Results 2,701-2,720 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Business of Seanad (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I do not believe the Leader deliberately misled us but I believe she was misinformed by those who were advising her and she often talks to those who advise her.

Seanad: Tionscadail Tógála Scoile. (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Tá brón orm gur chomh déanach san oíche is atá sé ach ní orainne atá an milleán sin. Táimid ag iarraidh a fháil amach cad ina thaobh go bhfuil moill ann faoin dul chun cinn atá ceadaithe ag an Roinn Oideachais agus Eolaíochta do Ghaelscoil Chloch na Coillte, a bunaíodh i 1994 agus a fuair aitheantas buan i 1997. Is scoil lán-ghaelach í, faoi...

Seanad: Health Service Reform: Statements (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I do not propose to launch into my usual type of diatribe about the quality of the health service.

Seanad: Health Service Reform: Statements (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: No. It will most assuredly not be kept if Senator Feeney keeps interrupting me. It is extremely important in dealing with reform of the health service to ensure the action taken is designed effectively to make it better. The word "reform" is one that is used too loosely. We must ask ourselves what type of service we want to provide. I am not sure everybody on the other side of the House...

Seanad: Health Service Reform: Statements (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I explained why it was the case during the debate last week on MRSA. The fundamental problem with the health service is that the quality of its management is abysmal. It is entirely recruited from inside the service and does not have the necessary injection of external expertise to manage the system. It has the largest budget in the country but is managed by people not qualified or...

Seanad: Health Service Reform: Statements (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Senator Minihan should be careful of the black box.

Seanad: Health Service Reform: Statements (21 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I would have reminded the Senator anyway.

Seanad: Statute Law Revision Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I support the comments made. The legislation is a journey through our history. I wondered what I had got myself into when, as leader of my party in the Seanad, I was presented with the Bill, but when I began to read it, I wanted to read more about it and the interesting questions it raised. The production of the explanatory document may not have done much other than slow us down and give...

Seanad: Statute Law Revision Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: It may not even get debated in the other House, judging by the pile-up of legislation from the Seanad waiting for debate there. I wish the Minister of State well with the legislation which is worthwhile but which will not bring him a single vote in his constituency. None of us will get a vote on that basis either, but it is still more than worth doing.

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: They do a better job of looking after their own interests than the State does of looking after ours.

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Tá súil agam go bhfuilimid ag druidim i dtreo an deiridh leis an bpraiseach atá déanta ag an Rialtas seo don bhonneagar teileachumarsáide. ComReg is toothless and I always wondered why. We knew it was toothless because we could all see it. We saw it when Citibank encouraged people to buy Eircom shares about two years ago, citing Eircom's ability to...

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: That is what it has said. The member businesses of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland employ 100,000 people. In the businesses' submission to the Government on the national development plan, they pointed out that more than 40% of their US executives did not want to come to Ireland for meetings. They mentioned broadband again and again. Given that this small country has a small...

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: ——have come about five years too late.

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Who set up a telecommunications regulation system that had no enforcement powers? I did not do so, the Government set it up and it takes five years for it to dawn on the Government that if the telecommunications sector is to be regulated, the regulations must be enforced. I am not being negative; I am pointing out the fact. International competitiveness reports, mostly from the World...

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: Slow, late and inadequate is the only way to describe it. Our telecommunications infrastructure is a mess. We should be looking to what telecommunications will be like in 20 years' time instead of being last behind places like Estonia and Hungary and wondering why modern telecommunications and other industries are moving to those countries rather than staying here. We go on about cost...

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: The Government can.

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I am not referring to the roads but to the inability of Government to react quickly and flexibly and to see where the world is going. The Government believes that the old model is the new model but the old model is out of date. I am more than a little worried about the emergency service. I can understand the Government's position in this case as Eircom, apparently, does not regard itself as...

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Brendan Ryan: I will conclude. The legislation is welcome and complicated and the penalties are proportionate in terms of the apparent abuses that have been going on. I hope it passes through both Houses reasonably quickly and is enforced with the vigour it deserves.