Results 2,281-2,300 of 3,356 for speaker:Feargal Quinn

Seanad: Building Control Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I should have jumped to my feet. I am sure we would have got through the Bill. I thank the Minister and his officials for their attention.

Seanad: Building Control Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I am sure the Minister would have responded, but he listened to the discussion. When I first entered the House, I wondered about how I would examine Bills and I decided to look for the customer in every Bill. In a hospital Bill, the customer is the patient. In an education Bill, the customer is the student. In this case, the customer is the architect's client, not the architect. On that...

Seanad: Building Control Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I understand the Minister has a number of amendments. If so, the Bill will go back to the Dáil.

Seanad: Building Control Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I thought the Minister stated it would not be enacted during this Oireachtas term if we took amendments. Perhaps the Minister could put my mind at rest. I am particularly concerned about Senator Norris, who threatened to jump through a window if the amendments were taken. On that basis, I would look——

Seanad: Building Control Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I usually praise a Minister who accepts amendments. I am probably the only grandfather present and I am disappointed that the term "grandfather" is regarded as a term of derogation rather than praise.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: Last weekend, we had the horror of the number of road deaths increasing. The real challenge to us is that we know the solution to part of this, which was recorded on the radio and in newspapers this morning. In the area around Newry, north of the Border, the amount of speeding has dropped dramatically since the erection of cameras. In the past, Senator Brian Hayes identified that cars...

Seanad: Building Control Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I would like the Minister to explain exactly what he has in mind in this respect. When I asked an architect about his professional details some years ago, I discovered that he had no qualifications. He was able to practise simply by putting the title "architect" on his gate, although I am sure that is not possible nowadays. There is a need for strict and secure methods of ensuring that...

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I will take a minute and a half, if I may. I believe that we have not got our costs right. I was recently immobilised on the M50 and looked to my left and right to see what work was going on, but no work was under way. Admittedly, that was a Saturday, but I was there again on a Sunday, again in the evening. I cannot understand why we have not got our costs right.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: Perhaps the Minister might allow me to make this point, since I have only a minute and a half.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I thank the Minister. It seems ridiculous to equate the cost of building the road with the cost to the economy. The cost of paying people to carry out work is only part of the cost because there is a further substantial cost in voter frustration, petrol and people sitting in traffic jams doing nothing when work is ongoing. The loss of business due to trucks repeatedly sitting idle is very...

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: There is great frustration, and I would love to think that we had got our costs right instead of simply counting the money we pay the developer. I hope the Minister can give me an answer because we have not done it correctly hitherto.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: Even on the M50?

Seanad: Education System: Motion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I thank Senator O'Toole for sharing time. I congratulate Fine Gael on tabling the motion on a very worthy topic. I cannot support the motion for precisely the reason Senator O'Toole outlined. I believe that the Minister should not go. I understand from those working in education that there is a hope that she will stay and will not be promoted after the general election. I believe she is...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I had a query on Second Stage with regard to a citizen who has not been in Ireland for 20 or 30 years and is found to have committed a crime under this legislation in another part of the world. I am not sure how he could be prosecuted. Perhaps the Minister will put my mind at rest on this.

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I appreciate the Minister gave his full attention to the legislation and thank him and his officials for their work on it. I congratulate the Minister for attending to this matter as quickly as he did. It is a good example of how the Seanad works in how the legislation was teased out.

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I welcome the Tánaiste to the House and welcome the Bill. I congratulate him on accepting Deputy Rabbitte's suggestion last week and for moving as quickly as he did. We are not used to speedy legislation like this. I note that the Tánaiste also praised Deputy Rabbitte, for which I congratulate him. I abhor so-called quickie legislation, as I think we all do. We never want it and,...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I agree with Senator's Ross's call for a debate on competitiveness, with a particular focus on the 12.5% corporation tax. I was in Brussels yesterday where there is a huge amount of praise for Ireland and what we have done.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: There is a huge amount of envy as well. That envy is in danger of becoming an attack on what has made us so successful. One of those factors is the 12.5% corporation tax. It is being defended very well by Commissioner McCreevy.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I was impressed by the number of senior Irish civil servants there who are able to play a large part as Europeans but they also keep an eye on the Irish situation. There is a degree of complacency in Ireland, especially among younger people who are used to our success and believe it will continue. Like Senator Maurice Hayes, I would be much more concerned about the job losses at Thomson...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Mar 2007)

Feargal Quinn: I do not know how to follow that. There was such enthusiasm——