Results 821-840 of 7,123 for speaker:Mary O'Rourke

Seanad: Building Control Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: It will not do so now.

Seanad: Building Control Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: Fat chance.

Seanad: Building Control Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: What are those four words?

Seanad: Building Control Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: I thank the Minister for taking the trouble to read the report of the Second Stage debate. I acknowledge the he studied our comments and then deleted the grandfather clause. It was a funny clause, which I disliked intensely, and I thank him for deleting it. Reference was made to the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland. I still have republican feelings and when the word "Royal" was...

Seanad: Building Control Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: However, I met people from the Royal College of Surgeons who said that foreign students applying to the college loved the word "Royal" in the title because it gave their parents a sense of security that they were sending their children to a well regulated body. I then gave up having an antipathy to the word. Herself will be here, I hope, in the next 12 months.

Seanad: Building Control Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: I thank the Minister. I hope there is no hidden resentment against the RIAI and that if there is, it does not find expression. I also hope the Minister has erected sufficient walls to ensure this cannot happen and that he will oversee how it is proceeding with its business.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: It was cows.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: I thought it was cows.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: Did they vote on it?

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: I know that.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: The offer was 12 cans free for every 12 purchased.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: Senator Brian Hayes raised the matter of what he termed the golden circle of top brass within the Health Service Executive being eligible for massive amounts of overtime, and I take on board Senator O'Toole's point about the newspaper reports being correct. Overtime was a term I never heard of in the six Departments in which I worked. Secretaries General in those Departments worked all...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: I considered that while Senator Cox spoke, but I cannot take a decision for a Minister without speaking to him or her. Does the House understand this?

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: I ask the House to accept in good faith that I will endeavour to get the Tánaiste to speak here.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: I hope our party will enjoin with Senator Cox's motion. I do not want to mislead anyone. While I have not spoken to the Tánaiste yet, I hope I will. We will work out the best way to deal with the Senator's legitimate request, which was seconded by Senator Bannon. I thank Senator Cox for raising the matter. Senator Bannon, echoed by Senator Ross, sought a debate on the competitive...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: They are not able for drink of that kind. Like all Members of the House, Senator Norris supports Senator Cox. I share his concern about mandatory sentences because they are blunt instruments. Our judges have different specialties and abilities, but we will see what comes of the debate. Senator Norris praised the Gerry Adams interview in An Phoblacht, which I hope the Oireachtas Library...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: His voice is authentic in this respect, as it is regarding the Gerry Adams interview and all matters pertaining to the North. We will not say the name of another man who cried off because he was going to face a warm reception in Kilmainham. He was sensible in that regard. Senator Ross asked for a debate on planning matters, but the three debates we have had on the issue were not fruitful....

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: I am talking about real people who are looking for housing on a once-off basis — the sons and daughters of landowners, for example.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: If the planning authority does not get one under one heading, it will get one under another. It might decide that it does not like the shape or height of the house one is planning to build. Everybody will agree that, for safety reasons, the site should extend for a certain distance to the left and right of the house. I am appalled and alarmed by the manner in which decent and ordinary...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Mary O'Rourke: There is something extraordinary about it. When planners get up every day, it is as if they decide how many applications they will refuse that day. They then get on with their business, which affects people in rural areas. It is awful that they take no account of people's day-to-day housing needs. They do not approve plans for balconies and conservatories, for example. However, their own...