Results 21-40 of 468 for speaker:Liam Fitzgerald

Seanad: Credit Union Savings Protection Bill 2007: Second Stage (1 Mar 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: I do not have gems of wisdom to add but I would like to make a number of appropriate acknowledgements. I welcome the introduction of the Bill which is timely for the reasons set out by previous speakers. The issue has dragged on for too long. I agree with the principle underpinning the legislation and it should give a kick in the transom to the ongoing discussions. This Bill has a...

Seanad: Credit Union Savings Protection Bill 2007: Second Stage (1 Mar 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: I got a student loan for books. I believe I spent a little bit of it on them anyway. Since then, I have continued to show loyalty to this institution. The credit union movement should be commended by all sides on the manner in which it took up where for-profit organisations, such as banks and other institutions, left off. In that way, it reached out in a very inclusive, caring and...

Seanad: Learning to Teach Report: Statements. (27 Feb 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: At 10.30 a.m. tomorrow.

Seanad: Learning to Teach Report: Statements. (27 Feb 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: I welcome the Minister. I compliment everybody involved in the concept of partnership in education. The teachers of Ireland, through the decades and against formidable odds, have helped to advance the cause of our society and economy. I also compliment the inspectorate for initiating the report, although I have a number of criticisms. I welcome the opportunity to discuss the issue of...

Seanad: Learning to Teach Report: Statements. (27 Feb 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: The report is significant and there was a sound rationale for its production, but the fundamental question is whether it has served its intended purpose adequately. I refer to the four legitimate areas of concern I have. With regard to the question of whether the sample upon which the findings are based is scientifically representative, the report states on page 8: "It was not a...

Seanad: Learning to Teach Report: Statements. (27 Feb 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: In other words, the assessor was given an impression of the student's competence prior to the conduct of the assessment. That was prejudicial to any qualitative evaluation of the student. This is a regrettable departure from the established and respected norms of assessment and scientific research. If I am incorrect, I would like the Minister to outline why. This is almost akin to giving...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Feb 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: I support Senator Ó Murchú's call for victims of a crime to be notified of when perpetrators of crimes are being released. Four or five years ago a lady approached me as a result of an assault she had suffered from a young thug. The same youth assaulted others also and was imprisoned as a result. Subsequently, he was released, without the knowledge of the victim, the lady who came to me...

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (22 Feb 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: I listened very carefully to the points being made by the previous speakers. On the one hand there is a deep and serious validity to what they have said. I would agree with 99% of what I have heard in terms of the abusive content of messages being exchanged and the vulnerability of young and older people to harassment and intimidation and all kinds of illegal, immoral and unacceptable...

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (Resumed) (22 Feb 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: I thank the Minister of State for his time and I thank the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey. I understand, although I was not present, that despite the disappointment expressed by certain Senators, some amendments were accepted. I reiterate what Senator Kenneally said on Second Stage, namely, that this is a very important Bill, notwithstanding what certain people see as shortcomings and which...

Seanad: Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (22 Feb 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: Maybe it is a case of aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (22 Feb 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: Will the Leader consider asking the Minister for Education and Science to come to the House to debate the report relating to the training of primary schoolteachers? Many serious and unfounded allegations have been made. For example, Senator O'Toole insinuated or stated — I am not sure which because I could not hear him very well — that the survey of 140 students was very selective. I...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (22 Feb 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: There is a necessity for a debate on the training of primary schoolteachers because, over a three-year period — between 2003 and 2006 — at college, I became aware that a significant minority of members of the student cohort were openly stating that they had no interest in or intention of teaching. That was quite a disturbing development and it raises questions regarding aptitude, methods...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Feb 2007)

Liam Fitzgerald: The situation concerning the CAO is a serious one. The CAO spokesperson's attitude should be condemned as being anti-student because it was insensitive to students' needs. Given that the spokesperson was unable to acknowledge that there was a problem, he should seriously consider his position. It must be acknowledged that there is a separation between the functions of the CAO and those of...

Seanad: Further and Adult Education: Statements (30 Nov 2006)

Liam Fitzgerald: I thank the Leader for affording us the opportunity to debate further and adult education with the Minister of State, who has been always accessible to and informative with this House. I understand the Minister of State announced last November her intention to step down at the next general election and to resign her office next month. On the basis of reliable speculation that this could be...

Seanad: Further and Adult Education: Statements (30 Nov 2006)

Liam Fitzgerald: They have served politics both nationally and internationally, and it would be regrettable if the name were absent after the next general election. I commend the Minister of State, Deputy de Valera, on her great commitment to caring, to the disadvantaged and to those worst off in society. Her political career has been of substance, being embroidered with political input at national and...

Seanad: Further and Adult Education: Statements (30 Nov 2006)

Liam Fitzgerald: Deputy de Valera took the left circuit of the shopping centre, and I was assigned to the right with Professor Yeats.

Seanad: Further and Adult Education: Statements (30 Nov 2006)

Liam Fitzgerald: Professor Yeats was given to postulating and philosophising, and as I saw Deputy de Valera move swiftly around, in my impatience to get him to do the same, my engagement with him was somewhat unhappy. As we all know, the Minister of State went on to capture the European seat. Around that time, she addressed us in the auditorium of Coláiste Mhuire in Parnell Square, a very impressive...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2006)

Liam Fitzgerald: Does the Leader agree that it is inaccurate and unfair to say that the Minister for Education and Science is ignoring inadequate special needs facilities in feeder second level schools, where such inadequacy exists? The situation is the reverse. The Minister stated publicly in recent times that, following visits to a number of schools, she is concerned that the enrolment policies in some...

Seanad: Estimates for Public Services 2007: Statements (Resumed) (23 Nov 2006)

Liam Fitzgerald: My colleague opposite has been on a rather confused and complicated odyssey of some kind to the land of nowhere. In welcoming the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, I wish to comment on his spending plans for the coming year. He has responsibility for overseas development aid and in the short time he has been in office, he has made spectacular progress in securing a substantial...

Seanad: Estimates for Public Services 2007: Statements (Resumed) (23 Nov 2006)

Liam Fitzgerald: I do not wish to engage in an argument with the Senator. I refer to one service as a type of yardstick for the manner in which part of the considerable bundle of money available to the public is targeted, that is, the welfare of our children and the opportunities they get through education. There is no doubt from the substantial increase in money being given to, and the emphasis on,...