Results 4,301-4,320 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Nov 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Nov 2011)

Sean Barrett: Today at noon, adjustments will be announced in public capital spending by the Ministers concerned. The weakness of capital project appraisal in the Irish public sector has been a problem for 60 or 70 years. It has been addressed by people as diverse as Seán MacEntee, when he was Minister for Finance, and more recently Alan Dukes. If we do not carry out proper project appraisals which are...

Seanad: Recent Developments in the Eurozone: Discussion with Minister of State (8 Nov 2011)

Sean Barrett: It is always a pleasure to listen to Senator Harte. I wonder when Europe will have its plan B ready because it is difficult to see much future for Greece under the present arrangements. Perhaps it should never have been admitted to the euro and it should certainly have been allowed to get out because we deprived it of its ability to set its own interest rates and exchange rate. Prolonging...

Seanad: Reform of Junior Certificate: Statements (8 Nov 2011)

Sean Barrett: It is always a pleasure to welcome the Minister to the House. He bubbles over with ideas in education. The Minister stated that concerns have been highlighted by higher education industry interests indicating that students are not acquiring the skills they need to be autonomous learners or to cope with the demands of the knowledge society. I offer a word of caution because it was adults...

Seanad: Reform of Junior Certificate: Statements (8 Nov 2011)

Sean Barrett: This distancing from reality is much to their disadvantage. I direct the same remarks to the members of IBEC and other bodies. These are the people who undermined so much of our public administration, banking and so on. It is somewhat rich of them to blame people who are 14 and 15 years of age at this stage. There is a problem with mathematics and it is not being addressed by the same...

Seanad: Reform of Junior Certificate: Statements (8 Nov 2011)

Sean Barrett: According to a recent report, the high percentage of so-called out-of-field teachers is having an adverse effect on the achievement of second level students in mathematics. Another effect is the pressure these heads have put on language departments. I gather they have shut down more than they have opened up in recent times but we need more foreign language expertise in the country. I am...

Seanad: Health Services: Statements, Questions and Answers (27 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister and wish him well in a job that proved so difficult for so many of his predecessors. His problem has more to do with resource allocation than with budgets. I refer, briefly, to an bord snip's report. On page 76, in regard to the health service, it states: The Group observes that restrictive agreements and work practices, involving trade unions and professional staff...

Seanad: Access to Central Treasury Funds (Commission for Energy Regulation) Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (26 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister and I praise the brevity of the Bill and the explanatory memorandum. It is to be encouraged. Regulation can be funded from the industry, and I am glad to see this is the Minister's intention, with reference to the funding being repaid following phased implementation of the petroleum safety framework commencing in 2013 through the imposition of the prescribed annual...

Seanad: Access to Central Treasury Funds (Commission for Energy Regulation) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (26 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: The last paragraph on page 3 refers to the natural gas safety regulatory framework. Will the framework include fracking? I have heard concerns expressed in this House about the evils of fracking. Is it hideous or beneficial? If there are concerns about this aspect of the gas industry, perhaps they might be allayed by including fracking in the natural gas safety regulatory framework. This...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: Arising from the discussion of the Keane report at the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, an apparent anomaly arose in regard to the rights of tenants in buy-to-let schemes where the landlord defaults. Apparently the tenants could lose their houses, even though they are not the defaulting party. The issue was raised by FLAC and Threshold. Mr. Keane said it had not...

Seanad: Central Bank and Credit Institutions (Resolution) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. I share the concerns Senator Sheahan mentioned concerning the general principle of laws restricting people's right to appeal and the right to a judicial review, but I accept what the Minister said. There were circumstances where the vacation procedures were used rather strangely I think to outsiders. We asked the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, about it...

Seanad: Central Bank and Credit Institutions (Resolution) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: Are codes of practice and guidelines any use to us if they do not have the force of law? On the one hand, we have laws, statutes, ordinances but if there are not strict definitions of a code of practice and the penalties for adhering to them, and the same applies for not being guided by guidelines, do they help? Is this a kind of mangerialism creeping into the law and does the fact that...

Seanad: Central Bank and Credit Institutions (Resolution) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: As a result of the Minister's work and endeavours, we now have a very well capitalised banking system that may indeed become a model for other countries. I say this having met some members of the Troika in Kenmare at the weekend and others in Trinity College on Monday. What we have done may well be a model for others and credit is due to all concerned on that. I thank the Minister and wish...

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: On the matter raised by our colleague, Senator Conway, it is time to bring back the snag man for both individual purchases of buildings and housing and where the State purchases properties on behalf of individuals. Most builders hate the snag man but he does a valuable service for the consumer which has been missed. I thank the Taoiseach for his intervention in an issue we raised here...

Seanad: Central Bank and Credit Institutions (Resolution) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (18 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: I shall seek to be economical. There is a general welcome for the Bill. As always, I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, when he comes in to this House. I agree with much of what Senators MacSharry and Michael D'Arcy have said. Looking at where we stand, I would have concerns that the pillar banks represent a duopoly. I do not know why we chose that form of doing things. To...

Seanad: Order of Business. (18 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: I wish to refer to the second editorial in The Irish Times today, namely, the Battle of Clontarf mark II. Some 3,000 people attended a protest on Sunday against Dublin City Council's proposal to build a 9 ft. high barricade along the seafront from the railway bridge at Clontarf to the wooden bridge to access the Royal Dublin golf club. As speakers, including Roddy Doyle, said at the meeting...

Seanad: Public Policy and Planning: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Public Policy and Planning: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: Is that agreed? Agreed.

Seanad: Public Policy and Planning: Statements (13 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: I join Senators Conway and Mooney in welcoming and praising the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe. It is extremely important to have a strong Central Statistics Office, CSO. It is also important to recognise its great level of expertise and its many achievements worldwide. The person missing from this debate - I am sure he is looking on from some vantage point - is the late Garrett...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (12 Oct 2011)

Sean Barrett: I will be brief. I endorse what the Minister said at one point in his speech. Everyone in the House welcomes the use of these unclaimed moneys for the betterment of the less well-off in our society. Such work for the public good must continue and that is the Bill's intention, which I commend. It is important not to have a slush fund of some kind with high administration overheads and the...