Results 3,461-3,480 of 4,168 for speaker:Susan O'Keeffe

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Senator Crown is having a moment of naivety which is rare for him. He has suggested that there is no cost to the running of a political system. There is, of course, like anything else and the idea that at any point a Government would choose not to pay any money to keep the political system running is absolutely absurd. The point I raised on Second Stage is that if one were to go down that...

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Excuse me.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: The truth, as Senator Norris knows well enough and Senator Crown equally well knows, is that one does need to fund political parties. One does need to fund a political system.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Otherwise, as I have said, we are back to the Galway tent. Could I please finish my point? Senator Crown chose to put the biggest amount of money in the headline in order to make the point that we should not fund politics as we know it. If Senator Crown wants the privatisation of politics he is in the wrong place.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I do not have a problem with the figures but with the way they were put on the record.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Does Senator Norris know there is no issue with-----

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: That is absolute nonsense.

Seanad: Science Week: Statements (12 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I welcome the Minister of State. It only seems like five minutes ago but a full 12 months have passed since we last discussed Science week. It has been a busy year. It is good to hear about all the many projects that were progressed and the advances that were made during those short 12 months. Dublin City University, DCU, has referred to a significant swing in the direction of STEM-based...

Seanad: Science Week: Statements (12 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Indeed. As previous speakers indicated, the purpose of Science Week is to try to make science exciting. The question which then arises relates to how to export that excitement back to the classroom. Senators White and Clune referred to the very real challenge which exists in this regard. We can have a week of terrific excitement, as should be the case, and we can celebrate that the fact...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Fifth Stage (7 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: We have to cope with what Fianna Fáil did.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Fifth Stage (7 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: What is it to the Senator what we remember?

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: It was not needed.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I welcome the restoration of the summer works and minor works schemes announced today by the Department of Education and Skills. The money that will be spent by schools will be well spent and, what is important, it will be spent in the local economy of the area of each school. It will buy local labour and local goods. The money will cycle through the economy and have a double contribution...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Public Petitions: Discussion (6 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: If I may make a point about petitions, the petitions committee is not in a position, per se, to lend support to something. While I am the only person to have ever made a documentary about the historic mills of Ireland, I would have a particular interest in Kilmainham Mill as something that ought to be saved. Unfortunately, the purpose of this committee is not to lend support to endeavours...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Public Petitions: Discussion (6 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I suggest that we send the petitioner information on the OECD observations about Ireland's freedom of information legislation and citing it as one of the most robust examples of legislation. This might afford Mr. Ó Dálaigh some further comfort and advice as to policy in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and that the matter is being taken very seriously, to the extent...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Public Petitions: Discussion (6 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: Mr. Jackman raises a very interesting but obscure point. The professional secrecy provisions in the Central Bank Act 1942 do not comprise a subject one with which would be familiar. That said, this petition is a prime example of the work of this committee. It transpires that Mr. Jackman's observations are that if the Financial Regulator is investigating a matter, he or she cannot provide...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Public Petitions: Discussion (6 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: It would be appropriate to invite the Department of Finance to observe when the petitioner is here, if it deems so fit.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I never said that the Senator was.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: If only it were a load of rubbish.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2013)

Susan O'Keeffe: I did not tar the Senator with any brush.