Results 7,961-7,980 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Universities (Development and Innovation) (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (28 Jan 2015)

David Norris: They went to the other place.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jan 2015)

David Norris: I would like to raise the issue of the situation that obtained in the past few days in a school in south County Dublin, Coláiste Eoin, where a group due to talk about homophobic bullying was given half an hour's notice that the session would not take place, despite the fact it had visited the school for a successful visit previously. Apparently, on this occasion, the school management...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jan 2015)

David Norris: ----- shouting at Ronald Reagan. The President is a mature balanced man and I doubt he was as outraged as people suggest in order to score political points on this issue.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jan 2015)

David Norris: No, they did not.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jan 2015)

David Norris: He did not. He condemned the language.

Seanad: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Motion (27 Jan 2015)

David Norris: I welcome the Minister and it is my honour to second the amendment tabled by Senator Power. The Minister began by acknowledging the Irish women and children who were in mother and baby homes in this country, but only some and not all of them. Why not go the whole hog now, instead of endlessly having to revisit this issue? Over the last few years I have raised a number of homes,...

Seanad: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Motion (27 Jan 2015)

David Norris: I second the amendment.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2015)

David Norris: I share the opposition of Fianna Fáil to the full and final privatisation of Aer Lingus. To take one fact about Aer Lingus, it has treated its pensioners in a grotesque manner. Despite being in profit, the company has shafted its own pensioners, cutting some of their pensions by 60%. That decision was intolerable. I hope the Government will carefully examine the issue. With regard...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Jan 2015)

David Norris: I join Senator Bacik in commending the Government on its very clear and concise wording for the amendment, which leaves no doubt. However, I do not think the amendment was necessary because it seems to me that the Constitution is perfectly open to same-sex marriage and, as I have said, this was demonstrated many times in this House and as long ago as 1967 by the then Attorney General, Declan...

Seanad: Gender Recognition Bill 2014: Second Stage (21 Jan 2015)

David Norris: I welcome the Bill, late and limited though it is, in particular because it will obviate the necessity for transgender persons to re-open the issue every time they apply for a driving licence or other such official document. I also welcome the fact that the Minister paid tribute in her speech to Seanad Éireann and said this was the appropriate House in which to introduce such...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jan 2015)

David Norris: Good for you.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jan 2015)

David Norris: Absolutely.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jan 2015)

David Norris: I welcome the announcement that the Government has agreed the wording of the same-sex referendum to be put to the people in May. I would say that this is really a question of choice. I note that a small minority of gay people have stated that they do not want marriage. That is fine. That is their choice. It is a matter of choice for other people. I do not want to get married - it is a...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jan 2015)

David Norris: I mention this particularly in the light of the courageous announcement of the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, that he is gay. It would be astonishing if this right to marry were denied to a member of the Cabinet. I also very much welcome the fact that the Government is introducing legislation governing adoption and children's rights. This was the major defect of the Civil Partnership...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jan 2015)

David Norris: It is important to make the point that the Government should be listening to this.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jan 2015)

David Norris: It is no harm to put it on the record here. The Government is looking to force people to divorce when the Constitution supports marriage. It is quite extraordinary and leads to all kinds of difficulties, such as the four-year delay. Then there is the question of age. Young people - those under the age of 18-----

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jan 2015)

David Norris: -----have these requirements as well, and then there is the question of self-definition. I very much hope the Government will be in listening mode and will not consider that the Bill it has presented to the House for Second Stage debate today is perfection, and that the Government will permit the Seanad to fulfil its role for the proper and bettering amendment of the Bill proposed by Government.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jan 2015)

David Norris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jan 2015)

David Norris: Over the past few years we have been witness to an extraordinary transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. This is a moral issue, but it also has practical consequences for even the most market-oriented economy. It was astonishing that, as Oxfam has pointed out in the run-up to the Davos conference, the richest 1% of the planet's population controls more than the remaining 99%. That is...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

David Norris: Any of them.