Results 3,961-3,980 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Child Care Services: Motion. (26 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: My colleagues here have been keeping a watchful eye on the Fianna Fáil Senators and their enthusiasm for attacking two members of the Government. Every day we get closer to a general election.

Seanad: Child Care Services: Motion. (26 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The issues about which they are concerned depend on where the Ministers are. When Deputy Martin was Minister for Health and Children, they were largely silent on health issues, but all of a sudden, since they got a Progressive Democrat Minister to shout at, the collected ranks of Fianna Fáil have now discovered the crisis in the health service.

Seanad: Child Care Services: Motion. (26 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: It is very convenient for them too that there is a Progressive Democratic Minister in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and so they have been very vocal on law and order issues for the past number of years. They are now equally vocal on child care issues. Let me point out something to the Fianna Fáil Senators.

Seanad: Child Care Services: Motion. (26 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The National Economic and Social Forum described in a policy audit how the Government was guilty of inaction, peripheral implementation and drift in the area of implementing policy on early childhood care and education. It was not the Labour Party, the Independent Group or Fine Gael that pointed this out, but the body set up by the Government to provide an objective view. Many of us are...

Seanad: Child Care Services: Motion. (26 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: What we did was to hand over an economy in better shape than it is now. It had a better average growth rate and a lower inflation rate than the former Minister for Finance, Mr. McCreevy, managed and had a budget surplus that he only managed to sustain by taking large amounts of money from the social insurance fund. Those are the facts of what was a responsible Government. The problem was that...

Seanad: Child Care Services: Motion. (26 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: It is about the failure to provide child care. The Government has not even started to talk about providing child care. What it has done is talk about planning to have a review to think about it. We know what should be done. Senators can read what is required in the Labour Party document. That is what needs to be and could be done. That is what the Government should say it will do.

Seanad: Child Care Services: Motion. (26 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: We produced a brilliant economy. The Minister continues to laugh at that brilliant economy because that is all he can do. I will remember forever, in terms of a statement about the failure of this Government, Senator Cox's statement that she is ashamed of the Government amendment. She has every reason to be ashamed, not just of the amendment, but of the total absence of policy in this area,...

Seanad: Suicide Prevention Strategy: Statements. (26 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I stated previously when discussing suicide and other similar tragedies that I am reluctant to get involved in Government bashing. That reluctance is not my normal style but apart from a couple of comments I will not do so. The strategy was slow to arrive and, as with many issues, the Government did not appear to wake up to the scale of the problem until quite late into its second term....

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: They were not from Cork city.

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: In the late 1980s and a number of times since then, I quoted in this House what I heard a senior Garda officer in Cork say about child abuse. He said that the Garda Síochána knows that the vast majority of abuse is perpetrated by homosexuals. He was not speaking in a private capacity. He also said that "we had to be careful because a huge part of the campaign was being run by people who are...

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Acute Hospital Services: Statements. (20 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I hate occasions such as this. These are not circumstances in which it is appropriate to beat the Government over the head. A man died and there is a need for a certain amount of restraint. I know that if anyone in Government could wave a magic wand, this type of incident would not happen. Therefore, if I use strong language, it is not because I believe people care less than I do about this...

Seanad: Animal Diseases: Statements. (20 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I rarely say that I will not use the full time available to me. Even when I do so, I rarely keep my promise but on this occasion I may not need the full 15 minutes. One wonders on occasion if anybody is listening. In his contribution the Minister of State dealt well with the incidence of the H5N1 virus as far as it represented a threat to the health of the bird population and, presumably,...

Seanad: Order of Business. (20 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I join with my colleagues in expressing horror at the kidnap of Rory Carroll. I do not want to say more, other than that I hope the situation is safely resolved. It is a terrifying time for him and is family. In terms of how we will deal with the reports of child sex abuse, particularly abuse within the Roman Catholic Church, let us not be sidetracked by issues of celibacy. Child abuse is an...

Seanad: Home Help Service: Motion. (19 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I cannot but wonder at the extraordinary instinct of the Government, which rushes in to amend a motion calling on the Minister to regulate the contract of employment of home helps and recognising the need to regulate their working hours. I thought that we all shared those sentiments. The motion also suggests providing home helps with adequate training. Who would want people to carry out all...

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Is there a Fianna Fáil assault on the Progressive Democrats going on here?

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: All we have been hearing about is Progressive Democrat Ministers and their sins. There are 14 other Ministers, some of whom are passionate pro-marketeers——

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: He approves of inequality.

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I second the proposal made by Senator Brian Hayes for an amendment to the Order of Business. I ask the Leader for a debate on inequality in Ireland. The two issues that exercised Irish society for the past week both concerned the abuse of the poor by the powerful and the neglect of the impoverished by those in a position to do something about their plight. If somebody in a private hospital...

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2005)

Brendan Ryan: If the people coming before the Residential Institutions Redress Board were not the least articulate and most wounded members of society, somebody would have taken the time to ensure they were not being misled about their fees. It is a bit rich for the board to now say that the Law Society should have sternly warned its members. The board should have courageously advised the victims that all...