Results 3,001-3,020 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (27 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: I hope so.

Seanad: Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (27 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: Where do we go from here? The next time a delegation tells the Minister of State's officials its proposal will save money, will he ask how much will be saved in order that we do not end up believing money will be saved without anyone having any idea how much? We must raise the standard of public administration to a higher level than that. Giving in to delegations and deputations has cost...

Seanad: Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (27 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: We should do our business in the House better. The Minister of State has made a claim which he is unable to stand up in any quantitative way. While I support him in that claim, I wish we could jointly stand it up because the country has a problem with legal costs. I will raise the issue with the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, and the National Competitiveness Council...

Seanad: Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (27 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: Yes, because we must move towards better ways to make policy.

Seanad: Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (27 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 4: In page 13, between lines 6 and 7, to insert the following:"(9) The Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority shall report annually to the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform on oversight and compliance in the audit sector, the ability of the sector to bear the costs of inadequate quality assurance standards and the adequacy of...

Seanad: Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (27 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 3: In page 5, between lines 11 and 12 to insert the following:"(3) The Minister shall submit to the Oireachtas an annual estimate of the savings due to to the operation of this amendment.".I welcome back the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock. I also take this opportunity thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who originally introduced the legislation...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (27 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: I would like to be associated with the tributes to Bernard McGlinchey. Like Senator Cullinane, I did not know him but, having heard the moving accounts of him by Senators Mac Sharry and Ó Domhnaill, I believe we got to know him a little better. He was born in 1932 in a county which, as we know, is only barely attached to the rest of this State by the three or four miles of territory...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: I noted at the weekend proposals to demolish houses on ghost estates. Can that issue be debated and fully appraised in order that is not an instinctive reaction? The estates in question have been the subject of planning permission; there are access roads, pipes for water and sewers and sites have been cleared, while some buildings have had foundations laid and so on. Recent sales of houses...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Second Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Second Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes. He chaired a committee related to these matters at one time. The Minister, Deputy Burton, has a background in accounting and has always taken an interest in this issue. She has really pushed it forward. I was pleased the Minister found that 40% of the schemes are fully funded, because there has been something of a panic in the pensions...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: This is the place that they can bring their concerns. I am sure that the Leader and the Minister will take their views on board. I agree with Senator Mullins on the increase in employment, which is most welcome. It is incumbent on the Government not to allow property booms, bubbles, false optimism or grandiose plans to reassert themselves. We seem to be going in the right direction and...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: The group which visited earlier was from Derry, Donegal and Fermanagh as part of the peace process, and I did not get the chance to welcome them. Apropos of the other discussions we have had, a critical thing the university constituencies did was to enrol people resident in Northern Ireland. The State has been spectacularly unable or unwilling to do that ever since the partition of Ireland,...

Seanad: Civil Law (Missing Persons) Bill 2013: Second Stage (20 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister, as always. I thank Senator Colm Burke for his Bill. Those of us who know the Senator know him for his thoroughness and conscientiousness, and those characteristics shine through in the Bill. Like the other speakers, I welcome what we are doing here. Senator van Turnhout has just said how important these events are. I remember the little posters and scripts for...

Seanad: Report on Grocery Goods Sector: Motion (20 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State and like other speakers, I agreed with pretty well everything he said. When considering consumer protection in Ireland, some things about which Members were talking last night, such as the unproductive sectors, the sheltered sectors, services and so on obviously come to mind but I welcome the degree of competition in the retail sector. Data from the United...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: That also arises in respect of Senator Crown's Bill on smoking. This House was not abolished; it is still here. This raises questions about the general unwillingness of the higher bureaucracy in Ireland to participate in freedom of information in the widest context. Last night was a bizarre example of it. I am pleased that this has been postponed so there can be extra thought and...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Leader's decision in regard to the taking of the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. It would have been a shame to have to debate it tomorrow given the number of unanswered questions from last night. I warmly welcome the Leader's intervention during that debate. Today it was announced that J.P. Morgan has agreed to pay out a record €13 billion settlement after...

Seanad: Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: I have a query on section 7. The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, said that some countries' auditing standards are deemed not to be the equivalent of those in the European Union. We will let that go given our earlier conversation but included in the list was New Zealand. It struck me as strange that New Zealand would be classified as a country whose accountancy and auditing standards were...

Seanad: Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: I am not asking for an answer now but in view of what the Minister has heard, and in particular the remarks of the Leader, would he indicate if stricter penalties are required? I put that forward as a proposition because it would be the view of the House that the Minister might wish to consider that. I am not tabling an amendment but given what the Leader said and what was said by others in...

Seanad: Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 14: In page 10, between lines 35 and 36, to insert the following:"(9) The costs and fines incurred by the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority as a result of a legal action by a counter-party as a result of the inadequate application of quality assurance standards or not-fit-for-purpose standards shall be aggregated and levied on bodies subject to the Irish...

Seanad: Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2013)

Sean Barrett: The problem is that people who were not party to the legal actions have been bearing the cost. We have all borne the costs because of the incompetence of accountants. The taxpayer is seen by lawyers as an easy mark. In my sector, if a lecturer or teacher did something wrong, it would be a much better mark to say he or she was acting on behalf of his or her college or an even better mark...