Results 3,141-3,160 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: Higher Education Review: Statements. (22 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: On a point of order, it was agreed on the Order of Business that spokespersons would have 15 minutes.

Seanad: Higher Education Review: Statements. (22 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: We heard that last year.

Seanad: Higher Education Review: Statements. (22 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I welcome the Minister to the House and thank her for participating in this debate. The report is staid, unimaginative and uninspiring and the Minister should ignore most of it. I will guide her in my contribution through those aspects of it about which she needs to think. I am sure she can produce something a great deal better on her own than the contents of the report. I was delighted that...

Seanad: Order of Business. (22 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I also ask the Leader to extend the House's congratulations to Commissioner Noel Conroy for the extraordinary work he has done. I recall saying on the occasion of his appointment that he would do us proud. His record is substantial, both on the ground and in management, and he has proved himself over the past while. We had a debate on Northern Ireland a couple of weeks ago. One of the issues...

Seanad: Order of Business. (17 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: This issue is currently occupying all our minds. This is another great opportunity to besmear and besmirch politics. This is not a political issue. Every party has been involved in this process during the past 17 years. If there is a row between the Opposition and the Government on the current issue, that will do us no credit. Mistakes were made and I would like to know where they were made....

Seanad: Civil Partnership Bill 2004: Second Stage. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I wish to share time with Senator Ross.

Seanad: Civil Partnership Bill 2004: Second Stage. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I wish to acknowledge the extraordinary work Senator Norris has put into preparing this critical Bill. While I recognise that we will hear different views on the Bill, which is also important, I hope the Minister will just take it and run so that he can develop it, change it or introduce an alternative in its place, which I believe has been the intention of Senator Norris from the beginning...

Seanad: Development of BMW Region: Statements. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: That might be because it is not in the BMW region.

Seanad: Development of BMW Region: Statements. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: That was an interesting exchange, although the IFSC is not connected with the BMW region, any more than is Clonmel. I must concur with Senator Feeney on the IFSC, an idea for which Charles J. Haughey was widely criticised at the time. That is the reality. The issues in the BMW region relate to the people, the environment and the infrastructure. The infrastructure allows people to engage with...

Seanad: Development of BMW Region: Statements. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: Rossaveel is a processing area. It is not a huge fishing port and it would be nothing but for the efforts of a former Fine Gael junior Minister, Mr. John Donnellan, who many years ago ensured that it was developed. He must take full credit for that in the same way the former Taoiseach, Mr. Haughey, can take credit for the IFSC.

Seanad: Development of BMW Region: Statements. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: There is no significant fishing port in the area. A friend of mine has a fish processing factory in Rossaveel. However, I would consider Rossaveel a port rather than a fishing port. Anyone who spends an hour there will agree with that. There is nothing of significance in Mayo or Sligo. It is an indication that the whole tourism aspect of angling has not been developed along that coast. In...

Seanad: Development of BMW Region: Statements. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: On the day the first aeroplane flew into Knock Airport, the former Senator Jim Higgins was there to meet it and I recall a conversation with him about the change of attitude of the Government of which his party was a member.

Seanad: Development of BMW Region: Statements. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: The same applies to Fianna Fáil. There was no support for that infrastructure.

Seanad: Development of BMW Region: Statements. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I used that example not to make a party political point but to make a different point. Every time I discuss infrastructure in the west with the experts, they tend to be based in Dublin and to come to a longitudinal conclusion on the matter. They point out the number of people who use the railways and say that if we were to invest many millions of euro in them and divide that amount by the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: What has happened here today is wrong. It is a shameful day and it does not become us as parliamentarians and public representatives to bury work in this way and to give such a negative message to many people who were hanging on this legislation. It would be quite in order for the Government to say it listened to what has been said and it is not prepared to take the matter further at this...

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: To reject it.

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: They are not reasons for rejecting the Second Reading, that is the point.

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: They are not reasons for rejecting it.

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: The same applies to the Shannon Navigation Bill.

Seanad: Order of Business. (16 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: Hear, hear.