Results 26,501-26,520 of 26,792 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: Over 60% of the Nationalist people of the North voted for Sinn Féin in the last Assembly elections. They gave Martin McGuinness their endorsement so Senator Harte should not give us any nonsense about elections. If we are going to listen to nonsense, I must respond to it.

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: Senator Harte is not talking facts.

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: That is not an issue. Martin McGuinness chose to stand and was elected in Mid-Ulster.

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: In a united Ireland, we will all be able to vote in one Parliament.

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: Of course we were founded by people who were a minority who engaged in-----

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: 1916.

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: That was 1916. There was no support for it.

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: Well then, that is great. That was the comparison. The mandate that Sinn Féin has now is very-----

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: The Senator is rewriting history from his own perspective.

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: And 1916-----

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: I wish to respond to a number of points and to make a few of my own. In the last Northern Assembly elections, more than 63% of the Nationalist community voted for Sinn Féin-----

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: -----and endorsed Sinn Féin and what we stand for and endorsed the record of Martin McGuinness and all those mentioned by Senator Mooney. Today's motion is not about Sinn Féin or any political party, whether Fianna Fáil or any of the Government parties. There is an attempt to overcomplicate the logic or the thrust of this motion. This motion is about extending voting rights to citizens...

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: It is quite interesting that several Taoisigh and the President have, on occasion, shook the hands of the captains of All Ireland teams from counties Tyrone, Armagh, Down and Derry and congratulated them on winning the All Ireland final, because they are part of the Irish nation, and yet those very same people are not entitled to vote for the President who shakes their hand. That is the...

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: It is the people who are elected who should decide what any convention should look at, not people who happen to sit on that convention. We are the people who are elected and especially those members in the Dáil who should make those choices. The choice open to us is that we can continue to pay lip service to the notion that people who live on the island of Ireland are Irish and are part of...

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: -----because they are demanding a simple right to be able to vote for their President. What the Government parties are doing here today is voting down a motion that simply gives expression to that, which tells me that they are not interested in including the citizens of the North in the life of this nation, which I believe is a mistake on their part.

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: I move: "That Seanad Éireann: — recognises the need to enhance the democratic process on this island; — recognises the desire to enable Northern participation in the political life of the nation, as an important part of the Irish peace process and a natural outworking of the Good Friday Agreement; — affirms the democratic values of citizenship and equality that define our nation and...

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: The Senator should not worry about the cynics. Ignore them.

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: We do not support your change. We have proposals of our own.

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: Be factually correct at least.

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

David Cullinane: No.