Results 26,601-26,620 of 26,792 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: The people who have gone too far are those in the Labour Party and in other parties who are selling this country down the river and ensuring billions of euro of taxpayers' money, which we had to borrow, is being put into banks.

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: On the question of waste in the system when we are putting money into the banks, a Minister from the Senator Bacik's party spent €48,000 of taxpayers' money-----

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: -----in refurbishing his constituency office, with three plasma screen televisions and a sign that says "Minister's toilet". This is the same Minister-----

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: -----responsible for making sure we curb spending.

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: That is what is happening in the country and I take exception to the comments of Senator Bacik. Sinn Féin will continue to stand up for the working people of this country.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed). (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I support the amendment. It is in the same vein as our proposal to delete the provision in the Bill which allows for the number of Deputies to be reduced to as few as 153. It is not acceptable that the number of Oireachtas Members is reduced without a corresponding enhancement of local government. I appreciate the Minister's point that local government reform is on the Government's agenda...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed). (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: It certainly might. However, that is the point I am making - it then comes down to the issue of jerseys and the GAA rather than what is best for the country. This is being done in the context of the type of clientelist political system we have, whereby national politicians, unfortunately, end up having to watch their back in terms of other elected representatives in their area. The...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed). (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I am not that far away.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I fully agree with Senator Mooney on the establishment of the commission. We see this happen far too often where powers are devolved to a quango or commission. It is a case of politicians abdicating their responsibility. The point has been well made by the Senator that the Minister has a plethora of officials available to him and his Department to do the work of the commission. I gave as...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: We are talking about the Department, not just politicians, with respect to the Minister of State.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: My contribution will be very focused. I wish to put a direct question to the Minister of State. Much of the discussion to date has related to the commission, its workings and its report. I posed two questions to the Minister of State earlier but he did not reply to either. These are the most pertinent questions that have been asked. The first relates to why the number of Deputies needs...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I can return to them in any event.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I will still be obliged to ask the questions again, whether it is now or in a few moments' time.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I am seeking a direct response from the Minister of State with regard to the other question I wish to pose. Is the need to reduce costs a factor in the Government's decision to reduce the number of Deputies?

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I will deal specifically with that point because I have made a number of charges against the Government and the Minister in earlier contributions on the basis of the reason the Government is proposing to reduce the number of Deputies to perhaps 153 or less. The Leader of House said proposal did not go far enough and that perhaps the figure should be 120. I posed a question which I will pose...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I did not lecture the Minister about his salary or that of anybody else. I made the point about costs and whether this measure would reduce costs. We are not advocating that TDs, Ministers or Senators should earn the average industrial wage. That is a decision that those of us in our party make and we invest the money in our constituencies. What we propose are modest decreases in the pay...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I move amendment No. 4: In page 3, before section 4, to insert the following new section: "4.—Section 6 (amended by section 9 of the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009) of the Act of 1997 is amended in subsection (2) by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (b): "(b) each constituency shall return four, five or six members.".". I appreciate that other Members have tabled similar...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: That is the one. That was a six seat constituency. This country has a history of five and six seat constituencies. We should look at best practice in other countries. Many countries have multi-seat constituencies, and we pride ourselves on our PR-STV system. Its logic is to ensure good representation and diversity in the political system. If we just had four, five and six-seat...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: Senator Mooney will not be happy.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I support the arguments made by previous speakers regarding the introduction of a list system. Such a system would deal with many of the issues arising in terms of women's participation in politics. There appears to be cross-party support for the principle of a list system and perhaps this House could return to the proposal in the form of a motion or a Bill. In the 2007 general election,...