Results 4,361-4,380 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Family Home Bill 2011: Second Stage (27 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes. He, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, were described by Senator Susan O'Keeffe as the "Celtic troika" in their attempts to right the country's finances. I welcome the Bill introduced by Senator Marc MacSharry. It is one element of the effort to...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I was very pleased to hear Senator Coghlan compare Killarney national park to St. Stephen's Green. Those of us who live in the greater Dublin area will help him defend Killarney and I ask him to help us defend St. Stephen's Green because it is under threat from an extremely expensive and wasteful project which is damaging in environmental terms, namely to dig it up to make an underground...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed). (21 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Coming so soon after the court finding that by-elections are not discretionary, to be seen to extend the proposed timeframe from six to nine months would reflect poorly on Parliament. Even if it the holding of a by-election is inconvenient or expensive, the will of the people must be heard.

Seanad: Electoral Amendment Bill 2011: Committee Stage (21 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I wonder if reducing the number of Deputies, even by a small figure, and abolishing the Seanad misses how the country got into its current position. We need more scrutiny, checks and balances and parliamentary democracy. In recent times, the Executive as opposed to the Parliament, was all-powerful and the permanent government had massive power and was rarely questioned in the House. As we...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I request that the Leader address the issue of what the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, refers to as "regulatory capture" or "downtown office syndrome". We are approaching the third anniversary of the day on which representatives from the banks went into the Department of Finance and effectively bankrupted the country. As a share of GDP, Ireland provides the...

Seanad: SPHE Curriculum: Motion (20 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister. It is good to see him in the House again. I commend Senator McAleese and his colleagues on introducing the motion, which relates to a matter of vital importance. Senator Power referred to sarcasm. It is not that long since a former Senator, Owen Sheehy Skeffington, campaigned against people who administered physical beatings to children in schools. We must...

Seanad: Residential Institutions (Redress) Bill 2011: Second Stage (19 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister, Deputy Quinn, to the House. I have had the pleasure of knowing him for many years. Like Senator Cullinane, I fear so much of this is still unresolved that we may find ourselves back here again because even more scandals will have been unearthed. Like Senator Crown, I appreciate the Minister is seeking to draw a line under this but we do not know what lurks around...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: At 1 p.m., Mr. Chopra will address the nation on television about the recovery package. Will the Leader impress upon the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, CPP, the need to expedite our request that Mr. Chopra should address the House? The Parliament has an important role to play in national recovery. Arising from our most useful debate last Friday on the health service, I call on the...

Seanad: Unfinished Housing Developments: Statements (13 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Penrose, to the House and wish him every success in dealing with this problem, which is literally a blot on the landscape. It is a testament to how we got into this situation. The effects can be seen in every county of reckless lending by financial institutions, more so in the western part of the country, and of a building industry which expected...

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State for returning to the House after lunch. I echo Senator Burke's concern about the two-year period. The five-year period for introducing competition in health insurance should come prior to this in order that hospitals will be competing and freeing up resources that are necessary. If these posts end after two years, the health insurance market has not been...

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I will probably support the Bill. I note it is necessary that doctors must be in situ in the hospitals on Monday. I also note from the Minister of State's speech, which she delivered so well, that we have trawled to recruit suitably qualified doctors, particularly doctors from India and Pakistan. Our GDP per head is nine times that of India...

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I have grave misgivings about that part of this legislation. That is no bad reference to the Minister who probably feels much the same on having been landed in this situation. The important part of the Minister of State's speech, following her reference to this pretty dreadful gesture towards Third World countries, is that we must proceed with the reform agenda. She mentioned the...

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: For 14,000 acute beds there are 17,000 administrators. If one is given a so-called semi-private bed, a phrase which defies definition - it means a patient is given a bed in a corridor and may be moved somewhere else later - the total cost of that bed provision is greater per night than that of staying in the best hotels in the country. I had a constituent who was charged €10,000 for the...

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (8 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Report Stage and Final Stages. (7 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I second the amendment.

Seanad: Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Report Stage and Final Stages. (7 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 11: In page 37, to delete lines 22 to 29. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire agus é ar ais sa Seanad. This amendment was not previously discussed, as the section was not reached on Committee Stage. I thank the Leader for facilitating this discussion. The Taxing Master is dealt with in Part 14 of a Bill with 15 Parts. When a Bill is a composite measure that deals with a wide...

Seanad: Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Report Stage and Final Stages. (7 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I am delighted to hear that news and thank the Minister and Senator Ivana Bacik for drawing it to my attention. The next provision I wish to address is the one that imposes a term limit. When we were working on this amendment, we went through 757 pages of Taxation of Costs by James T. Flynn and Tony Halpin and term limits were not mentioned, nor was the early retirement point dealt with by...