Results 3,801-3,820 of 4,717 for speaker:Martin Mansergh
- Seanad: Order of Business. (12 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: We are as entitled to commend the Governmentââ
- Seanad: Order of Business. (12 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: Senator O'Toole should take some credit as a leading social partner for the developments that have taken place in the economy.
- Seanad: Order of Business. (12 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: I thank the Senator.
- Seanad: Ulster Scots Agency. (11 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: I thank the Minister for coming to the House. The situation in the Ulster Scots Agency as a result of recent developments is worth examination. Despite what has been claimed, the attitude of the Government from the beginning to the proposal and decision to set up the Ulster Scots Agency has been generous and broad-minded. The claims made on behalf of the language or linguistic tradition were...
- Seanad: Order of Business. (11 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: I commend to the House the thoughtful, considered and balanced contribution by the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Brady, to the discussion of the current difficulties in the North. It was an exercise in church statesmanship and we look forward to other church leaders coming forward with similar thoughtful contributions. With regard to the matter raised by Senator Brian Hayes, everybody was...
- Seanad: Order of Business. (11 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: The Senator has released half a dozen.
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (6 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: To a degree.
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (6 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: Without going over yesterday's whole debate, they are different things. The people of Northern Ireland have Irish nationality. They are members of the Irish nation but they are also citizens of this State. We decided to give citizenship of this State to members of the nation and to entrench that in the Constitution. In principle, citizenship and nationality are not the same thing. It would be...
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (6 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: I support my colleague, Senator Jim Walsh. He was not accusing any Member on the other side of racism. He simply pointed to the attempt to ascribe a racist motivation to the Government side as one of the main planks of the Opposition case against the referendum. There was nothing improper in making such a point in the moderate fashion in which it was made. As we are at the end of the process,...
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (6 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: We remember that.
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (6 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: We all like to think of the Constitution as a rock on which this State rests. However, the Constitution, no matter how it is written on whatever theme, is subject, as we have discovered in certain instances, to legal and judicial interpretation. I am quite confident that, if there were no legislation and this failed to be interpreted by the Supreme Court, "at least one parent who is an Irish...
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: Without pre-empting the Minister's reply, nationality and citizenship today are effectively synonymous and interchangeable terms. However, they have different nuances. Citizenship is being a civic member of a state, whereas nationality is membership of a nation. Nation and state are not precisely the same thing. Under the Good Friday Agreement, it is quite explicitly stated that "nation" has...
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: Does the Minister accept that nation and State are not the same thing?
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: Chief among them the right to vote.
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: French women did not have that until 1947.
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: In that respect, the French Revolution may have been something of a fraud, referring as it did to citoyens and citoyennes.
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: Entitled to be.
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: I would just add a refinement to that position. There are many Unionists who choose to have Irish nationality alongside British nationality. I say this so that we do not give any impression from this debate that a Unionist is per se non-Irish or not an Irish citizen. Many Unionists are Irish citizens. I gather the post offices in Northern Ireland do a roaring trade in Irish passports, even in...
- Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: I do not understand the logic of this amendment because if we insert "be it therefore enacted by the Oireachtas and the people, as follows" and this Bill was passed, then it would be deemed to have been passed by the people, whereas in fact it has to be submitted to the people for referendum. In effect, we would be pre-empting the people's decision. That is the way I would look at it, logically.
- Seanad: Family Law: Motion. (5 May 2004)
Martin Mansergh: I agree to the proposal. It would be a great shame to divide the House on this matter.