Results 3,401-3,420 of 4,717 for speaker:Martin Mansergh

Seanad: Waste Management: Statements. (2 Mar 2005)

Martin Mansergh: The obvious conclusion to be drawn is that people who are not willing to pay refuse collection charges are putting their rubbish into their cars and dumping it at the side of the road. The Minister should review the matter with the local authorities. I endorse the "name and shame" notion mentioned by Senator Phelan. People who engage in the activity I have mentioned do not belong in jail,...

Seanad: Waste Management: Statements. (2 Mar 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I am never quite sure whether that is the right thing to do. Similar facilities need to be put in place for food cans and plastics other than milk bottles. More work needs to be done in this regard. I was in the Oireachtas Library before I came to the Chamber. I glanced through various publications which one would not normally buy, including An Phoblacht, which has devoted two pages to...

Seanad: Waste Management: Statements. (2 Mar 2005)

Martin Mansergh: Twenty years ago, when tax rates, including those pertaining to VAT and income tax, were paid at a rate of approximately 35%, there might have been some merit in the argument against double taxation. However, given the reductions in tax rates in the interim, there is absolutely no merit in that argument. On landfill and incineration, we sometimes talk as if landfill is an environmentally...

Seanad: Waste Management: Statements. (2 Mar 2005)

Martin Mansergh: The incinerator would not have affected me one way or the other, that was not the issue. The proposed location was 30 miles away. Extreme care must be taken in determining the right location. If one goes to the suburbs of Vienna in Austria, one will see an incinerator that has been there for years. It looks like an art deco object. I have lived in Austria from time to time and have not read...

Seanad: Order of Business. (2 Mar 2005)

Martin Mansergh: Luas is a huge success.

Seanad: Order of Business. (2 Mar 2005)

Martin Mansergh: It is taking car drivers off the roads.

Seanad: Order of Business. (2 Mar 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I am not wrong.

Seanad: Order of Business. (2 Mar 2005)

Martin Mansergh: Like other Senators, I salute the courage of the McCartney sisters. Historically, civic courage has been one of the greatest motors of human progress. Nonetheless, one has to note that despite the fact that some of the right noises are being made, nothing has actually happened so far in response to the sisters' demands. I never believed I would see the day on which Dr. Paisley would be joking...

Seanad: Order of Business. (2 Mar 2005)

Martin Mansergh: As opposed to his constitution.

Seanad: Nursing Home Charges: Statements. (23 Feb 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I welcome the Minister of State to the House, as well as the Tánaiste's statement earlier this afternoon. She has handled this whole business properly and with integrity. She has done what one should do when one discovers a mess that is not of one's own making. She took advice and she took remedial action. The Bill was struck down after the Supreme Court was consulted and she will bring...

Seanad: Nursing Home Charges: Statements. (23 Feb 2005)

Martin Mansergh: Legal doubts can be raised or expressed about practically anything. As we can see in the courts on all manner of matters, an arguable legal case can be constructed in defence of any proposition or in casting doubt thereon. It would be a brave person who could absolutely guarantee that all legislation and regulations are constitutional in every respect. The real world does not work like that....

Seanad: National Spatial Strategy: Statements. (23 Feb 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I welcome the Minister of State and his officials to the House. The national spatial strategy is an important and positive principle, as it is about trying to spread development evenly around the country due to growth pressures in Dublin. Every day we read about projects that cost billions of euro — today it is the outer ring road and last week it was about various public transport schemes...

Seanad: Order of Business. (23 Feb 2005)

Martin Mansergh: Not on this occasion.

Seanad: Order of Business. (23 Feb 2005)

Martin Mansergh: The provision of 45 minutes for the Order of Business is quite sufficient and we should not erode substantive debate simply because the media happens to be present in greater force during it. I call on the Fine Gael Party to re-examine its amendment to tonight's Private Members' motion.

Seanad: Order of Business. (23 Feb 2005)

Martin Mansergh: The amendment refers to a single rate of corporation tax.

Seanad: Order of Business. (23 Feb 2005)

Martin Mansergh: The amendment to the motion should be better informed and drafted. There has been a single rate of corporate tax for the past few years. The fourth part of the amendment should be checked for its accuracy.

Seanad: Order of Business. (23 Feb 2005)

Martin Mansergh: I appreciate the comments of Senator O'Toole and others on republicanism. Without denying the republican roots of every party represented in the House, I draw attention to the fact that the party I am proud to represent has as its subtitle "the republican party".

Seanad: Order of Business. (23 Feb 2005)

Martin Mansergh: That implies ideals to be lived up to. I do not exclude other parties, even those of which we are severely critical, from using the word "republican" in the hope that a greater depth of understanding of the values involved will develop. Those values were summed up in the very first declaration of the Society of the United Irishmen who pledged to work for deeper constitutional knowledge, the...

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

Martin Mansergh: I will try to be brief so I will not stymie the university voice in the House.

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

Martin Mansergh: Over the past 40 years the OECD has played an important part in stimulating the development of third level education and, indeed, science policy. The Minister cited figures that illustrate the enormous expansion in third level education. It received a new wind in the late 1980s. I recall attending some of the meetings at the time between the then Minister, Senator O'Rourke, and the then...