Results 4,021-4,040 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: Yesterday, Senator Higgins collected signatures from all Members in respect of a petition relating to the suspension of the imposition of bank charges during the current debacle at Ulster Bank. I ask the Leader to take up this issue with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan. The banks intend to abolish chequebooks but in light of the debacle to which I refer, any action in this regard...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. He has had an interest in these matters for a long time. I have tabled amendments but I too will be guided by the Leas-Chathaoirleach. May I respond to the Minister?

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: We will deal with the Senator's amendments separately later, but the Senator may speak on the groupings.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: My concern is that this is adding yet another layer of bureaucracy. At present two people are responsible, the person who gives the lectures and the external examiner. We had a very good discussion with the Minister of State on that point and he assured me that it will remain and has been a feature of Irish universities for 400 to 500 years. I am glad to report my personal experience at...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 1: In page 22, line 25, to delete "An tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas" and substitute "the institutions". I have made some of the points already and I do not wish to detain the Minister.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: Senator John Crown is here for that purpose. In the printing of the Bill, the line numbers may have been changed. I think the amendment I am seeking to introduce is on page 22, lines 15 and 16, rather than line 25, in case I cause unnecessary distress in various offices in trying to amend something that is not in place. The second amendment is on page 27, lines 5 and 6, the third amendment...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I certainly do not wish to interfere with the timetable. I thank the Minister for his response. I hope copies of his speech will be circulated as a bulwark against the bureaucratic menace we have discussed. In regard to the Higher Education Authority, it is not long since an bord snip nua recommended its abolition, yet it is now assuming new powers which will see it supervising a...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: Yes and I thank the Minister for it. I will assist the Leas-Chathaoirleach in this matter by not pressing the amendment.

Seanad: Access to Cancer Treatment Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch to the House, even though I am very disappointed with her response to the Bill. It is a problem for this Government that it has been absorbed by the permanent government. Today, another Minister abolished voting rights in Gaeltacht areas because the civil servants told him to do it and it was to save money as well.

Seanad: Access to Cancer Treatment Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I think that is what has happened here.

Seanad: Access to Cancer Treatment Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: We asked the Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Dinny McGinley, to justify how he changed his mind in two years from being pro-democracy. Let us turn to this matter. There is always a committee and the Department of Health claims it is in favour of fairness. However, if one looks at the size of the waiting list as well as the extension of the...

Seanad: Industrial Relations (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2011: Second Stage (10 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State. There are several aspects to this legislation. When the industrial relations machinery was overturned in the High Court and sections 42, 43 and 45 of the Industrial Relations Act 1946 and section 48 of the 1990 Act were all found to violate Article 15.2 of the Constitution, we should have accepted it. The economy was far better off afterwards. Most of what...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: We have now had 20 summits on the eurozone crisis. The latest continued for nine hours and has been adjourned until October. The Ministers at those conferences have kicked the can down the road so often they could go to a concert in the Phoenix Park and fit in with the other people attending. We have to move away from the nods and winks, and the "It will be all right on the night" style of...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: They should know something about the subject, and it should include economists from outside the eurozone. I ask that our Ministers make that point because we cannot continue with euro crises happening all the time when there is massive unemployment throughout so many member countries.

Seanad: Gaeltacht Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: Are the tactics of the Government to ensure we never get near amendment No. 143? That is what the Government is doing.

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: On the Leader's point about the debate yesterday on "shall" versus "may", for Senators who were not present, it was an important debate. The amendment, which I did not table but supported, sought to amend the Bill by substituting the Minister "may" do something to promote the Irish language, as provided for in the Bill, with the Minister "shall" do something about the Irish language. We...

Seanad: Gaeltacht Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I agree with much of what the Minister of State said about "Mol an óige" and I fear the consequence of what we are doing to the Gaeltacht in this Bill is the exact opposite. We need spoken language as in the language of Wayne Rooney and the broken English we use in international conferences. That is spoken in the Gaeltacht. If we undermine the Gaeltacht, Irish becomes the book language,...

Seanad: Gaeltacht Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: Yes men.

Seanad: Gaeltacht Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I hope I did not interrupt the Minister of State as he was about to say he agrees completely with this amendment. I agree completely with what the Senators have said. He will be aware that the fine digest that was prepared for us quotes Mr. Liam Ó Cuinneagáin as saying "ní féidir linn póilíní teanga a chur isteach i monarchana". Perhaps the "póilíní teanga" could be installed in...

Seanad: Gaeltacht Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I would like to respond, briefly, to what the Minister of State said about the views I expressed last week. I thank the Minister of State for that and he is welcome to the Seanad. Before this debate began, we had been saying two Gaeltacht counties, his own and County Meath, had performed splendidly at the weekend. A good atmosphere has been set for the debate. My points related to section...