Results 5,961-5,980 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Order of Business. (13 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: I will repeat what I said yesterday: the irony of this country is that we have extraordinarily uneven circumstances in that we have a huge need for school buildings, for instance, but no money will be provided for most of them. On the other hand, we still have a building industry which seems to feel it can rip off its consumers. Judging by the eternal list of anecdotes and stories of...

Seanad: Lindsay Tribunal Report: Motion. (13 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: There is a consistent theme running through the debate up to now and I do not want to spend the time allocated to me just repeating what other Members have said. If we, as a society, are to learn anything from this appalling scandal, it must be that all public bodies should have clearly defined lines of accountability. It is the duty of the Oireachtas to ensure this is the case. Many have...

Seanad: Lindsay Tribunal Report: Motion. (13 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: It is not fair. A commitment on this extends far beyond the Government, it extends to the Opposition, the medical profession and the health boards. The language of the motion is typical of that of a Government amendment to an Opposition motion which seeks to defend the Government's position.

Seanad: Lindsay Tribunal Report: Motion. (13 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: I started by saying that I thought it was insensitive, I did not make any accusation about it trying to be political. It is thoughtless. Fine Gael and Labour endeavoured to have the last two paragraphs of the motion removed but were late with the amendment. The Cathaoirleach, using his perfectly acceptable discretion, did not accept it. The fundamental issue is the deaths of 79 people. The...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy. (12 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: Bhí aithne agam ar Dick Hourigan. Bhíomar le chéile sa Tigh seo ar feadh roinnt blianta agus bhí cairdeas eadrainn. Chaitheamar cuid mhaith ama trasna an bhóthair i dtigh ósta nach dtabharfaidh mé ainm air. Dick Hourigan made many efforts to explain farming to me, particularly late at night. I would not be recognised as the most sympathetic commentator on the ups and downs of...

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: At 5 p.m.? The Leader is joking.

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: I thank Senator Norris for reminding me about the meeting of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. I had forgotten the time had moved on and I may not be here to hear the Leader's entirely reasonable replies to my questions. I would like the Leader to tell us why we have no motion on the Flood tribunal and why we have one on the Lindsay tribunal, a sycophantic motion which, among other things,...

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: I appreciate that this is an interim report and that if Fianna Fáil had responded to the Flood tribunal's request it would have been published before the election, not afterwards. The six month delay in appointing two judges was extraordinarily convenient to the Government parties before the general election. I also believe that the motion on the Lindsay tribunal is an appallingly poorly...

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: —and the apparent ignoring of the most basic of purchasers' rights, which now seems to be endemic in the industry. I agree with Senator Norris that we need a debate on the media. I found last Friday night's "Late Late Show" unpleasant, in that somebody was given the opportunity to say things about a Member of the other House who happened to be her estranged husband. I have no idea what it...

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: There is a fundamental need to look at the values that motivate our media because what I saw on the "Late Late Show" on Friday night was unworthy of public service broadcasting. It was a gross intrusion into one person's privacy and opened up the possibility of a quite unpleasant kind of relationship between politics and the media.

Seanad: Second Interim Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments: Statements. (12 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: As always, Senator Mansergh's defence of Fianna Fáil is the party's most sophisticated and impressive. He comes from similar roots to myself, perhaps, in terms of his background and therefore understands Fianna Fáil as well as I do. I take no pleasure in what I must say now.

Seanad: Second Interim Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments: Statements. (12 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: One cannot pretend that each of these cases was an exception. This was not some marginal figure; it was a figure central to Fianna Fáil whom Mr. Justice Flood found to have taken corrupt payments and bribes. Those findings should produce outrage rather than the sort of innocuous speech the Minister of State delivered here. They have produced outrage among the public but, understandably, the...

Seanad: Second Interim Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments: Statements. (12 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: I will say no more than what I have said, in deference to your views, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. On the same topic, I want to suggest to the members of Fianna Fáil that there is much they can do if they want to reassure us. I have the distinction, if that is what it is, of having been expelled from this House because of things I said about Mr. Burke. I said he was a disgrace as a Minister. I was...

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: I welcome the Leader to the Opposition benches. She did a wonderful job this morning tearing a strip off the Minister for Transport. If the rest of us used the language she used—

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: The Leader deserves to be complimented on her wonderful role as Leader of the Opposition.

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: There are two tribunal reports which have been laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas, the interim report of the Flood tribunal and the report of the Lindsay tribunal. These tribunals were set up by orders of the Oireachtas and while I can perhaps attribute political motives to the lack of debate on the Flood tribunal, one could argue that the Lindsay tribunal dealt with far more...

Seanad: Report of the Inspector of Mental Hospitals, 2001: Statements. (7 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: Why does the Senator think I sit here and not in front of him?

Seanad: Report of the Inspector of Mental Hospitals, 2001: Statements. (7 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: I was too young to be in the Independent group. They represent the senior Members of the Opposition benches.

Seanad: Report of the Inspector of Mental Hospitals, 2001: Statements. (7 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: Time is moving at the speed of light.

Seanad: Report of the Inspector of Mental Hospitals, 2001: Statements. (7 Nov 2002)

Brendan Ryan: To be fair, even if I am not legally obliged, I declare an interest in that I am married to a consultant psychiatrist. That informs and, to a certain degree, inhibits me, though over the past 20 years I have raised the issue of conditions in our mental hospitals, sometimes in colourful terms. I speak from my own knowledge and not through anything I acquired from my spouse.