Results 7,281-7,300 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Jun 2015)

David Norris: I wish to join with others in expressing my shock and sadness at the closure of Clerys department store. I understand it was the first custom-built department store in the world. I always used it and found the staff to be unfailingly courteous. I suppose there was an old-world air about it, apart from the little cloches of hired-out spaces where Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent and the...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Jun 2015)

David Norris: I ask the Deputy Leader for a debate on the city of Dublin. For many years I have spoken about the situation of Dublin on a non-partisan basis and some weeks, or a couple of months ago, I referred to the dereliction of the Georgian core, which I have repeatedly drawn to the attention of the city authorities. One of the houses I mentioned in North Frederick Street collapsed. There is a...

Seanad: Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998: Motion (11 Jun 2015)

David Norris: I disagree with my distinguished colleagues. It is very important we review this legislation every year. The Act contains infringements of human and civil rights, and although they are understandable in the circumstances, I think it is absolutely necessary that every year we review them. I am moved by the Minister's invocation of Omagh. I remember that day; it was an appalling situation -...

Seanad: Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998: Motion (11 Jun 2015)

David Norris: Like the Roche case.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motion (11 Jun 2015)

David Norris: This motion seems to be even more urgent than the other one because criminal gangs are certainly on the increase. Nothing like this was heard of when I was a young person. People are now prepared to go out and murder. Nice looking young men are hired, and they think nothing of going out, putting a gun to somebody's head, pulling the trigger and blowing the head off the individual. That is...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motion (11 Jun 2015)

David Norris: We do not support terrorism, unlike Senator Coghlan's lot who came out with Sinn Féin in 1916.

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2015)

David Norris: I support this amendment, it seems very rational. The figures are stark in that an overwhelming majority of business in this country is in the small and medium enterprise sector. It seems reasonable to have a specifically designated member from that group on the commission. On a related matter, the Minister of State might consider this point and take it back to his Cabinet colleagues. The...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2015)

David Norris: The Minister of State is not supposed to name people in the House.

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2015)

David Norris: It does not matter a damn. That is what we are always told. I agree with the Minister of State but that is not the ruling from the Chair.

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2015)

David Norris: There are no demotions here.

Seanad: Moore Street Area Renewal and Development Bill 2015: Second Stage [Private Members] (10 Jun 2015)

David Norris: It is important that a dissenting voice is raised. The buildings are completely undistinguished architecturally and are in a very poor state of repair. Temple Bar Properties was invoked. I know all about Temple Bar Properties because I started the Hirschfeld Centre. There was absolutely nothing there beforehand; nobody had ever heard of the place. When we started a discotheque there and...

Seanad: Moore Street Area Renewal and Development Bill 2015: Second Stage [Private Members] (10 Jun 2015)

David Norris: I am aware of the presence of relatives and so forth in the Visitors Gallery, but it important historically to look at a different perspective on this. This was in the middle of a world war. That legally makes it treason. They ignored the commands of General Eoin MacNeill to cancel the Rising, so there is obviously an element of vanity about this. I must make something clear becauseThe...

Seanad: Moore Street Area Renewal and Development Bill 2015: Second Stage [Private Members] (10 Jun 2015)

David Norris: Plainly, they were not terrorists or anything like terrorists-----

Seanad: Moore Street Area Renewal and Development Bill 2015: Second Stage [Private Members] (10 Jun 2015)

David Norris: I cannot hear interruptions-----

Seanad: Moore Street Area Renewal and Development Bill 2015: Second Stage [Private Members] (10 Jun 2015)

David Norris: I never said they were terrorists. I have just said they were traitors; I said it tonight.

Seanad: Moore Street Area Renewal and Development Bill 2015: Second Stage [Private Members] (10 Jun 2015)

David Norris: It was during a world war. I do not give a damn what side one is on - technically and legally it is an act of treason. The Senator can hiss all he likes, but that is what I am saying. I am saying it because I am the only one who will say it.

Seanad: Moore Street Area Renewal and Development Bill 2015: Second Stage [Private Members] (10 Jun 2015)

David Norris: General Eoin MacNeill countermanded the Rising. With regard to terrorism, of course they were not terrorists. They were poets, idealists and the like, and they called off the Rising because of civilian casualties. That is the reverse of terrorism. That shows a humanitarian concern, and I always credit these people with that. However, what was the net result of it? There was the brutal...

Seanad: Moore Street Area Renewal and Development Bill 2015: Second Stage [Private Members] (10 Jun 2015)

David Norris: We should have free speech. Unpopular opinions should be listened to and respected. They should not be passed into law because if they are unpopular they are a minority and they have no place on the Statute Book. However, Seanad Éireann is a place where unpopular views should be permitted to be expressed. I realise I am in a minority of one, but Seanad Éireann is for-----

Seanad: Moore Street Area Renewal and Development Bill 2015: Second Stage [Private Members] (10 Jun 2015)

David Norris: -----the expression of these views, despite what Senator Daly would like to say in his inaudible interruptions.

Seanad: Moore Street Area Renewal and Development Bill 2015: Second Stage [Private Members] (10 Jun 2015)

David Norris: It does not matter a damn who would agree.