Results 3,621-3,640 of 3,797 for speaker:Ciarán Cannon

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (2 Feb 2010)

Ciarán Cannon: I welcome the Minister of State. Last week many of us took time to speak to the young people who generated quite a musical racket outside the gates of Leinster House. They were accompanied by community workers from various parts of Dublin and made the case that the recent budget cuts would impact directly on youth services in this city. The overall message was that, as far as the...

Seanad: Schools Building Projects (2 Feb 2010)

Ciarán Cannon: St. Catherine's national school at Aughrim near Ballinasloe, County Galway is over 60 years old and comprises three very small classrooms that allow for a distance of only half a metre between children's desks. A little more than one decade ago, there were only three mainstream teachers and 77 pupils in the school. Some ten years later, there are five mainstream teachers, three special...

Seanad: Schools Building Projects (2 Feb 2010)

Ciarán Cannon: Effectively, that is a resounding "No". The school is obviously not being assigned a very high priority within the Department's overall plan. I am not making any accusations against the Minister of State but he stated the schools building programme should be carried out in a structured and coherent manner. All that is being offered to this school, which was described by his colleague,...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jan 2010)

Ciarán Cannon: I seek a debate on community volunteeism. We all recall vividly the great fanfare in 2005 when Robert Putnam was present at a Fianna Fáil think-in.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jan 2010)

Ciarán Cannon: I was.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jan 2010)

Ciarán Cannon: It gave me great hope for the future-----

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jan 2010)

Ciarán Cannon: Increasingly so. I recall a speech made in 2006 by the Taoiseach on the future of community and volunteerism. He stated: I believe that the quality of life in society and the ultimate health of our communities depend on the willingness of people to become involved and active. Happy the society that has people who act. Happy the society which has people who organise rather than complain,...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2010)

Ciarán Cannon: I too call for a debate on housing. The issue has been extensively covered by the media over the past several days. A rather excellent "Frontline" programme on Monday night revealed extensive research by NUI Maynooth which conclusively proves the existence of 300,000 unoccupied units in this country. The programme included a strange contribution from the president of the Irish Planning...

Seanad: Banking Sector: Statements (26 Jan 2010)

Ciarán Cannon: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, to the Chamber and thank him for his recent visit to east County Galway in an effort to address the flooding crisis that affected the area so badly. For 12 years the nation was afflicted with a hear nothing, see nothing and do nothing Government. The nation looked to the Government, but it looked away and we had to struggle with the old...

Seanad: Employment and Competitiveness: Statements (21 Jan 2010)

Ciarán Cannon: I thank the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment for her comprehensive address. We could not have chosen a more opportune time to discuss the issues of employment and competitiveness. We have just begun the second decade of the 21st century with our unemployment figure heading towards 500,000 from 180,000 in January 2008. At the same time tax revenues have dropped by...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jan 2010)

Ciarán Cannon: I join previous speakers in offering congratulations to Senator Mooney. I wish the Senator well in the future. I also join Senators McFadden and Healy Eames in wishing the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, a speedy recovery from his challenging illness. My mother has just finished treatment for cancer and, thankfully, has fully recovered. I am aware of the difficult treatment...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Dec 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I wish my colleagues, both political and administrative, a very happy and peaceful Christmas. This country has a national attention deficit disorder in that we tend to flit from one issue to another depending on what is the news of the day. Once an issue disappears from the front pages of the broadsheet newspapers and the nine o'clock news, we tend to move onto the next big thing. This day...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Dec 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I refer in particular to home owners and business owners who been unable to secure flooding insurance because of past flooding incidents. That issue has not been addressed in the Government response. I spoke to a businessman last night, to whom I had spoken on numerous occasions over the previous weeks, who is extremely distraught at the fact that his business is on its last legs. He...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Dec 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Budget 2010: Statements (10 Dec 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: On the day he became leader the Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen, stated: This is what the Government wants and needs. Its responsibility is to fuel the engine of community and to lead the charge away from the promotion of exclusive self-interest towards a superior value of a wider community interest. The pre-eminence of community and participation over self promotes social harmony and a...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: On Friday fortnight, when all of us sit down to what I hope will be a safe, loving and caring environment to have Christmas lunch with our families, we should reflect on the fact that on the same day last year the ISPCC Childline centre received calls from 750 children throughout the country. Many of them were seeking protection from domestic violence and abuse on what should be happiest day...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Dec 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I ask the Leader to arrange for an urgent debate on public service reform. I was taken aback recently by the tone and content of some of the public utterances from union leaders. It was my understanding from the benchmarking process which began many years ago that, to address the gulf that supposedly existed between private and public sector pay levels, the unions would row in behind a...

Seanad: County Galway School Closure (26 Nov 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, is more than familiar with this ongoing saga. He probably has an in-depth knowledge of the issues involved at this stage. Seamount College in Kinvara is one of the finest second level institutions in the country. The community of Kinvara and south Galway was traumatised almost two years ago when the announcement was made by the Sisters of...

Seanad: County Galway School Closure (26 Nov 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: I thank the Minister of State for his response. It was my understanding that at this point the planned provision of second level education at Kinvara is to be done through that leasing arrangement with the nuns. I hoped the response would contain a significant amount of detail on how that leasing arrangement is progressing. However, I thank the Minister for State for his response. I would...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Nov 2009)

Ciarán Cannon: One would get the sense from some contributions this morning that our flooding crisis is over and that we should be conducting a post mortem to establish how to prevent a recurrence. The flooding is far from over; in fact, it is only beginning. In Athlone this morning the water level of the River Shannon is 50 cm above the highest level every recorded. In south Galway ten more families...