Results 4,041-4,060 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

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

Sean Barrett: The Minister of State was the great defender of democracy two years ago. If he examines the voting lists, he will see that all of his Fine Gael colleagues in this House and the other House supported these democratic rights and were most reluctant to delay them for two years. Now they are being abolished entirely, which is a shame.

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

Sean Barrett: I would like to remind the Minister of State of some comments he made in the Dáil as an Opposition Deputy. Speaking on 6 July 2010 about the Bill that provided for the two-year delay, he said "ní féidir liom fáilte a chur roimh an mBille". I agree with the position he took at that time. He continued: Is Bille an-ghairid é agus níl ach fáth amháin gur tugadh isteach é, is é sin...

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

Sean Barrett: Will there be a next election? Is that not the purpose of the Bill? There will not be another election.

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

Sean Barrett: Deputy Alex White represented the Labour Party in this House two years ago and I ask my good friend, Senator Harte, to read what he said on this issue at that time because it is the opposite to what the Senator has just said, which is another volte face. In terms of who we elect, the former Senator Jerry Buttimer, speaking in this House, stated: Ba mhaith liom tréaslú le baill an bhoird....

Seanad: Rent Supplements: Motion (4 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister, Deputy Burton, and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan. As we try to put the pieces together in the country from the position we inherited 14 months ago, this measure will take a great deal of thought. We can go through all the mistakes that we made including the massive infusion of private capital into a stock of housing that, according to The Economist list,...

Seanad: Mortgage Arrears, Banking and the Economy: Statements, Questions and Answers (3 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister to the House. This morning the people who used to say "Ulster says "No"" were here and we got on very well with them. They have been replaced by "Ulster Bank says "No"" with equal damage to the wider economy. The section of the Minister's speech dealing with the banking problem was tentative but I take it as a reflection on the banks and not on himself. The Minister...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Jul 2012)

Sean Barrett: I agree with everything the Senator has said. To the list of those who have been praised should be added the names of Senators David Cullinane and Ivana Bacik for splendid speeches. As of 25 June, nine more people were killed on Irish roads compared to last year. We have had almost a 40 year reduction in road accidents from 1970, when more than 400 people were killed, down to 186 last year....

Seanad: Gaeltacht Bill 2012: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: Níl an translation ag obair.

Seanad: Gaeltacht Bill 2012: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: It is operating as a broadcast rather than a translation.

Seanad: Gaeltacht Bill 2012: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I agree with the Minister of State that it is important to cherish Constable Peadar Heffron, a Gaelic-speaking member of the PSNI who is currently recovering from injuries he suffered as a result of an attack by paramilitary elements. I support amendment No. 2 because it draws attention to what I believe to be a defect in the Bill. There are aspects of the legislation which relate to the...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: Yesterday, Enterprise Ireland issued its annual report. I am afraid that on page 7 it reported that expenditure of more than €110 million resulted in only six net jobs being created. It touched on issues we have discussed in the Chamber and the Leader has facilitated these discussions, such as that grants are not the solution to Ireland's employment problems. There is a range of issues...

Seanad: Gaeltacht Bill 2012: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: Go raibh maith agat. We are invoking the Anglo-Irish Agreement on this side of the House because of the traditions in Northern Ireland whereby Nationalists would discriminated against, not least in the Minister of State's adjoining city of Derry, and disgracefully so, and those rights were put in. I never thought I would be invoking it on behalf of Irish language speakers in this...

Seanad: Gaeltacht Bill 2012: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: They have these rights.

Seanad: Gaeltacht Bill 2012: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: The Minister's advisers tell him they do not have them but we are asking for court cases, as in the Pearse Doherty case, if we persist in denying people their voting rights, and we will have to use Northern Ireland or international obligations to defend the voting rights of those citizens.

Seanad: Gaeltacht Bill 2012: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I share the concerns of Senator Ó Clochartaigh in regard to expenses. They arise in two ways in respect of the savings alleged under the Bill. The claim is that there will be €100,000 per year savings in expenses by cutting the size of the board from 20 to 12 people, that is, a total of €8,500 per head. Is there any evidence that the existing elected board members of Údarás na...

Seanad: National Cultural Institutions: Motion (27 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. When he spoke about fellows who dropped the ball, the phrase occurred to me was to be careful what you ask for because you might get it. If one was afraid of the fellow in one corner-back position, there was an even tougher fellow over in the other corner and one could end up in a worse state. The Minister referred to what went on in the years in which the money was...

Seanad: National Cultural Institutions: Motion (27 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: Go raibh maith agat, a Aire. That is what the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, must address. He referred to low-hanging fruit. I think much low-hanging fruit hit him on the head. The pattern of increases in non-pay administration budgets is evident right across the board. The Minister and his Cabinet colleagues must come to terms with...

Seanad: European Communities (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Tánaiste to the Chamber. This is yet another historic day when Her Majesty, the Queen of England is visiting County Fermanagh, another part of our island. That is a tribute, as I said during our last discussion on foreign affairs, to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and his Department. It was not that long ago that officials had to live under...

Seanad: European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State as I always look forward to his visits here. As noted, this is a moment of crisis. We were bounced into the bank rescues, which brings us back to the design faults in the euro in the first instance, with no banking regulation, exit mechanism or anything to protect small countries like us from tsunamis of credit from large countries like Germany, and the one...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jun 2012)

Sean Barrett: I thank the technical staff for repairing the translation equipment during the debate on the Gaeltacht Bill. The staff who serve this House always deserve thanks for showing patience and professionalism. There is still a problem with the Gaeltacht Bill. There has been a view in the permanent Government for some time that one cannot have elections in the Gaeltacht areas. The previous...