Results 2,581-2,600 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: Migration Report: Statements. (11 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: Perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle. After reading the report and listening to the comments in this debate, I do not like the idea of ghettoisation, even though I know it is not what the committee intended. There is an element of ghettoisation in hiving responsibility off to another new Department. This would mean that immigrants could be told to deal with the Department of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: Absolutely.

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: Mr. Butler also received telephone calls from at least three Members of this House making him aware that the issue would be raised here.

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: I understand Senator Quinn will give the House an opportunity to discuss that matter on Private Members' business next week. I raised a related matter in the House on a number of occasions, namely, the question of where we stand on renewable energy. A man who was far too bright to be retained in the public service, Eddie O'Connor, has put forward a clear proposal for a linked series of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: He has much to be humble about.

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: Was the Minister from Kerry?

Seanad: Road Safety Authority Bill 2004: Second Stage. (10 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: Over the past while, the issue of road safety has been much debated. It is important to consider some of the issues underlying this. It has become a political football. I was a Member when the Government changed from one side of the House to the other. At the time, I had tabled amendments to road safety legislation to give local authorities the power to implement minimum speed limits on...

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: Does Senator Minihan welcome that endorsement?

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: Mediation on the form of implementation.

Seanad: Order of Business. (10 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: I agree with the points made by Senator Brian Hayes. The matter is heading over the brink at this stage, which is generally recognised by people. Politicians and public representatives have handled themselves very well on the matter to date. They have made clear their concerns. My father was a founder member of the old Garda representative body and, while Senator Hayes will be too young to...

Seanad: Accident and Emergency Services: Statements. (9 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: It is great to debate this issue today. I listened to the debate since it began and it is like every other debate I have heard on this issue, in that it is a constant rehearsal of the problems with few solutions offered. I will probably do more of the same. It reminds me of the debates during the past 20 years on agriculture. The game is to blame the Minister. I stated many times that I have...

Seanad: Accident and Emergency Services: Statements. (9 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: Whatever the problems are, they certainly have not been resolved. Simply politicising them does not help our case. It has been noticeable and attractive during the past year to find the HSE picking up the ball on health issues rather than the politician as it always was before. This allows people to grasp and grapple with the issues. We could and should do certain things which we have not...

Seanad: Accident and Emergency Services: Statements. (9 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: If a Fine Gael Minister is responsible for health matters next year, the doctor still will not have dressings in his case when he comes out. If there were to be a Fine Gael Minister responsible for health next week, the doctor will still be saying the same thing. As MalcolmMuggeridge said before he died, I hope to be surprised. As a rational human being, that is not something for which the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (9 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: It is appropriate for the House to note the extraordinary and unfortunate death of Ms Máire Buckley, who contributed so much to Dublin's inner city educational development and battling the effects of social exclusion and underprivilege. Over the weekend, she was unfortunately killed by that tearaway bus. The House has often debated the need to recognise the work of those involved in inner...

Seanad: National Economic and Social Development Office Bill 2002: Second Stage. (4 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: I am delighted to have the opportunity to contribute and welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, to the House. Two of these three organisations are reasonably well known, the NESF and NESC, and while the public are still getting to know the National Centre for Partnership and Performance, the work done by Peter Cassells and Lucy Fallon-Byrne has been extraordinary. We all know social...

Seanad: Order of Business. (4 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: We recently had a very moving debate on the report into the activities of Dr. Neary in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. Members on all sides share the same kinds of views. We were appalled at the hardship, trauma and suffering imposed on those women who went to have their children in that hospital. We looked at the recommendations of the learned judge who produced the report — I do...

Seanad: National Pensions Reserve Fund: Motion. (3 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: This is a timely motion. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, to the House. On a number of occasions I have supported fundamentally — as I did in another life — the establishment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund. It was probably the finest moment of the former Minister, Mr. McCreevy's, tenure. I supported it then against many odds and when many groups in society were...

Seanad: Order of Business. (3 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: The House will be aware that on a number of occasions I have asked for a discussion on developments under the national partnership talks. Other colleagues, such as Senator Ross, have also asked for a debate, perhaps for different reasons. I ask the House to note, in particular, that at a time when house price inflation is running at over 10%, CEOs and directors are getting increases of more...

Seanad: Order of Business. (3 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: However, these discussions have gone on for an unprecedented period. There has been some movement. Certain things have happened in the area of union recognition in terms of workplace legislation about which we do not know. The issue of money is now on the agenda. We should simply say we will not stand back and watch competitiveness reduced to greedy selfishness on behalf of IBEC, and that we...

Seanad: Order of Business. (3 May 2006)

Joe O'Toole: I am not in any way involved in them and I know nothing.