Results 4,381-4,400 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

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

Sean Barrett: I compliment the Minister on this constructive discussion. Our concerns were that the fixed five year term might reduce the calibre of applicant and lead to the loss of talent because the term is not renewable. A newly recruited taxing master would have to leave after five years so I wanted to give the Minister and the courts as much discretion as possible so we get the necessary talent in...

Seanad: Registration of Wills Bill 2011: Second Stage (6 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister to the House and agree with the sentiments Senators have expressed about the operation of her Department. I rarely hear phone-in programmes that are critical of the Department of Social Protection. They are often critical of many other agencies. The Department distributes large amounts of money efficiently to a large number of people. I heard Senator Leyden's...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Some of my contribution will echo what Senator Zappone said. Today, the Troika is here. One of the key parts of the agreement of 1 December last is an examination of the costs of doing business in sheltered sectors in Ireland, including legal costs. That is what we were trying to debate yesterday in our amendments before they were guillotined. The cost of doing business in Ireland report...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Will the Leader impress again on Ministers the unintended consequences of guillotining legislation? This is not about the ego of Senators; it is about the damage being done to the country. Yesterday's debate should not have been curtailed because there were serious issues to raise. The Minister proposes to lower the retirement age from 70 to 65 while retaining 70 as the retirement age for...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Recently, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport announced that he will decide by the end of September on joining the two Luas lines and on the metro to the airport and Swords and that this would be published as part of the national development plan. I ask the Leader to communicate to the Minister that he should separate the two issues and discuss the Luas-metro issue here. We should...

Seanad: Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2011)

Sean Barrett: Could this section be adapted to deal with the rise in unauthorised surveillance, particularly in light of certain media activities in the United Kingdom reported this morning? Will the Minister consider bringing debt collectors, who have a fairly appalling image and record, into the licensing system of the Private Security Authority to remove strong-arm merchants and thugs? I realise I...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Second Stage (30 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: I am sorry, but some copies of the Minister's speech do not have pages 10 and 11. I do not know whether that is a general problem. I would like to follow the Minister's speech on paper. I apologise for this intrusion, but it would help us if we had the missing page.

Seanad: Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Second Stage (30 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: Go raibh maith agat.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: I support the comments of Senator O'Brien on the bonus culture. The bonuses paid in 2010 were presumably decided in 2009, a year in which GNP declined by 9%. I wonder what planet the people who decided to give bonuses were on when the rest of us were experiencing such a huge decline in income. On No. 3 on the Order Paper, the request to the President to sign the Bill we discussed yesterday...

Seanad: Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Second Stage (30 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: I wish to share time with Senator Rónán Mullen.

Seanad: Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Second Stage (30 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: I reiterate my apology for interrupting the Minister and the Leas-Chathaoirleach. However, the absence of pages 10 and 11 from my copy of the Minister's script meant that my narrative moved from publicans withdrawing from the MEAS code to somebody falling over on a ship or an aeroplane and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, intervening. That was too...

Seanad: Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011: Second Stage (30 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: There were obviously gremlins in the works when it came to the my copy of the Minister's script. It is said that if Sam Goldwyn, the Hollywood studio mogul, was sent a script with two pages stuck together, it was returned - rejected - with the two pages still stuck together. That did not happen today. It is also said the same thing happened in the Abbey Theatre when a frustrated playwright...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 16: In page 19, subsection (2), line 29, to delete paragraph (i). I raise this matter in the presence of two distinguished graduates of the Trinity College law schools, Senators Byrne and Bacik. The Minister answers to the Comptroller and Auditor General, who is protected under the Constitution. Is the Comptroller and Auditor General equivalent in law to judges with...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: Can we take it that the ability of the Comptroller and Auditor General to audit the Department of public expenditure and reform is not infringed by the section?

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 21: In page 20, before section 24, but in Part 3, to insert the following new section: In page 20, before section 24, but in Part 3, to insert the following new section: "PART 4APPOINTMENT AND DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND REFORM 24.--There shall be a Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure.". We face...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: The copyright belongs to Senator Susan O'Keeffe who named them thus. Governance rather than government is the issue. The change of government has taken place, but the governance problems remain. My amendments seek parliamentary scrutiny on the appointment of the Secretary General of the Department and parliamentary scrutiny of performance. I am speaking in the context of the Government...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister. What I was trying to get to were the findings in the Wright report that so few of the staff are qualified. Of 542 staff, only 39 are economists trained to masters level or higher compared with 60% in Canada and 40% in the Netherlands. I wanted to cast the net was widely as possible and I welcome the Minister's announcement about reform of the Top Level Appointments...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Sean Barrett: I support the amendments. It is important to ensure this will not just be another Department, not simply the old Department of Finance, with two thirds of its staff being sent to the new Department, because that is why we had to be rescued by the IMF. There must be something different. There must be better accountability. The Wright report which analysed the Department of Finance referred...