Results 2,321-2,340 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I move amendment No. 1: In page 4, subsection (1)(f), line 35, after "functions" to insert "including functions". The lawyer who advises me on these matters is of the opinion that the amendments tabled by my party colleagues are necessary to clarify the legislation. However, there is no issue involved and I will take the Minister's advice on them.

Seanad: Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: No, but amendments Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, are being taken together and I would like to hear the Minister's response to the other amendments before we decide on them.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I have a question and a statement. Is there a definition in the legislation of "domestic purposes" or are we referring simply to water that comes through a tap inside a house? There is an issue regarding waste of water which the Minister described. I fully agree with the principle that domestic water should not be charged for. As an owner of a holiday home, I strongly believe that holiday...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Water is a scarce resource and drinking water is especially scarce. The central object of public policy should be to minimise the use of drinking water and ensure it is used only where it is needed. When I was a small boy my mother used wash my hair in rainwater in south Kildare.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: In south Kildare in particular, water was hard because of the amount of limestone in the soil. Rainwater was regarded as better for washing.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: As one of those who, intermittently, raised the matter of what the Dáil was doing with this Bill between 2003 and 2007, I accept that the Dáil did some good work. The Bill is better than when it passed this House four years ago.

Seanad: Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I do not wish to be obstreperous and I have no real issue with this, however, I thought we were dealing with group 2, amendments Nos. 2, 3, and 5.

Seanad: Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Bill 2007 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: The country probably needs more of this sort of legislation. I am very glad we have dealt with this Bill because it arose from some unsavoury performances that did not do much for the image of Irish business. I welcome that it is the product of consensus. The Minister of State obviously consulted widely and established such consensus. I compliment him thereon. I know him a long time and,...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I am intrigued concerning amendment No. 135, although I am not in confrontational humour. I am curious to know whether prior to the insertion of amendment No. 135 there was no clear power to prohibit all these things. That is the only question I have. One always assumed that in a time of water scarcity, local authorities started by appealing to the public but could then instruct. One of...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I fully support these long overdue amendments. I have a holiday home in a very beautiful part of the country and there are many others around it. It has been suggested that if someone ever excavated some of the fields in the vicinity, pipes — some going to livestock but many to holiday and other homes — might surface which were never approved by anybody. Water is inherently a scarce...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: It is long overdue.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I will probably test the indulgence of the Leas-Chathaoirleach but in light of the vigour of the Government's commitment to not privatising water supplies, I wish to urge the Minister to persuade those who represent it at bodies such as the IMF, the World Bank, etc., to encourage a move away from the crusade for privatising water services in developing countries. In my view, such a...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I wish to make a point on the fifth group amendments. I confess to not having read the amendments in detail but I have listened carefully to the debate. Is it intended to do anything about individual sewage treatment facilities such as septic tanks and other devices? The very least that should be done is that people would be required to get these tanks cleaned regularly. It is my...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Again, I hope these strategic plans include a requirement for continuous monitoring and for the publication of the results of such monitoring so people do not have to submit freedom of information requests to obtain it. I heard a true story about Dublin County Council a few years ago in regard to a request for emissions data supplied to it by a successful pharmaceutical plant in the Dublin...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: One would never notice.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: It is a pity we did not get around to discussing the ethics Bill, as it would have been a very appropriate debate this week. However, the world has moved on. I have a technical question. When the Leader read the Order of Business she said that all Stages of No. 4 were to be taken. Then she said that the Minister was to be called ten minutes before the end of Second Stage. However, if...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: That is all Stages, as I understood the Leader to say.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: That is all right and it is only a technical question in any event. It is almost 30 years since I contested my first Seanad election, and I should have more sense by now——

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: One enjoys it but also one realises that one can have an influence on events. It is only those who ignore this House who do not notice the degree to which legislation changes. They do not recognise the degree to which sensible Ministers of all parties — no party has a monopoly in this regard — are prepared to listen to an argument, change their minds and have their thinking influenced....

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Indeed they are. The Twenty-First and Twenty-Second Seanad have seen the Government introduce more legislation through them than before, for which the Government deserves to be complimented. The Seanad responded to that and showed its capacity and efficiency in dealing with legislation, despite the very rare occasions on which we had a few rows on debates being curtailed. I wish all my...