Results 221-240 of 602 for speaker:Fiach MacConghail

Seanad: Junior Cycle Reform: Motion (18 Sep 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: We have no choice.

Seanad: Junior Cycle Reform: Motion (18 Sep 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I second the motion. I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I am proud to support the motion and I commend my colleague, Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell, on her passionate speech. This issue presents us with a serious philosophical challenge. Much of the framework document for junior cycle is to be applauded and commended. It is a radical, innovative and creative approach to...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Sep 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: "Between my finger and my thumb, the squat pen rests snug as a gun". These words are familiar to all in this Chamber. The poet who wrote these lines, which are from the poem, "Digging", has passed away. I ask that the Leader offer our collective condolences and sympathy to the family of our Saoi, Nobel laureate and most important poet since W.B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney. The 30 August, the...

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: An Tuarascáil (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: On a point of order, our next production will not be a melodrama.

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: An Tuarascáil (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I did not intend to speak on section 28 but there is a misapprehension among some of my esteemed colleagues about my rationale. We are opposing each other on this occasion. I will explain my rationale in very slow and methodical language. I regret that I also hear that my esteemed colleagues Senators Barrett and Darragh O'Brien and my...

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: An Tuarascáil (Atógáil) - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: That is the point. I am disappointed that Senators Barrett and Darragh O'Brien, to whom I am referring because they are not in the House, feel disappointed on my behalf. I am also disappointed that they feel ashamed on my behalf. To be clear about it, I have been consistent. I admire much of Senator Zappone and Senator Quinn's Bill and much of Senator's Crown's Bill. What is abusive...

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I would like to press amendment No. 2. I move amendment No. 2: In page 15, to delete lines 12 to 18 and substitute the following: “(a) fourteen days before polling day of a general election of the Dáil, (b) fourteen days before polling day at a Dáil bye-election, (c) fourteen days before polling day at a presidential, European, or local election, or a referendum,”.

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I accept that the Minister has made a significant shift by relating the period to the date of polling, especially for local elections. However, for things like snap elections, the Minister has not addressed the issue of technological advances, as things can go more quickly now, as returning officers tell us. In a snap by-election, given the ICT available to the Government, we should be...

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: She did not get elected.

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I got to know who my neighbours were, who was alive and how many votes there were in each house. Is the Minister suggesting I, perhaps, was the cause of her not getting elected?

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: The point I am making is that the Minister is right about the register. Time has moved on and we have better technology. However it is smart to go around and knock on doors, ask for a vote and have the voter register so as to mark on it which way people are going to vote so that one can go back to them again. I learned how important this was when I canvassed for Minister Ruairí Quinn,...

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I thought the Minister was going to say the Attorney General. We would not hear that argument.

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I disagree. I think they would, as evidenced by what happens in other countries.

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Second Stage (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: Surely the Minister is not referring to the Fine Gael Party.

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Second Stage (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: We have the same interest in the matter as the parties.

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I move amendment No. 1: In page 15, lines 1 to 7, to delete all words from and including “on” in line 1 down to and including “referendum,” in line 7 and substitute the following: “before— (a) fourteen days before polling day of a general election of the Dáil, (b) fourteen days before polling day at a Dáil bye-election, (c) fourteen days...

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Second Stage (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I thought the first question they asked was "am I going to heaven?".

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Second Stage (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: That is right.

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Second Stage (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: On a point of order, I am disappointed that democratically elected representatives of other parties are not in the Chamber to offer their opposition.

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Second Stage (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I am not referring to the absence of an individual Senator, but to the fact that a whole party is missing.