Results 3,581-3,600 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 May 2004)

Joe O'Toole: On a point of information, we are not members of the Opposition and are independent of all others.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I welcome the Minister to the House and I listened to his lengthy justification of the Bill. It struck me that "thou doth protest too much" about what was and was not there. It sounded like another Minister in another place talking about his particular certainties on particular issues. We have heard in the past hour that the e-voting commission has shot electronic voting out of the skies and...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: This Bill is following the same pattern. It appears we should be careful. I am absolutely certain that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, is not and has no tendency to be racist. I believe that fundamentally and I have defended him on that issue. However, he is completely wrong in what he is trying to do here. The Bill is going through in a manner where it has...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: The appropriate use of words is important. I went to the trouble of looking up "fanciful" in the long Oxford Dictionary. I put on the record earlier in the week the various usages by various people in literature over those years.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I wish to make a few comments on the Minister's speech. His speech is tendentious and I will give the House one clear example. On page four the Minister speaks about the famous 163 and the arguments have been well made by other speakers why this is a sledgehammer to crack a nut in terms of the figures. The Minister states: "The figure would indeed be irrelevant if it were a case that around...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Perhaps I was taking a telephone call at the time. The reality is those figures——

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Yes, I was. I was literally trying to contain myself on that issue. I presume we are looking at an early Cabinet reshuffle. To make comparisons between the total population of females under those three categories without reference to comparisons of those at child-bearing age——

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: ——is tendentious.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: But it is tendentious.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: It is written in the Minister's speech.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: It is tendentious. What is written in the Minister's speech is tendentious and totally biased, one-sided and partial. To use the Minister's own words when speaking earlier, he said people are committed to creating doubt. That is an example of a tendentious effort to create doubt in people's minds. It is unacceptable and does not become the Minister because he is a man of——

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I will say no more. It is important that the Minister would have his views analysed and reciprocated in different ways. I am very bemused at the tone of page seven of the Minister's speech where he states acceptance of the referendum proposition will not have the slightest effect on the way our citizenship laws operate at present. That is a fanciful statement. It may not have the slightest...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I look forward to the Minister's explanation of that point. It may be something I do not understand——

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: That is what I said. I accept that the laws——

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: This is why it is fanciful of the Minister to tell the House that the citizenship laws will not be changed and he is absolutely right. He then gives the impression to everybody listening that it will not affect citizenship, but it will have a significant and immediate effect on citizenship and the rights of citizenship from the day it is enacted. That is the whole point of it. It is like a...

Seanad: Request to Move Adjournment of the Seanad under Standing Order 29. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: As Senators will be aware, Standing Order 29 was made to facilitate the House to urgently address matters that arise suddenly. The eagerly awaited report of the independent commission on electronic voting was issued this morning. Both Houses debated the issue of electronic voting and received incorrect information from the Government. As the commission has not been able to satisfy itself as...

Seanad: Request to Move Adjournment of the Seanad under Standing Order 29. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I am making the case for the motion.

Seanad: Request to Move Adjournment of the Seanad under Standing Order 29. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I understand under Standing Orders that I may state the reasons——

Seanad: Request to Move Adjournment of the Seanad under Standing Order 29. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: It is my view, and I hope the Cathaoirleach will agree, that in light of the commission's conclusion that having regard to the issues of secrecy, accuracy and testing, it is unable to recommend the Government's proposal. The House has been misled on this issue on a number of occasions. It is crucial that we take an opportunity to discuss this matter, which has been discussed in the Committee...

Seanad: Request to Move Adjournment of the Seanad under Standing Order 29. (30 Apr 2004)

Joe O'Toole: It only runs to 22 pages, including the executive summary.