Results 22,981-23,000 of 26,610 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: Good to hear that.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: Exactly.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: I respectfully ask the Minister to listen to me. He will have a chance again to respond to me. What Parliament in its right mind would put €90 billion of taxpayers’ money into private banks, not public banks, to pay back private bondholders? We emptied the National Pensions Reserve Fund and borrowed money to put into the banks. Leading up to that, no one would have foreseen...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: No, he did not. I will repeat the question and the Minister might respond. I accept that the Labour Party and the Government do not want to privatise water services at this point. What if, at some point in the future because of an economic crisis, a Government was minded to privatise water? Would it be possible for it to do so? Is it possible for a future Government to introduce an...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: That is the point.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: Essentially, this is meaningless. All it is is a promise by the Government put into legislation which can be undone by one simple vote of the Oireachtas. Accordingly, the people do not have any say. Earlier, Senator Lorraine Higgins of the Labour Party said we now have a guarantee that there will be a plebiscite on the ownership of Irish Water. There is no guarantee. This is smoke and...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: If we want an absolutely watertight guarantee that our water infrastructure and services will never be privatised, then we need to have a constitutional amendment, not a plebiscite. It is inevitable that a dynamic will be created once the charge is introduced. When a service is provided free at the point of delivery, funded by progressive taxation, it cannot be privatised, as there is no...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: I will put it differently. It is my view that the Labour Party will not be in government the next time.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: Over the past several months, I have detected anger and fear coming from the Labour Party. I appreciate why that is the case.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: I understand their fear.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: If I am allowed to make my point-----

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: It is easy for the two parties in government to say what they will do now. However, they cannot legislate for what any future Government might do. What Senator Marie-Louise O’Donnell and Independent and Labour Party Senators wanted when they voted for the motion some time ago was a constitutional referendum on the ownership of Irish Water. We are not getting that, however. It does...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: It is very easy for the Minister to come into this Chamber, take to his feet and say what he has said.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: I did not interrupt the Minister and it is time he sat back and listened to the response. He made a lengthy and passionate contribution but, in reality, it was meaningless for the following reasons. It was easy for him to say, as a Minister, as a citizen and as a person, that "over my dead body will our water be privatised". Any Senator in this Chamber could stand up and say exactly the...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: We have all day.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: No problem whatsoever.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister to the House. I expect the House will discuss the Bill for some time today and on Monday and I hope we will have constructive debates on the amendments and sections. While I accept that the fault does not lie with the Government, it is still outrageous that a number of amendments on the section have been ruled out of order and that Senators must confine their remarks...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Palliative Care Facilities (18 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: I thank the Minister of State for her response. When I raised this issue on 27 November 2013, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, responded by saying the enabling works for this development were being progressed, that it was expected the design team would be appointed in early 2014 and that it was anticipated construction would commence in early 2015. The Minister of State has...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Palliative Care Facilities (18 Dec 2014)

David Cullinane: I thank the Minister of State for taking this motion. I have tabled four Adjournment matters on this issue since being elected to Seanad Éireann, because it is important not just for the people of Waterford but those of the entire south east. A palliative care unit needs to be built on the grounds of University Hospital Waterford, formerly Waterford Regional Hospital. The last time I...