Results 8,901-8,920 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Seanad: Order of Business (13 May 2008)

Alex White: I support and second Senator Fitzgerald's call for the amendment of Standing Orders to provide for a debate on the issues raised in the "Prime Time Investigates" television programme last night. It was a particularly good analytical programme, which set out in stark terms the reality of what is happening throughout the child protection services presided over by the Health Service Executive,...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 May 2008)

Alex White: The country has changed.

Seanad: Order of Business (8 May 2008)

Alex White: What is expected is 11 years in government.

Seanad: Order of Business (8 May 2008)

Alex White: There have been many congratulations and we now have had a month of praise and thanksgiving. Much of it has been deserved, some of it less so, and some of it has been bordering on the nauseating. It is now time to get down to business. I wondered at one stage over the last few weeks whether the former Taoiseach would outdo Luciano Pavarotti, who has the world record of 165 curtain calls in...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 May 2008)

Alex White: The former Taoiseach went close to that record. Senator O'Toole's point about a debate anticipates precisely the point I was going to raise myself. He is right and I support him. While it is a matter for debate whether this is a new Government, it is an opportune moment for us to have that wider discussion. I ask the Leader to arrange for the new Taoiseach to come into this House and to...

Seanad: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 May 2008)

Alex White: Tairgim leasú a 1: I gCuid 1, leathanach 7, idir línte 7 agus 8, an méid seo a leanas a chur isteach: "11° Amhail ar theacht i bhfeidhm agus ó theacht i bhfeidhm an Chonartha dá dtagraítear i bhfo-alt 10°, is feidhm de chuid Thithe an Oireachtais é na feidhmeanna a thugtar do Pharlaimintí Náisiúnta leis an gConradh sin a chomhall thar ceann an Stáit, de réir Theideal II...

Seanad: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 May 2008)

Alex White: I understand what the Minister of State has said. I am inclined towards the view he takes in respect of sparse language in the Constitution and that we should not overburden it with detail. We should not leave aside the responsibility these Houses will have. We have had scrutiny legislation before and people are alive to the need to ensure proper scrutiny. However, we need to put that...

Seanad: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008: Committee Stage. (1 May 2008)

Alex White: There is a risk that inserting the phrase, "To this end the State shall, in particular, maintain a policy of non-membership of military alliances", into the Constitution may have an opposite effect. It would come after the phrase "any such exercise shall be subject to the prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas". It could give rise to the question whether we already have such a...

Seanad: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008: Second Stage (Resumed) (1 May 2008)

Alex White: In the context of this debate on the Lisbon treaty, I have no difficulty with people raising profound issues on where Europe is going, the policies it takes in respect of world trade and the impact it has on different sectors of our economy and society. I do not criticise Senator Doherty or anybody else for raising such issues in this debate because we are thereby afforded an opportunity to...

Seanad: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008: Second Stage (Resumed) (1 May 2008)

Alex White: I accept the legitimate point he makes in respect of the need to have a debate about trade but it is inaccurate and dishonest to visit the issue at the door of the Lisbon treaty. I do not mean to personally attack the Senator because he has the right to raise these issues and I respect people who have different points of view on this debate. The Senator suggested that the Government is...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2008)

Alex White: So, it is only when we agree with them that they are right.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2008)

Alex White: Pick and choose.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2008)

Alex White: Hear, hear. Let us have that debate.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2008)

Alex White: On the subject of human rights monitoring, colleagues may know that the report of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Thomas Hammarberg, has been published. Will the Acting Leader arrange a debate on this important report's findings and conclusions which are both positive and negative in respect of Ireland? I agree with the Commissioner that some developments have been...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2008)

Alex White: It is still the case.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2008)

Alex White: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2008)

Alex White: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2008: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2008)

Alex White: I thank colleagues on all sides for their contributions. I strongly agree with the emphasis Senator Doherty put on the importance of freedom of information. I also agree with him on the context in which he placed it. I represent something of an unreconstructed approach to freedom of information, namely, that the presumption should be precisely that freedom of information. The case should...

Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2008: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2008)

Alex White: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Good Friday Agreement and Lisbon Treaty: Statements (24 Apr 2008)

Alex White: I join my colleagues in welcoming the Taoiseach to the Seanad this afternoon. I assure the Taoiseach that the atmosphere in this House is not always as calm as it may seem today. We have had our less peaceful moments here, even in recent weeks. We welcome the Taoiseach here and take this opportunity to wish him well in the future. When I was trying to reflect on when I first heard the name...