Results 321-340 of 445 for speaker:Eoghan Harris

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Nov 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I stood up to congratulate Deputy Enda Kenny, but diverted because I thought Senator Regan's coat-trailing was a bit much.

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Nov 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I wish to celebrate two bits of good news this week. First, I congratulate the leader of Fine Gael, Deputy Enda Kenny, on showing great courage in calling for a suspension of the current national agreement, which we cannot afford. Second, I welcome the Government decision to set up what has been wrongly called "an bord snip". It should be called "an bord snas". I do not believe in root...

Seanad: Death of Member: Expressions of Sympathy (18 Nov 2008)

Eoghan Harris: Unlike most people here, I would consider myself to have known Séamus Brennan as a political understudy. He came to me — this tells you much about his consummate grasp of politics — just after the 1977 general election. He picked me out in RTE and asked if I would like to do a programme on how they won the 1977 election. He was approaching someone he knew was a Workers' Party...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Nov 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I note that there is a great deal of business before the House and I will be brief. In my contributions to the Seanad I have concentrated on two matters: reform of the public sector and reform of the criminal justice system. On reform of the public sector, there is a task force report due in which I have no great confidence since it is top heavy with civil servants. Accordingly, it would...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I strongly support what Senator Fitzgerald said concerning the shooting in Limerick. Sometimes it seems that the city's great anthem, "Alone It Stands", applies to that city. This is not only Limerick's problem but is Dublin's and Cork's problem too. I was very impressed yesterday by the powerful performance of Deputy Michael Noonan who put his finger on the central problem. He said that...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I congratulate Senator O'Reilly on his comments about Protestant schools. He literally took the words out of my mouth and his point was well made. There is much idle talk about fee-paying schools, but Protestant schools in regions where their populations are small carry many poor pupils. They are in a special position, even leaving aside the special position they have in the Proclamation...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: Unless the public sector, what I term the cushioned class, is reformed, there can be no peace. It is wrong to pick on the Minister of State, Deputy Máire Hoctor, or the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, who are unfortunate to have to carry the burden of what should be a general taxation issue. Children, pensioners and individual Ministers should not have to carry that burden. That is the...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: Last week I said in the House that I could not, in conscience, support the budget because it had failed to deal with the public sector. That is intimately related to the kind of Civil Service mind which came up with the medical card scheme. I also said that I could not, in conscience, support the main Opposition party because it is compromised by the presence of Deputy James Reilly as its...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: ——who negotiated the scheme——

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: ——to which the public——

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: He is the party spokesman on health. Of course it is in order.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I strongly recommend that Fine Gael, from a tactical point of view, thinks about the wisdom of having somebody ballyragging the Government about medical cards who, in his previous capacity, negotiated these outrageous profiteering charges for the IMO. How could any normal human being——

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: The Senators are not letting me make a perfectly reasonable case which——

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: It is not a personal attack.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I repeat, I have a real problem with this budget both in terms of the public sector and the medical card scheme but I find it very hard to support the main Opposition party rolling all of these other issues into it, given that its spokesperson on health is not coming to it with clean hands.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I do not remember interrupting when other Members of the House were speaking.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I am happy to do so. What bothers the public about the changes to the medical card scheme is above all the grudging and graceless way in which the Government has handled it.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: Up to today I considered it to be grudging and graceless. However, the public does not wish to commit itself to universality at any level. I do not believe in universality for medical card schemes or child benefit allowance because it favours the rich and privileged rather than the great mass of people.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Oct 2008)

Eoghan Harris: I do not believe it should be slipped in under cover. However, although the Government's handling has been grudging and graceless the Opposition is compromised by the fact that its spokesperson on health is a member of the medical profession.