Results 1,941-1,960 of 5,046 for speaker:Paschal Mooney

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: When they do that, they will also have to learn a lesson that we learned. Certain sacred cows have to be treated with great sensitivity in this country. One of them is the whole question of rural Ireland in its entirety. There is absolutely no doubt now in the minds of the people. I heard a Senator referring to the mandate the Government received a year ago. If there was an election in...

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: The Senators opposite should be comfortable for the moment and enjoy their time in power. I remind them that public opinion has a strange way of coming back to bite one on the legs. On what is happening with rural schools and the whole rural issue, I saw it happening with the mistake and the debacle over the medical card issue, which was the most incompetent political decision any...

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: All I am saying is that the same thing seems to be happening in relation to the policies that are being pursued by this Government. This is one of the latest in a series of decisions that are seen as inherently anti-rural.

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: I would like to refer to a particular coincidence. One of the e-mails I received came from-----

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: I will not respond to any of this noise that is going on beside me. I will plough ahead in the best interests of debate.

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: As I said earlier, it is obvious that I have struck a rather sensitive nerve somewhere. My grandfather, God rest him, came from the small community of Kilteevan in County Roscommon. By a strange coincidence, one of the schools that will be affected by this measure will be Kilteevan national school. There are still some Mooneys in the area. I received an e-mail from a cousin of mine who...

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: My cousin asked me to support the school authorities at Kilteevan national school and other schools when they protest about these measures. She went on to say that as the school has 52 pupils, it is okay for this September, but it could be in big trouble the following year. The plaque over the school says that it was built in 1897. It has survived previous recessions and two world wars, so...

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: They are still there.

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: It stayed there during the Fianna Fáil Administration. It was actually built on. As one of my colleagues said earlier, Senators can carp all they like about the inequalities and inefficiencies of Fianna Fáil Administrations, but the people of this country recognise the manner in which the Fianna Fáil Governments of the last ten years, in particular, supported rural Ireland, rural...

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: I would ask the question-----

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: My understanding is that there were twice as many people protesting on the streets in recent weeks about this Government's proposals. Nothing changes in that regard. All I am saying is that the Government has hit a sacred cow. My colleagues have made the case for their motion. The Government will have the GAA on its back. When rural schools start to close, the GAA will start to lose teams.

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: I have seen it happening in my own part of the country. If the school goes, the community goes. If the community goes, the people go and then there is nothing left. All of these things have to be considered. Senator MacSharry made the case eloquently that this is being done for the sake of €15 million. The Minister has said that nobody in the Department could come up with a saving of...

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: Our spokesperson on education has outlined where the savings can be made. I repeat that the Government has opened a can of worms of enormous proportions. It will come back to bite it on the feet or the legs again. Although everyone on this side of the House has sympathy for the Government as it faces serious economic difficulties and challenges and tries to find money, we feel that the...

Seanad: Investment in Education: Motion (8 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: Is Senator Sheahan listening to his colleague about no closures?

Seanad: Immigrant Investor Programme and Start-Up Entrepreneur Scheme: Statements (9 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I welcome the Minister to the House. In my long association with the Minister, Deputy Shatter, I have come to know his style and this initiative has the stamp of his inventive thinking all over it. I applaud the Minister for hitting the ground running in this regard. As the Minister suggested, our recent history has been littered with similar attempts to...

Seanad: Immigrant Investor Programme and Start-Up Entrepreneur Scheme: Statements (9 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: I was thinking about the group of Irish Americans who put themselves forward to give advice.

Seanad: Immigrant Investor Programme and Start-Up Entrepreneur Scheme: Statements (9 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: I referred to North-South tourist visas for people from China.

Seanad: Bretton Woods Agreements (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (14 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: I apologise for interrupting but would it be possible to obtain copies of the Minister of State's speech?

Seanad: Bretton Woods Agreements (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (14 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I appreciate he probably received his script on his way into the Chamber as it is the nature of the business. Perhaps in his capacity as head of the main procurement agency for the Government he will send a memo to all Ministers and Ministers of State to state when they come before the House they might at least have the courtesy to make their initial...

Seanad: Bretton Woods Agreements (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (14 Feb 2012)

Paschal Mooney: I am not in any way attempting to put the Minister of State on the spot but the point might be made. This is not the first time this has happened and it also happened under the previous Administration. It is important that we put it on the record and we will leave it at that.