Results 3,801-3,820 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Oncology Services: Statements. (8 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Debates such as this can sometimes be wasted by Government bashing, of which I propose to do a little, because there is much more to the issue. I wish the Government had made greater advances in many areas, some of which I will mention. Although there is no point in failing to acknowledge progress, a number of questions arise. I am not trying to diminish the significance of advances in...

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I will be looking warily to my right all through my contribution. My colleague, Senator O'Meara, was brought up not to boast so I am instructed not to boast on her behalf.

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I have an unusual request to make and my credentials on the issue of homelessness are not so weak that I will be misunderstood. I do not think we should have a debate on homelessness before Christmas. The issue and its symptoms are far too extensive to be fitted into a debate lasting one hour or 90 minutes in a crowded sitting next week. I would prefer the House to have a serious debate in...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I would like to share my time with Senator O'Meara.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: At a time of such prosperity, it would be impossible for even the most incompetent Government to introduce a budget without something that we would all welcome. I welcome the aspects of the budget that are a step in a direction we agree with, and others which are at least a recognition of problems the Government pretended for years did not exist. It is fascinating that after seven years of...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The average growth rate under Charlie McCreevy was lower than the average——

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: For a Government that is interested in multi-annual budgeting, it is extraordinary that it does not like multi-annual comparisons.

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Over the coming days we will be presented with multi-annual figures for various expenditures of a capital nature which people will try to pretend all relate to this year. In fact, many of them have to be divided by five to figure out what is going on. I have no problem with multi-annual budgeting but we should not get involved in arguments about statistical manipulation with a Government that...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I welcome a number of measures in the budget, particularly the recognition that the rich were paying no taxes. Until recently the Government's position was "let them at it, let them rip" but after a few electoral rebuffs it rediscovered its concern for equity in the tax system. That is most welcome. I recognise the delicate sensitivities of the super-rich when they hear it will be some time...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: ——and now that the buddies have got rich and are spending their money outside the country, there is not much point in continuing them? One wonders about the strategy in the same way that one wonders about many other things. There are welcome aspects to the budget. Any attempt to reduce the burden of tax on people on middle incomes is very welcome but we must remind ourselves that the...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Senator Mansergh is upsetting me. The Government has done what it accused the rest of us of doing. It has picked on the middle income earners and made them the major source of revenue in the same way that the charges for waste disposal and all the other charges will suddenly——

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The greatest act of fiction I have read in a long time is the Minister of State's remarks on decentralisation, which is not happening. It is astonishing that there is no longer any mention of waiting lists in Government budgetary expenditure because the Government has abolished the term "waiting lists". It no longer talks about them. The 3,000 beds we were promised have now disappeared off...

Seanad: Budget Statement 2005: Motion. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The Senator is 200 years out of date.

Seanad: WTO Negotiations: Statements. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I welcome the Minister to the House. Is breá an lá é i gcónaí nuair a bhíonn sí inár dteannta. The Minister is correct about the Commission and the unfortunate representative negotiating on our behalf. I regret that he springs from the same political tradition as I, which I cannot understand, explain or justify. His political views are to the right of those of most members of the...

Seanad: WTO Negotiations: Statements. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I am glad to hear it. The Commissioner makes me nervous. The core of a proper free trade world is a fair trade world. Despite what people say, I believe strongly there is a considerable amount of evidence that where people get the chance, they prefer to know that what they are buying is produced in a reasonably fair fashion. We cannot have equality. Nobody is trying to force Irish working...

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: They are not in the new timetable. There is no sign of them.

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I have never seen a Government plan begin to fall apart so quickly as Transport 21. This morning, as I was boarding the train in Cork, I was presented with a copy of Irish Rail's new timetable for the next 12 months from Cork, which shows no changes from the previous 12 months in spite of the much trumpeted new fast trains every hour. In fact, a few of them are slightly slower. It has only...

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Dec 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Illiberal liberalism.