Results 40,461-40,480 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Order of Business. (13 May 2004)

Joan Burton: When will the Order for Report Stage be made?

Written Answers — Drink Driving Convictions: Drink Driving Convictions (4 May 2004)

Joan Burton: Question 62: To ask the Minister for Transport the number of legal challenges to drink driving convictions which are under way following the successful case of seven drivers who had convictions quashed due to the absence of independent analysis of their breath specimens; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12485/04]

Written Answers — Property Disposal: Property Disposal (4 May 2004)

Joan Burton: Question 79: To ask the Minister for Transport if he intends requesting CIE to sell off some of its property, estimated at €500 million, to reduce its debt; if such a request is a precursor to reducing CIE's debt in advance of his plan to break up the company; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12486/04]

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: I did. I referred to the American experience.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: Stirring the pot.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: Will the Minister give way? I did not think the Minister was racist but I thought he wanted to stir the pot on these issues.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: So gallant.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: Yes.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: The Minister could listen.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: But there is now.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: The Minister is a bit of a ham actor himself.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: The wonderful thing about democracy is that Governments do not always get their own way. Arrogant Governments, like the one we have, are more prone than others to getting their comeuppance when they cross the delicate line between public interest and party gain. Ministers from both parties thought this referendum idea was a master stroke. Today, the whole idea must seem, even to them, rather...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: He said he knew about it, as a practising solicitor, and that a number of eminent legal heads were aware also. Let us recall, however, the information the Referendum Commission posted to every house in the country. Knowing that information, the people still voted for the Agreement and did not accept this argument. It stated: The new Article 2 will give a constitutional right of citizenship to...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: ——yet we all said it was right to vote for the Good Friday Agreement. We so voted and were right then as we won the peace prize. The Minister is wrong now, for baser political motives, to jeopardise what has been won in regard to the Agreement.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: No one on the Government benches can say they were not aware of possible consequences. The Referendum Commission set it out in plain English, and it is curious and revealing to see the examples Ministers chose to justify——

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: No, I do not.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: Middle Eastern sheiks who came laden with bejewelled daggers and gifts for a corrupt Taoiseach had Irish citizenship delivered to them by ministerial hands at the Shelbourne Hotel breakfast table with no protest from the present Taoiseach. That is the reality. I do not know if the Minister or the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is aware of this but last year 3,500 people in...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: The Minister and his Government colleagues are not worried about the people concerned because they are 99% white.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: They have the run of Europe with their Irish passports, of which Ministers are quite proud. They are mostly white; some might be of mixed race and Irish descent. The concern of the Minister is exclusively with a small, as yet unquantified number largely of black African origin who are slipping through whatever vetting procedure is in train. Incidentally, the trafficking of women, whether...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Joan Burton: The Minister should do his job and have proper checks in place.