Results 321-340 of 468 for speaker:Liam Fitzgerald

Seanad: Order of Business. - Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Powers and Functions) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (3 Dec 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: An bhfuil rang scoile ar siúl againn anseo?

Seanad: Order of Business. - Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Powers and Functions) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (3 Dec 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: An bhfuil cead agam dul amach go dtí an leithreas?

Seanad: Order of Business. (2 Dec 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: I support the call for a debate on education. Perhaps we might include in that debate the problem of dropping out from school and its links with juvenile crime. Many of the barriers to social inclusion and educational attainment lie outside the school gates. Schools are desperately trying to deal with social issues that are profoundly ingrained. It is naïve in the extreme to regard the...

Seanad: Book of Estimates 2004: Statements. (26 Nov 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: Senator White is banishing him from the political map because he already means trouble.

Seanad: Book of Estimates 2004: Statements. (26 Nov 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: We will overlook it.

Seanad: Book of Estimates 2004: Statements. (26 Nov 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: I thank Senator Dooley for sharing his time. I welcome the publication of the Book of Estimates. One can see from the actions of the Minister, Deputy McCreevy, that much has been learned from previous decades with regard to peaks and troughs in economic performance, both domestically and internationally. If the Minister were to respond positively to some of the loudest calls from the...

Seanad: Book of Estimates 2004: Statements. (26 Nov 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: We have learned a great deal. The balance, insights and good judgment calls of the Minister, Deputy McCreevy, and how he has indicated future expenditure is proof of that learning process. I welcome his decisions and the publication of the Estimates. I welcome the Minister's decision not to try to spend our way out of a temporary difficulty. I want to refer to the public service pay policy,...

Seanad: Book of Estimates 2004: Statements. (26 Nov 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: Benchmarking is an integral part of the national public pay policy which is enshrined in the Sustaining Progress partnership agreement. This process was started by Fianna Fáil in the late 1980s and has underpinned phenomenal economic progress and growth. The mechanism has created industrial relations harmony and is continuing to progress that harmony throughout not just the public service...

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and the many things he said about education. He made projections about a number of areas which were identified as ones where we could perform better in terms of international comparative analysis. I welcome reports, such as the OECD report, because international comparative analysis is important in terms of telling us where we stand and how we...

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: Perhaps there are two different reports. Perhaps the one the Leader gave me was an alternative version which was souped-up for my viewing only. We seem to be at odds over how to read this report on the education system in Ireland. I acknowledge that for more than 40 years the OECD has played an extremely important role as a catalyst for change in Irish education. Its review of the Irish...

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: I will come to that in a moment: the Senator has carried out a pre-emptive strike. I will have a word with my colleagues across the way about this. Much of this success is due to the dedication and commitment of our great teaching force, many of whom, it must be acknowledged, have helped their students to achieve outstanding results. However, we should not be complacent. We cannot sit back on...

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: We all accept that knowledge and its successful application are essential to economic and social progress. In recent years we have increasingly come to acknowledge this in the way in which we manage education. However, time waits for no man. We cannot become complacent. Such is the pace of change in our world today that any education system, no matter how successful – I know Senator O'Toole...

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: I am confident our teachers, as they have in the past, will continue to embrace change with equal enthusiasm and commitment in the future.

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: All is not well. We know that more must be done and the Minister had no difficulty acknowledging that today, in terms of pupil-teacher ratios and investment in all levels of education, particularly primary and second levels. We have read about the percentage of GDP invested in education. Like the Minister, I am not happy with the idea of this being expressed in terms of GDP. The gross...

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: I found it extraordinary that the teaching profession was one of the most difficult professions to get into in Finland. One has to have a postgraduate qualification. For every vacancy for a teaching job there are ten or more applicants. It is among the top two professions most aspired to by all opinion polls, yet it is not about salaries. Every teacher with whom I spoke at third, second and...

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: I am an economist of the 1970s school.

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: At 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 22 October 2003.

Seanad: Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse: Statements (Resumed). (8 Oct 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: I have read better than that.

Seanad: Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse: Statements (Resumed). (8 Oct 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: Our leaders were practising Catholics.

Seanad: Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse: Statements (Resumed). (8 Oct 2003)

Liam Fitzgerald: I thank the Chair for the control of free speech.