Results 4,601-4,620 of 4,717 for speaker:Martin Mansergh

Seanad: Order of Business. (29 Jan 2003)

Martin Mansergh: I support the call for a debate, at the appropriate moment, on what I hope will be a social partnership agreement. The word "productivity" has been mentioned. The productivity of this country has been fantastic under the national agreements of the past 15 years; we never saw its like before. Earlier today, I heard some union representatives express reservations about the agreement on the...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jan 2003)

Martin Mansergh: I agree with the sentiments expressed by the Minister and Senator Morrissey. Business is undermined when some employers do not play by the rules. Senator Tuffy referred to economic migrants. As we have a common travel area with Britain, this does not really arise, but, as is clear from the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, the United States actively encouraged economic migration from this...

Seanad: Development of Rugby: Motion. (29 Jan 2003)

Martin Mansergh: I commend Fine Gael for tabling this motion and my party colleagues for tabling a supportive motion. I express my full solidarity with the Senators from Connacht. Rugby is one of the sports in which I have an interest; my grandfather presented a cup that is still played for by clubs in Tipperary. I played the sport for a few years. Any national organisation, voluntary or otherwise, should...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Post Office Network. (29 Jan 2003)

Martin Mansergh: I propose to share my time with Senator Feighan.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Post Office Network. (29 Jan 2003)

Martin Mansergh: I want to focus on one issue, namely, improving the viability of rural post offices through automation. This is a tale of two post offices, one urban, one rural. The urban post office is smaller in terms of space and just up the road from my house in Killiney, which is not a disadvantaged place. It has recently been automated and business has increased by about 40%. I contrast this with the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: That is clear.

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: In the context of extending Christmas greetings to you, a Chathaoirligh, the Leader of the House, Members and the staff, I hope we will savour the peace which was graphically illustrated in a CSO release yesterday, which shows that this country has the lowest level of industrial disputes, with the exception of one year in the late 1980s. I find it incomprehensible that one of the reasons the...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (19 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: I inquire of the Labour Party whether there is another member state in the European Union which would operate the kind of liberalisation it desires. It was well established in debate last night that most people would have had documentation to enter Ireland from other parts of the EU or North America when seeking to come to Ireland. The issue of people being sent back in the cases of those...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (19 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: In all cases Irish emigrants to North America were documented. That is why all the genealogical research can be carried out because passenger lists and such documents are in existence. I am sure we are all united in wanting a decent, humane regime for asylum seekers and indeed immigrants, although they are a separate question. We must have a reasonable and controlled system. If we have a...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (19 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: Their identity has not been in doubt.

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (19 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: I wish to reply to Senator Ryan on how somebody could make an asylum application. Anyone seeking asylum is entitled to go to an Irish embassy or consulate, with or without documentation. If he or she does not have documentation, it would be necessary to explain the circumstances. It would be preferable if people could be encouraged to regularise the system of application.

Seanad: Order of Business. (18 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: I support Senator Henry's call for a debate on maternity services. I have a brother-in-law who has given parliamentary evidence in another jurisdiction on the question of home births. The issue of whether all births need to take place in large high-tech maternity hospitals is something which is worthy of discussion. I would like to comment on what Senator Norris said. If we believe in...

Seanad: Order of Business. (18 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: The Senator may totally disagree with the idea of Gaeltachts but I do not think—

Seanad: Order of Business. (18 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: People are entitled— (Interruptions.)

Seanad: Order of Business. (18 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: That is what makes this country part of what it is.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill, 2002: Second Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: I welcome the Minister and I welcome the Bill. As the Leas-Chathaoirleach resumes the Chair, I wish to express my appreciation of the constructive tone of his speech which was somewhat in contrast to the blustering, partisan tone of one or two earlier contributions. The very substantial increase of €530 million in spending in this area is among the highest in recent years. I calculate that...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill, 2002: Second Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: I believe the record will show he said something similar about every previous budget, regardless of the party that introduced it. However, a great deal has been done—

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill, 2002: Second Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: —but Fr. Healy's focus does not take sufficient account of the need to integrate maximising economic progress with social cohesion. If one concentrates exclusively on the social end of the scale, one may lose sight of the wood for the trees. A former head of the Combat Poverty Agency expressed some nostalgia for 1986, a year of high unemployment, high debt and poor economic conditions. One...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill, 2002: Second Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: No. We are doing them a great service by not having huge pressures building up, as has happened in more advanced European economies. Despite the increases, I recognise that it is not easy for anyone to live on social welfare alone. Nonetheless, employment opportunities are now far better than in the past. Wherever possible, people should supplement their income, particularly through pension...

Seanad: Statute Law (Restatement) Bill, 2000 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages. (18 Dec 2002)

Martin Mansergh: We support the amendments. The Bill contributes to what once would have been regarded as the philosopher's stone, the codification of law. There are the famous codes of Justinian and Napoleon, although I do not paint as bright a future for the Minister of State. When I told the former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, that I was not an unmitigated admirer of Napoleon he looked puzzled, if not...