Results 9,241-9,260 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Dec 2007)

Alex White: When I refer to sufficient time I do not mean sufficient time only on the floor of the House. I mean sufficient time after the Bill's publication to allow people study it and prepare their views in order that it can be amended in this House over separate Stages. It would be unconscionable for the Government to seek to push legislation such as this through all Stages. If the legislation is...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Dec 2007)

Alex White: We must also ensure there is enough time to discuss it.

Seanad: Report on Seanad Reform: Motion (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: Senator Donie Cassidy might aspire to that role.

Seanad: Report on Seanad Reform: Motion (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: I second the amendment. This is an extremely important debate. I commend the Green Party on bringing forward the debate forward relatively early in this session of the Seanad. Its members are doing us a service in doing so. I am happy to support the amendment to the Green Party motion for reasons to which I will return. We are here to promote debate and, hopefully, we can do that. One...

Seanad: Report on Seanad Reform: Motion (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: Perhaps in future when Members on the other side are trying to get us to adopt a multi-party position on an issue, they might drop the word "welcome" in the context of the programme for Government, and that might get us thinking a little more quickly.

Seanad: Report on Seanad Reform: Motion (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: I do not mind noting it but welcoming it causes me some difficulty.

Seanad: Report on Seanad Reform: Motion (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: We can review the words. If we can discuss the basis for agreement as between the two proposals, let us do that in the course of the next two hours. This is an important debate for us to have. On the few occasions this debate has arisen in the House since I have become a Member, it has tended to be quite loud and sometimes intemperate.

Seanad: Report on Seanad Reform: Motion (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: A bogus comparison, which I acknowledge is rhetorical, is made between the direct electoral college in the universities and the indirect college by which Members are elected by councillors. That does not compare like with like. Senator David Norris and other Members know that. There is a direct electorate in the universities and an indirect electorate of councillors. It is not...

Seanad: Report on Seanad Reform: Motion (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: It is no use for Senator David Norris to say he was elected by 150 people.

Seanad: Report on Seanad Reform: Motion (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: It is true in the sense of 150 people.

Seanad: Report on Seanad Reform: Motion (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: Are we going to have a debate or this nonsense of interruption, and intemperate interruption at that? Let us just listen to each other. I will be listening to Senator Norris because I have great respect for him. On the question of universities, we need to know the proportion of all living graduates of Trinity College and the National University of Ireland who vote in elections or who are...

Seanad: Report on Seanad Reform: Motion (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: Let us debate this. I am not convinced, but am open to being convinced, that there is a real, democratic basis for having a sub-electorate of university graduates electing Members to this House.

Seanad: Report on Seanad Reform: Motion (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: If there should be, why should there not also be a sub-group of electors who have graduated from secondary schools, or of electors who are not graduates at all?

Seanad: Report on Seanad Reform: Motion (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: The university panel was selected in the first instance for a very sound and solid historical reason dating from the 1930s. Trinity College and the Church of Ireland had a particular historical position that made the creation of the panel absolutely correct. Since I have become interested in politics, I have admired the work of past and present Members on the university panel, including Owen...

Seanad: Realising Equality and the Traveller Community: Statements (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: It was the slogan of the previous Government.

Seanad: Realising Equality and the Traveller Community: Statements (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: I welcome the Minister of State's statement to which I and other Senators listened carefully. He did not, as Senator Twomey claimed, state that all the task force recommendations from 1995 had been implemented. On the contrary, he indicated that many of them had been implemented. I would argue, however, that only some of the recommendations have been implemented. The Minister of State was...

Seanad: Realising Equality and the Traveller Community: Statements (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: I disagree with the emphasis of some colleagues on the other side, although I endorse everything Senator Boyle said. I must, however, respectfully disagree with some of what was said on this side of the House. I disagree with Senator Twomey that the Equal Status Act had the effect of driving a wedge between the Traveller community and wider society. That is wrong, although it may not be...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: Before dealing with the matter I wish to raise, I must respectfully disagree with what the leader of the Independent group said regarding political accountability.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: Someone very like him attends leaders' meetings. Perhaps he has a double.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2007)

Alex White: The question of political accountability does not extend to holding a Minister responsible for a failing that happens in a hospital. That would be nonsensical. The analogy given by Senator O'Toole is wrong. Where the system is not working — as the Senator stated, the Minister established that system — there must be political accountability. Is the Opposition supposed to just sit back...