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (1 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: ——namely, to enshrine a commitment to ODA in legislation to guarantee what the Taoiseach promised in New York. That is what rights-based legislation means. It means we are saying this is a right with which we will not tamper because it is fundamental. Nobody believes a word one says when one can make a promise like that to the poor of the world only to let them down on the basis of that...

Seanad: Nursing Homes: Statements. (1 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Of course he was responsible.

Seanad: Nursing Homes: Statements. (1 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I am starting now, not two minutes ago when they were all shouting at each other.

Seanad: Nursing Homes: Statements. (1 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Thank you very much, a Chathaoirligh. I enjoy interruptions as long as they are not in my time.

Seanad: Nursing Homes: Statements. (1 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: It is a great pity Senator Feeney decided to have a go at a committed Member of the Oireachtas who set himself the task of struggling on behalf of some of the most vulnerable people in society and who was frustrated by the system of public administration and Government. However, I should not be surprised. The Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, is an old friend of mine and a fellow...

Seanad: Nursing Homes: Statements. (1 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: They can interrupt away. It will not affect me in the least.

Seanad: Nursing Homes: Statements. (1 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: How is it possible to have a nursing home carry on like that without anybody taking action to stop it until a television programme is made? That is the issue. The rest of what is in the script is very important but it does not have anything to do with the issue we are discussing. The television programme did no more than make visual in one specific case what we all should have known and did...

Seanad: Nursing Homes: Statements. (1 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The Tánaiste went missing for two days on this issue. If €100 million extra were being spent on residential care for the elderly, would one expect the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, to be wheeled out on "Morning Ireland" on Tuesday morning to explain it? We would have the Tánaiste demanding half an hour to herself to announce the good news. When there was a difficult issue, the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (2 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I thank the Leader.

Seanad: Order of Business. (2 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Perhaps fools rush in where angels fear to tread.