Results 5,001-5,020 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: They do not want to listen, so I must say this in simple words. My party in Government decided to do something about real decentralisation in the Education Act which was passed in the 1992-97 period. It decided to decentralise power in education. Packing civil servants around the country is not decentralising power; it is decentralising civil servants. This Government believes, as did its...

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: What will it cost? I would like to know.

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: It will cost rubbish. Fianna Fáil knows about rubbish. There is a succession of agencies here. I am concerned that we have a grossly over-centralised system of Government, not a system of administration. We are doing nothing about that because the Department whose Minister is the author of this is the last bastion of Stalinism in Europe. It believes that the centre knows best for everybody,...

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: That is a fact. All legislation which comes through this House states that where expenditure is involved in the Department, it is subject to the control of the Minister for Finance as if there was some superior wisdom in that Department. If we want to decentralise, the first thing we must do is decentralise power. If one decentralises power and authority, one then creates increased numbers of...

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: That is not what this is about. The CSO has been an extraordinarily successful transfer because it is an integrated body, most of whose work is done within the body. What use will the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and the Minister be in County Cavan, travelling in droves up and down to Dublin each time an Oireachtas committee wants to meet them or the Minister...

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: We knew in 1992 and in 2002 that the Government would con the people but the people have copped on.

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I know the Fianna Fáil Party well having grown up with it.

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: My electoral record is a good deal better than Senator Mooney's. Having been elected to the House on more occasions than most Senators, I have a reasonably good record in that regard.

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Senator Mooney and I should not shout at each other about electoral success. Neither of us is in a position to speak on the matter and we should not pursue it any further. The Minister of State stated that people who do not want to move will be offered alternative public service jobs in Dublin. A significant number of the agencies in question, as distinct from the Civil Service, are...

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: We sorted it out.

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: The current Minister for Finance identified it, and we sorted it out.

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I support my colleagues. As the spouse of a psychiatrist, from nothing other than listening I am aware of how difficult it is to make a diagnosis in the area of psychiatric illness. The suggestion that immigration officers at our ports would suddenly discover a competence that professional psychiatrists do not have to diagnose psychiatric illness is a commentary on the Department of Justice,...

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: How can we have an earlier signature motion for a Bill whose precise date of passing we do not yet know? I understood earlier signature motions were taken where there was genuine urgency. We do not know when this Bill will be passed and yet we already have an earlier signature motion. Are we to take it that earlier signature is becoming the routine practice of this House?

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I know it is not to be taken and the Leader did not mention it on the Order of Business. Why is an earlier signature motion on the Order Paper when we do not know when the Bill to which it refers will be passed? Who is playing games with us? Níl fhios agam cén fáth nach mbeidh ráiteasaí sa Tigh faoin Choimisinéir Teanga. Duine ana thábhachtach é i gcursaí riaracháin na tíre. Níl...

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: For the benefit of Senators from Trinity College who have a problem with our first language, I said that we should have brief statements on the appointment of the Language Commissioner. Will the Leader arrange for a debate on the Revenue Commissioners? Twice in the past ten days, they have announced they will not prosecute anybody for breaches of the tax amnesty because they cannot get enough...

Seanad: Proposed Stadium at Lansdowne Road: Statements. (5 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: Senator Mooney made the interesting point that there is only a finite number of young people involved in sport. That is a good point on which to begin a debate. In terms of the public good, public health and so forth, the first priority of a national sports policy ought to be to maximise participation, rather than to maximise achievement. It was taken for granted when I was of...

Seanad: Proposed Stadium at Lansdowne Road: Statements. (5 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I have said nicer things about this Minister of State than about most other Ministers because of his considerable work on the European brief. The Minister should not spoil his good record. I agree with Senator Mooney about false dichotomies. Some Members of the Opposition are too quick to make them by asking why all this money should be spent on a stadium when there is this or that other...

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I would love to get into a competition about who's constituent John Hume is.

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I do not have the Catholics half as well tied up as Senator Norris has the Anglicans.

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 Feb 2004)

Brendan Ryan: I do not have the prominence in my Church that Senator Norris has in his.