Results 4,781-4,800 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: If I am named, I will defend myself.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I will have 15 minutes, while the Minister has an hour.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Or in order that white South Africans could secure their future.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Paul McGrath is not a white South African afraid for his future. That is not the basis for loyalty to the State.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I am glad the Minister is in the House.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I am. I usually enjoy the Minister's combative nature and suspect that to a degree he may enjoy mine. In that regard, we have sometimes let people down. Some years ago, Mr. Pat Kenny was disappointed when he failed to start a row between us because we ended up agreeing about more than we expected. Mr. Kenny had expected blood under the studio door. I will not get cross but the Minister's...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: It is not in the Minister's script.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I was away checking the figures while the Minister was adding to his script.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Yes, Minister, to coin a phrase. The non-EU nationals come here to work, come as asylum seekers or come to have their children. They are, therefore, of childbearing age. They also come from cultures where the average family size is considerably bigger than ours.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: The Minister keeps on saying that he said all these things. However, what his script states is that he attaches significance to the fact that the rate of birth is 11%. They are all of the optimal childbearing age between approximately 18 and 30. I do not know what the Irish figures are for women in that age group. While the Minister may know, he did not tell us. The Minister put into his...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I might have been happy if the Minister had not gone on at such great length. Like all the Minister's statistics up to now, once one checks them, one finds that they are utterly trite, tendentious and lacking in intellectual integrity. Perhaps the Minister is correct. I do not know, and that is the point. Everything he has said so far is open to a different interpretation or question....

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Is the Senator referring to the area of citizenship?

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: We are not talking about asylum seeking.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: It is bonded labour. She has no rights.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Maybe we differ about what are fundamental rights.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Why does the Minister not name him?

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: When it is proposed to guillotine a Bill, a motion to that effect should appear on the Order Paper rather than assuming that because the Bill is due to finish at 4 p.m., a plethora of matters that are not written down come into play. Since I was first elected to this House I have attended a considerable number of constitutional amendment debates. I do not recall any contentious ones having...

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: That is grossly offensive. It is a classic symptom of the way in which this business has been handled by the Government from the very beginning. The Government is contemptuous of the Houses of the Oireachtas and of its own programme for Government, which stated that there would be consultations with all parties on the matter. An appallingly researched document produced in the dead of night on...

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business. (8 Apr 2004)

Brendan Ryan: While I do not want to refer to the particular report in any detail, it is a model of how the Oireachtas can deal with a difficult and controversial issue and establish a consensus view. Another difficult issue has now been presented to us, which could still be addressed by that process.