Results 8,941-8,960 of 11,441 for speaker:Ivana Bacik

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: The Senator has conceded the point.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: They are marginalised in politics.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: How is this relevant to this Bill?

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: Can we stick to the amendment please?

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: That is not what EMILY's List does.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: I originally wanted to speak but I did not wish to interrupt my good friend, Senator Norris, in mid flow, during his rant. Since then there have been a number of other rants. I respond to one particular comment he made and remind him and Senator Mullen to try to use gender neutral language when speaking about the nerve people have to enter politics. We heard about a gander from Senator...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: I cannot recall but in any case I think she used-----

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: Senator Norris's language was, perhaps, rather different but I suggest gender neutral language would be preferable to the term "bald".

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: On a more serious level, it is important to have a debate about corporate donations but it is always a case of trying to balance the freedom of expression of individuals and organisations to make contributions to causes in which they believe, as Senator Hayden has pointed out. It is a complex issue but while corporate donations per se are viewed as being bad for politics, and clearly a...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: I do not think there is any issue with that. I do not join in the rants that many others have had against Sinn Féin, much as I might feel the need to do so but that is going off the point. When debating issues about the incomes of Senators and Deputies, we must be careful not to descend to a lowest common denominator. There is a point at which people can no longer afford to go into...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: The Senator should mind his metaphors.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: I do not want to prolong the discussion unnecessarily. It is a debate that has already taken place. With respect to Senator Mullen, it is my understanding - obviously, I am not privy to the Attorney General's advice - that we have not been able to enact an outright ban on corporate donations because of certain provisions of the Constitution. This was explored by parties in opposition...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: With respect, we are all in favour of restricting corporate donations as far as possible and practicable. There has been no dissent from any side of the House on that principle. However, there is clearly a substantive difference between an outright ban and a restriction.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: Most countries have their own sovereignty.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: It was a Cabinet decision.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: Senator Thomas Byrne accuses the Government of being obsessed with the issue of having an embassy to the Holy See and then proceeds to propose an amendment to the Order of Business at a time when we should, of course, be focusing on job creation. I agree with him that we should have a debate on the jobs plan, for which many of us called yesterday and I think we will be able to facilitate it.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: The Senator has called for a debate on the closure of the embassy to the Holy See even though we have already dealt with the issue in the House with the Tánaiste who gave a very clear response. It was a decision taken by the Government. Three missions were closed - the embassies in Iran, East Timor and the Vatican. All of the closures are regrettable, but as the Tánaiste made clear, if...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: There has been plenty of public debate on the issue. Father Peter McVerry, for example, said that the Vatican should not have embassies there at all. If the Vatican were to relax its own rule and allow embassies in Rome to represent officially in the Vatican, this would be an entirely satisfactory resolution.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: I call for a debate on waste and waste management in light of the fiasco across Dublin City Council area resulting from the hand-over of the waste collection services to Greyhound, the lack of information to residents, the confusion over collection dates and the insistence by Greyhound on upfront payments, with the result that we may see thousands of households without bin collection services...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Feb 2012)

Ivana Bacik: I, too, welcome the action plan for jobs launched yesterday. It amounts to a significant new programme with more than 270 actions, some clearly based on initiatives taken previously and some of which are new. Some actions are creative and have already captured people's imagination. I know that people in small businesses are interested in the diaspora finder's fee. That measure, coupled...