Results 2,381-2,400 of 4,465 for speaker:Jim Walsh

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Nov 2010)

Jim Walsh: On a point of order, this matter is before the courts and it is highly inappropriate for Senator Regan to be allowed to refer to it.

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Nov 2010)

Jim Walsh: Senator Regan is a lawyer and he knows exactly what he is doing.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Nov 2010)

Jim Walsh: Aontaím le morán atá ráite ar Riar na hOibre. When people refer to concealment, I watched Bloomberg television two months or so ago when that channel was discussing Ireland's position. Interestingly, its commentators made the point that Ireland was not as bad as some of the other European Union countries but that one mistake it may have made was to have been too transparent. It is...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Nov 2010)

Jim Walsh: What does the Senator think would have happened had we not done so?

Seanad: Overcrowding in Prisons: Statements (Resumed). (11 Nov 2010)

Jim Walsh: Ba mhaith liom fáilte a ghabháil don Aire Stáit mar gheall ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo do phlé. Táimid ag feitheamh ar na smaointe atá ag an Aire Stáit ar an ábhar seo toisc go bhfuil sé ar a réimse freagrachta aige. Compared with other countries Ireland's prison population is relatively low, at around 85 per 100,000, as compared with an EU average of 109, while the figure for...

Seanad: Overcrowding in Prisons: Statements (Resumed). (11 Nov 2010)

Jim Walsh: Dé Máirt seo chugainn ag 2.30 p.m.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2010)

Jim Walsh: I agreed with the call made by Senator O'Toole last week for a debate on the separation of powers. He made that call in the light of the decision made to hold the by-election in County Donegal. We have since had several examples of political grandstanding - there was an example this morning and another last week involving a political party - in looking for the intrusion of the courts in the...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2010)

Jim Walsh: A debate on the issue of the separation of powers is urgently required before we end up with the courts and politics in the mire together to no one's advantage. Yesterday and today I listened to various Members extend sympathy with regard to those who lost their lives in World War One. Unfortunately, many of them lost their lives because of British military incompetence. This was a shame...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2010)

Jim Walsh: Unfortunately, this is happening in all the debates on the economy.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Nov 2010)

Jim Walsh: I support the comments made by Senator Coffey about the ESB and the job it did in rationalisation. It must be recognised that salaries in the ESB are excessively high, with an average annual salary of almost €70,000. Nonetheless, the company rationalised to a significant extent during the good times. There is a need for other semi-State companies to follow suit. The same applies to the...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Nov 2010)

Jim Walsh: It is too slow.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Oct 2010)

Jim Walsh: There has to be accountability; we can no longer continue to hide. At the time I was critical of the Government for failing to take action against those who were culpable and criminally negligent in the HIV scandal. People died as a consequence of the gross negligence of individuals within the service and there should have been accountability. Another aspect of the case which is a concern -...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Oct 2010)

Jim Walsh: Supreme Court justices here are paid €100,000 more than their counterparts in the US.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Oct 2010)

Jim Walsh: We cannot continue to pay these kinds of salaries. When I listened to the Dáil debate yesterday, I heard Ministers focus on what people in the public service who earn less than €100,000 get, because it was a good soundbite, rather than focus on the real cost of our public service.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Oct 2010)

Jim Walsh: We need to tackle this and I call for a debate on the Croke Park agreement as a matter of urgency.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Oct 2010)

Jim Walsh: I do not want to say much, as Senator Quinn has said, as the debate on the child abuse report will take place this afternoon. We should bear in mind that the children involved have made it very clear that they do not welcome the fact that the focus has been placed on them and that it is adding to the trauma they have suffered. However, we need to be mindful of a few aspects. It has been...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2010)

Jim Walsh: I have listened for years to Senators argue that social partnership sidelined the democratic input of the Houses of the Oireachtas. While I recognise that social partnership played a pivotal role in the recovery from the dark economic days of the 1980s, over the past ten years it has contributed significantly to the current economic mess. The social partners should take their share of the...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2010)

Jim Walsh: I am terribly disappointed by senior management within the public services who have been dragging their feet about getting real and impressive action in this area. Failure to so do obviously will have an impact on good public servants in the years ahead.

Seanad: Seanad Electoral (Panel Members)(Amendment) Bill 2008: Second Stage (20 Oct 2010)

Jim Walsh: I compliment Senators Cummins and Coghlan on introducing this Bill, for which they deserve great credit. I am disappointed that a decision has been made to oppose the Bill. It would have been far better to have the Bill read on Second Stage and amended on Committee Stage. I do not accept some of the arguments put forward by the Minister of State, whom I know for a long time. Before he...

Seanad: Seanad Electoral (Panel Members)(Amendment) Bill 2008: Second Stage (20 Oct 2010)

Jim Walsh: That is a significant part of the problems we have in both Houses. The Local Authority Members Association should be a nominating body for the Seanad. I served on that body as chairman and member for a number of years and was a colleague of the Minister of State in the General Council of County Councils for a long period. I was also a member of the Association of Municipal Authorities of...