Results 2,421-2,440 of 3,356 for speaker:Feargal Quinn

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Oct 2006)

Feargal Quinn: I am interested in the comments of Senator White and Senator Maurice Hayes. On the BBC website, a report stated: The UK's anti-ageism legislation takes effect on Sunday, 1 October, and employers will be wondering precisely what it means for them. But they only have to look across the Irish Sea for some guidance. In 1999 the Republic of Ireland introduced laws which outlawed age...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Sep 2006)

Feargal Quinn: I do not understand amendment No. 2. Will somebody explain it to me?

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2006: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Sep 2006)

Feargal Quinn: I see it now. My apologies.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Sep 2006)

Feargal Quinn: A few weeks ago, I and many others watched as a helicopter performed an efficient rescue off Howth Head, during which a stretcher was dropped to a person who had been injured on the cliffs. I was very impressed by the crew's ability. The reason I mention this incident is that I understand a rescue helicopter must first load up before travelling to a hospital to collect a medical team and...

Seanad: Telecommunications Services: Motion (27 Sep 2006)

Feargal Quinn: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This debate was sought by Senator Ross, who has strong views on this issue, and I support him in those views. I first came across this issue in Singapore, a place that has always impressed me. Singapore singled out the opportunity in Asia to become the centre for knowledge creation using the Internet. I came home excited about that and stood in...

Seanad: Telecommunications Services: Motion (27 Sep 2006)

Feargal Quinn: Not every business in the Republic has broadband but we can do something about it. The onus of responsibility is on the Government, just as over a century ago the Government of the day declared it was important for every village to have running water. Water was not provided directly to people's homes originally but fresh water was provided through a village pump. The fresh water of the...

Seanad: Office of Tobacco Control Annual Report 2005: Statements (27 Sep 2006)

Feargal Quinn: It has been an interesting debate. One facet of it is the big problem of the number of people hooked on cigarettes and who cannot give them up. I have the Dominicans at Newbridge College to thank, as they created in me such an interest in getting on the football team that I was afraid to smoke in case I did not get on the team. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, comes from...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Sep 2006)

Feargal Quinn: I am stunned at the number of gangland crimes and drive-by shootings that are taking place and the fact that they are only reported in small print in our newspapers. It was reported that six shootings took place in one district of one city over the past weekend, an issue on which other Senators have called for a debate. Urgent action is needed on this worrying trend and questions must be...

Seanad: Institutes of Technology Bill 2006: Second Stage. (5 Jul 2006)

Feargal Quinn: As a long-time supporter of the institutes of technology sector, I welcome this Bill because it will in some ways improve their lot and guarantee their survival as a distinct and separate contributor to our third level system. Five years ago, when I was the chairman of a committee in the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, I learned of the theories of Howard Gardner and Charles...

Seanad: Institutes of Technology Bill 2006: Second Stage. (5 Jul 2006)

Feargal Quinn: I consider that to be both highly desirable and easily achievable. What I welcome in the Bill is that it re-affirms and copperfastens the binary system in our third level education. Under a binary system, universities are one entity and institutes of technology are another. Universities are not jumped-up institutes of technology. Institutes of technology are not failed universities or...

Seanad: Institutes of Technology Bill 2006: Second Stage. (5 Jul 2006)

Feargal Quinn: The result was that they ended up with a raft of second-rate universities and downgraded the status of university education as a whole in that country. From that point of view, I understand what the Minister is doing and I welcome it. I believe we owe the credit for steering us away from making that mistake to the OECD, which strongly argued for the continuance of our traditional binary...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2006: Second Stage. (5 Jul 2006)

Feargal Quinn: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, to the House. I am pleased that this Bill, which I welcome, has been introduced. On previous occasions, the Minister of State listened carefully to what was said in this House and he and his officials responded to the points which were made. I am in favour of this legislation because it provides for an attack on red tape, which is high on...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2006: Second Stage. (5 Jul 2006)

Feargal Quinn: Given that Bills, etc., are available in electronic form, it is sinful that we use such a huge amount of paper in this building. I am not sure what happens to it all, but I assume it goes somewhere. For some years, investors have had the option of dematerialising their shares. No share certificates are issued to those who take up this option — everybody in the transaction relies on...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2006: Second Stage. (5 Jul 2006)

Feargal Quinn: My head is getting larger.

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 Jul 2006)

Feargal Quinn: We debated energy policy in this House during the past year but one of the areas we have not fully debated with an open mind is the question nuclear energy. I am concerned about a report obtained yesterday through a freedom of information inquiry that appeared in a British newspaper article today. It states that the British Government's nuclear inspector has raised serious questions about the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (3 Jul 2006)

Feargal Quinn: I was pleased that Senators Brian Hayes and O'Toole referred to credit cards. On Friday last, I raised the same matter in connection with SSIAs. My concern was that we should advise people whose SSIAs are maturing to reduce their credit card debts because of the very high rates of interest charged. After I had spoken, I consulted the Financial Times and discovered that the EU had put a number...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Feargal Quinn: I was impressed by the comments made in a book by the former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, in which he wrote that he had once questioned the use of DNA evidence. In a particular case, he discovered that DNA evidence solved a problem to the extent of excusing an alleged culprit. DNA evidence has a benefit, not just in capturing criminals, but in relieving someone of the accusation made...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Jun 2006)

Feargal Quinn: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, to the House. This is an important Bill and its importance is increased by the fact that it is, in effect, two Bills — the original one brought forward in 2004 and the Bill as amended this year on Committee Stage in the Dáil when a raft of amendments were introduced on new topics that were not covered in the original Bill. Both the original...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Jun 2006)

Feargal Quinn: It was 1969 when I took a case to the Supreme Court and won it on a constitutional basis. To my layman's eye our criminal justice system has what I call four pillars which must work together if we are to get the results we want. The first pillar is the criminal code of law, the body of legislation that defines offences, sets out procedures for investigating them and lays down a tariff of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Jun 2006)

Feargal Quinn: This time last year, at the instigation of two Irishmen, Bono and Bob Geldof, the G8 nations met in Gleneagles, making welcome promises to allocate funds to the developing world. Those promises involved debt relief, financial aid and trade. Reports yesterday stated that only the debt relief has been implemented. I raise the trade issue because the WTO talks started yesterday in Geneva and...