Results 23,541-23,560 of 26,766 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Order Of Business (12 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: Senator Hayden interrupted me several times.

Seanad: Order Of Business (12 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: Put away the shovel.

Seanad: Order Of Business (12 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: Shame.

Seanad: Public Service Management (Transparency of Boards) Bill 2014: Second Stage (11 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister of State and commend Senator Quinn on introducing the Bill and providing Senators with an opportunity to discuss this important issue. In January 2013, several news outlets ran with the story that the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, had appointed Mr. Noel Ward, a former constituency organiser for the Minister, to the...

Seanad: Johnstown Castle Agricultural College (Amendment) Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (11 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister to the Chamber for the introduction of this Bill. We fully support these proposals. Since being elected to the Seanad, I have always worn a regional hat. As a representative of the south east, I have promoted the positives associated with the region while also challenging the Government on the difficulties it faces. Unfortunately, the south east has the highest...

Seanad: Public Health (Sunbeds) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Public Health (Sunbeds) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: What about the point I made regarding prescribed medications?

Seanad: Public Health (Sunbeds) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: There is nothing in these amendments that would contravene anybody's constitutional rights. The Minister has simply cherry-picked the examples we gave in a way that suits his position. If somebody drinks and drives, they may harm not only others, but also themselves. Medicines are prescribed by doctors in order to protect the public; we do not allow people to pick and choose which...

Seanad: Public Health (Sunbeds) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: My point is that we can make a decision as legislators to prevent people from doing something we consider harmful. That is why there is a ban on cannabis. If we were to follow the Minister's logic, we would allow people to smoke cannabis and take whatever medications they want. We would, in other words, be failing to protect people. If we strip this down to its bare bones, it is a very...

Seanad: Public Health (Sunbeds) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: My intention was not to disagree strongly with the Minister because we support the substance of the Bill, but I take exception to his response to the amendments. He has entirely missed the point. I do not agree with the Minister's analysis or the analogies he gave. Senator Crown hit the nail on the head when he spoke about people who would profit from the provision of sunbeds for...

Seanad: Public Health (Sunbeds) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: Neither does the smoking ban.

Seanad: Public Health (Sunbeds) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister to the House. During the Second Stage debate, Members from Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil and the Independent groupings put on record their support for the Bill. This is a very important Bill and I thank the Minister again for coming in to take the amendments today. The Minister might recall that there was some discussion on the smoking ban that was introduced by...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: I support the proposed amendment to the Order of Business. It is farcical that the Seanad is still holding up the banking inquiry because of a mistake made by the Government. The Government should put its hands up and accept it made a mistake when its people did not attend a meeting they should have attended. The Government seeks to overturn a democratic decision by a committee of the...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: The delay has nothing to do with Fianna Fáil, the Independents or Sinn Féin but is the clear responsibility of the two Government parties which made a mess of the process. Yesterday, the Taoiseach let the cat out of the bag when he said it was about ensuring the Government had a majority. This was never meant to be the intention of the banking inquiry. The Taoiseach has created...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU Supports for SME Sector: European Commission (11 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: I will be very brief because I am conscious that the director general must leave by 1.55 p.m. He is very welcome to Dublin and Ireland. The committee has focused very much on SMEs and support for them. During the visit to Brussels the meeting with the Director General was one of the best exchanges we had. One of the big issues facing the SME sector in this State is the level of...

Seanad: Companies Bill 2012: Second Stage (10 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I know that he is a very busy man these days and wish him well in his hustings.

Seanad: Companies Bill 2012: Second Stage (10 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: I shall be honest and say that I have not read the Bill. I did not draw the short straw in my party; somebody else did. I got the job of reading the explanatory notes, which are themselves 402 pages long. It is one of the largest pieces of legislation in the history of the State. It has 1,429 sections, so the sheer scale and size of the Bill are causes for concern in terms of oversight...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: European Commission Country Specific Recommendations: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: There is no doubt that a spotlight has been shone on the south east, not just by the Minister but by many people and organisations, but the action has not been decisive. It is not good enough just to say that the absence of an IDA regional director based in Waterford or a regional office is simply an operational matter for the IDA. It has been very clear for a long time that this enterprise...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: European Commission Country Specific Recommendations: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: I thank the committee and the Chairman for allowing us to raise the issue and to put questions to the Minister. He has acknowledged that the Government stands ready to support the workforce and the company in finding a resolution to what is a difficult set of ongoing negotiations. We all want those negotiations to go well and for the best possible outcome for all 1,100 staff at the plant in...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Job Retention (4 Jun 2014)

David Cullinane: Unfortunately, the early warning system did not involve the workers. I am not in any way concerned about the information public representatives are given. As it turned out, I ended up receiving information before the workers and the trade union. Clearly, the early warning system did not work for the workers. I raised the wider issue of job creation in Waterford. The point I was making was...