Results 641-660 of 1,253 for speaker:John Crown

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Nov 2013)

John Crown: A probably apocryphal story is told about a country which had been decolonised following a long association with the UK and decided as a symbol of its independence that it would move from having all the traffic driving on the left British-style to driving on the right as happens in most other countries in the world. Having had a high-level bureaucratic and civil service analysis of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Sixth Report of Special Rapporteur on Child Protection: Discussion (19 Nov 2013)

John Crown: No.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

John Crown: I have not joined the Reform Alliance but I wish the group well. It is right for its members to highlight this aspect of the Bill, which is absurd. The amendment should be accepted in good faith and as a token of goodwill towards the reform process. I do not believe the Minister will ever follow my suggestion that we cease to fund parties in their entirety but it would be a gesture of...

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

John Crown: On a point of information, these are official figures.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

John Crown: I have not inflated them.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

John Crown: It is good to see the Minister again, and I thank him for providing me with some of my better lines during the Seanad referendum campaign.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

John Crown: I am grateful for the Minister's honesty.

Seanad: Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (13 Nov 2013)

John Crown: I appreciate the fact that the Minister gave me explicit permission to do so. I am very supportive of the Bill in its broad thrust and I am also supportive of the idea of reducing parliamentary expenses, with everything vouched for. I can think of no reason that would not be good public policy. It is impossible to comment on these issues without considering the broader context of the...

Seanad: Science Week: Statements (12 Nov 2013)

John Crown: I am delighted we have the opportunity to discuss science policy. It is not widely appreciated that the brief of the Minister of State is the most important in the Government. It is unlikely that the future of our species will be determined by real estate prices or paying bondholders but there is no doubt that this century we could cease to exist if we do not get the right answers to a...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2013)

John Crown: I welcome the Aire to the House. What could be a more difficult job to be given than that of Minister for Social Protection and Minister for Health during a recession and at a time when the demands for the services increase, especially in the case of the Department of Social Protection, for all the understandable reasons, while at the same time the tax base which has to support it goes down?...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: End-of-Life Care: Discussion (24 Oct 2013)

John Crown: About a year and a half ago, the committee committed to undertaking a widespread consultation process with the staff of Leinster House on the issue of transforming the campus into a smoke free campus. Will the Chair give us a report soon on the status of that consultation process, because we said we would revisit the issue after that consultation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: End-of-Life Care: Discussion (24 Oct 2013)

John Crown: For most medical specialties we tend to work at about 80% of the UK level, and it is interesting to see the same applies in this case. The UK tends to be at approximately one-fifth of the continental European level and one tenth of the North American level. When Dr. Creedon said our ratio was comparable to that in other centres my impulse was to say it would be a first for Ireland if that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: End-of-Life Care: Discussion (24 Oct 2013)

John Crown: What is the number of palliative care consultants in Ireland, in terms of a league table, by international standards?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: End-of-Life Care: Discussion (24 Oct 2013)

John Crown: I thank our colleagues and, as someone who was recently told he was one of the leading referrers of people to the palliative services in the country, I just wish to state what an outstanding job they do. It has been a real pleasure to see this specialty and discipline growing over the two decades in which I have been back in Ireland. I have a couple of quick points to make and will ask a...

Seanad: Seanad Reform: Statements (23 Oct 2013)

John Crown: I extend my personal welcome and gratitude to the Taoiseach. He has shown very considerable grace and statesmanship by coming here today and giving Seanad reform top priority so soon after the referendum. I am very grateful to him for doing so. He has also shown great wisdom and judgment in viewing the result of the referendum as a personal mandate to lead, as our leader, the efforts to...

Seanad: Political Reform: Statements (8 Oct 2013)

John Crown: We should try to work out a mechanism for implementing the 1979 amendment, the seventh constitutional amendment, which had 92% support. Even if it appears a little anachronistic now to be talking about extending the vote to graduates, the reality is that the people did vote to allow for it. We ignored the people and we should do as they suggested while waiting to take other steps.

Seanad: Political Reform: Statements (8 Oct 2013)

John Crown: I will do my best to determine whether I can forge a meeting of minds of my colleagues behind the other Seanad reform Bill. This is all happening too quickly and I do not know how practical it is to achieve this. I will try to work out whether there is a way to have a more unified Seanad electoral reform Bill that many of us can put our names to and advance, rather than just the Crown and...

Seanad: Political Reform: Statements (8 Oct 2013)

John Crown: There are many Members in this House with good ideas. There are those who have ideas that they can advance here in a way that they could not be advanced in the other House. I refer to direct and specific legislation. As several speakers mentioned, we are frustrated by the limited opportunity we have to introduce Bills. I will work longer hours to have more opportunities to introduce...

Seanad: Political Reform: Statements (8 Oct 2013)

John Crown: There is a funny phenomenon that occurs in medicine that is probably better known in the lay press than in the medical literature which is called the near-death experience. That is something which occurs when people have had cardiac arrest or serious stroke and they are felt to be clinically dead. Their pulse is gone and their hearts are no longer beating but due to the sophistication of...

Seanad: Political Reform: Statements (8 Oct 2013)

John Crown: What seemed important before seems less important afterwards and things which seemed unimportant and that were neglected before become more important afterwards. Collectively, this House did have the fabled near-death experience. For one, I can freely admit that about a week before the referendum I would have thought we were truly on death row; that this was an unsalvageable enterprise. It...