Results 3,321-3,340 of 4,717 for speaker:Martin Mansergh

Seanad: Registration of Deeds and Title Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I welcome the Minister and his officials to the House. I also welcome this important reforming and probably long overdue legislation. As the Minister outlined in his speech, much of the legislation dealing with deeds and land transfers is exceptionally arcane, if not archaic. I wish to address the legislation, first, from the point of view of modern needs and, second, as someone with an...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed). (4 May 2005)

Martin Mansergh: As well as a factual one.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed). (4 May 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I had anticipated that the issue of public service pay would be raised and I prepared some figures. The analysis depends on what period one examines, but if one takes public sector earnings from ——

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed). (4 May 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I have one brief point to make ——

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed). (4 May 2005)

Martin Mansergh: This is an issue that requires a fuller debate. Between March 2001 and December 2004, public sector pay, excluding the health service, rose by 26.5%. The average industrial wage between 2000 and 2004 rose by26.4%. That is 0.1% of a difference.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed). (4 May 2005)

Martin Mansergh: There is a good deal of misrepresentation around relativities, which depend on the period——

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed). (4 May 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I believe that people in the public service do a good job and do not deserve the denigration that is continually directed at them from certain quarters.

Seanad: Sustainable Rural Housing Guidelines: Statements. (28 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I welcome the Minister, Deputy Roche, to the House and I welcome the new planning guidelines he has published. I do not want to take issue with any particular aspect of the guidelines, so I will speak about the broad issue of planning. Senator Ó Murchú made a valid point when he said that while it is important to have guidelines, it is more important to ensure they are applied. Some local...

Seanad: Order of Business. (28 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I would like to express full agreement with the point made. The State Pathologist is an exceptionally capable official doing a difficult and gruesome job. If drivers can be provided to doctors at night, as Senator Kitt said, one should be provided for Dr. Cassidy. I refer to the issue raised by Senator Brian Hayes. If I remember my classical mythology correctly, Europa was a heifer roaming...

Seanad: Order of Business. (28 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I was elected to the agricultural panel. I fully agree with Senator Ryan on the subject of divorce. If ever there was a case where the principle of subsidiarity applied, it is this. There are no economic issues directly involved.

Seanad: International Interests in Mobile Equipment (Cape Town Convention) Bill 2005: Second Stage. (27 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I welcome the Minister, his officials and this Bill, which was initiated in this House. The convention serves an important practical purpose because aircraft leasing is an integral element in the operation of air companies of every type and size. Ireland has a track record in this area through, for example, the operations of Guinness Peat Aviation during the 1980s. As has been mentioned, this...

Seanad: Order of Business. (27 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: That is why we have a Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. This is a party political broadcast.

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: It depends on where one buys it.

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: It is not often that those involved in bulk production want to move their product by rail. However, the beet growers in the midlands wish to do so because it is cost effective. There is a public interest in this. I urge the Minister for Transport to bring this matter to a positive conclusion because I do not wish to be held up behind slow moving, heavy beet lorries heading south from...

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I congratulate the Garda on arresting three suspects for one of these security van heists. The reason the State paid for some of the cost of transporting money around the country was because there was a definite public interest in preventing what at one time was an absolute spate of robberies during the Troubles. Times have changed, the Troubles are over and bank profits have rocketed. As...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Second Stage. (14 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I welcome the Minister of State and the Bill and wish to make a few general points. The primary purpose of the legislation is to support the further development of the International Financial Services Centre which has been one of the outstanding successes of the last 20 years. While I claim no credit, I was privileged to attend as an observer some of the early meetings on the centre in late...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Second Stage. (14 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: The Senator does us too much credit as the circumstances he outlines would have developed anyway. There are many other jurisdictions including ones which charge little or no tax. I do not accept that our actions made a significant difference to the global scene. We no longer have exchange controls and a series of closed economies around the world, nor do we have a fortress Europe. We may not...

Seanad: Order of Business. (14 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: The sewage comes from all over the city.

Seanad: Order of Business. (14 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I, too, would like to see the development of health centres as promised. However, a distinction needs to be made between health centres and 24-hour cover. There is an efficient 24-hour caredoc system in west Tipperary, which works very well. I do not know to what extent this model exists in other parts of the country, but those are two separate issues. Like other Senators, I share the concern...

Seanad: Statute Law Revision (Pre-1922) Bill 2004: Second Stage. (13 Apr 2005)

Martin Mansergh: They still do it in County Cork.