Results 81-100 of 103 for long speaker:Vincent P Martin

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2021: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2021)

Vincent P Martin: ...is to be welcomed. When a jury is sent home for a day and a half or a couple of days, jurors are told not to discuss the evidence with anyone and to not Google the case. This puts jurors under prolonged temptation. Expedited trials would be all well and good, but I would like to reflect on what Senator McDowell said. Last week, the Senator and I agreed to disagree on a suggestion he...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Vincent P Martin: ...of them do their best. A PIP would double-check this before embarking on a journey with a borrower. I am interested in hearing the Minister of State's view on that. It is not a seismic move as long as it is not an indication of a change by the Department, which I do not believe to be the case. Borrowers are the small guys and they do not run off to a personal insolvency practitioner....

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (23 Apr 2021)

Vincent P Martin: ..., and the current legislative provision provides for an extension of one further year, if required. I do not see the merit to either the debtor or creditor of extending it beyond such a relatively long period. In this country, not so long ago, bankruptcy was a lifelong sentence. People took it to the grave. Slowly but surely, incrementally and positively, we have brought it down to the...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2021: Second Stage (19 Apr 2021)

Vincent P Martin: ...Case management of disputes is very important. In a sense, this is the first tangible progress we have seen where the criminal courts are catching up on the civil courts, although there is still a long way to go in terms of both courts. I refer to voir dire, which is an essential part of a criminal trial. If any of those matters can be dealt with before a jury is impanelled it would be...

Seanad: Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (12 Mar 2021)

Vincent P Martin: .... This is not fallout from the first Celtic tiger crash but rather, it involves people who through no fault of their own have suffered due to the economic downturn of the pandemic. They can at long last turn to a system that can protect them. Heads 2 and 3 of the general scheme of the Bill are to be welcomed as they introduce remote communications meetings. It was not clear in the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Mar 2021)

Vincent P Martin: ...but embarrassed that this had not been done already. Can we reach out to our brothers and sisters in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, our closest neighbours? This should have happened a long time ago. It should not take prompts, although they are welcome, from the leader of Ulster unionism to put this into our minds.

Seanad: Covid-19 Vaccination Programme: Statements (26 Jan 2021)

Vincent P Martin: ...for young people. They have held the line to date. I pray they will continue to do that. They need to know there is light at the end of the tunnel, even if it involves short-term pain to achieve long-term gain. We hope that the young people will continue to play the brilliant role they have played to date. Schools reopening is very important. We can debate at what specific level of...

Seanad: Report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation: Statements (Resumed) (26 Jan 2021)

Vincent P Martin: ...and I also thank him for coming in last week. I concur with the comments made on day one of this debate by the Green Party Seanad leader, Senator Pauline O'Reilly. We could talk about this for so long, although there is a limited time available to me. Perhaps it is therapeutic. It is the most upsetting episode that has been discussed in my adult life as a public representative, so one...

Seanad: Appropriation Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Vincent P Martin: ...in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, has, like most of us, come through the school of privilege, hard knocks and excitement himself so he knows at first hand what I am talking about. Nine years is a long time to wait for progress on this. The Green Party is now in government. I will expect words to be translated into action. Nothing else will be accepted. I acknowledge that I have the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Dec 2020)

Vincent P Martin: ...population in the western region of Xinjiang in China. This is further prima facieevidence of concern regarding enforced labour. The BBC was able to identify a so-called detention or overnight long-term accommodation camp that is part of a newly constructed textile factory. This region of China produces one-fifth of the world's cotton. This House unanimously supported a Private...

Seanad: Annual Transition Statement on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015: Statements (9 Dec 2020)

Vincent P Martin: ...which will be music to the ears of Senator O'Loughlin and others. I hope the Minister will review this because that would be a game changer with the acceleration of the volume of people using transport, along with the electrification of the line. We will keep pushing a review of that now that we have a new Government. I am pleased the Minister referred to biodiversity. It has been...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Dec 2020)

Vincent P Martin: Ireland has a long history of friendship with the people of Ethiopia. It saddens us all to hear recent reports of atrocities and identity-based attacks across the country. With the regional communications blackout, it is difficult to verify the number of deaths and we know thousands have been displaced and will face an uncertain winter. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Coveney's, call last...

Seanad: Seanad Bill 2020: Second Stage (18 Nov 2020)

Vincent P Martin: ...a potential knight on a white horse who could translate words into action. His name, and Members have heard it first here today, is the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. I believe him. I have known him for a long time as a party colleague. He is a man of his word. I am very pleased that he is behind the steering wheel. I will judge this matter on the basis of actions not words, but I...

Seanad: Political Donations: Motion (11 Nov 2020)

Vincent P Martin: ...green message out to all of rural Ireland, this would be a wonderful moment to bring the two big parties with us, because who better to carry the message for us and take a few bullets for the Green Party along the way? The Green Party voted to go into government. We talk about the difference between orange and green and the question of how to unite them in peace. Unfortunately, I have...

Seanad: Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (10 Nov 2020)

Vincent P Martin: The year 1979 is such a long time ago. Some of us were not born and others will remember the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland. We had the horrific loss of life in Warrenpoint and Mullaghmore. On a less serious point, Monaghan won their first Ulster title in 41 years in 1979, and the Boomtown Rats were raging No. 1 in the charts with "I Don't Like Mondays". We really stand indicted...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Enforcement Powers) (Covid-19) Act 2020: Motion (6 Nov 2020)

Vincent P Martin: ...up on it and why should we? I commend an Garda Síochána on the front line. I meet them most days on the way home. I am not sure whether the resources are best used by slowing up the traffic for such long periods of time. When I get to them I always have a chat with them and they are great and very pleasant and professional. There should be joined-up thinking, especially if...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Brexit Negotiations: Members of the House of Lords (21 Oct 2020)

Vincent P Martin: ...in one form or another. We must look to the future and at relationship paradigms. While our immediate attention is on the sundering that is facing us, we must also look to the short, medium and long-term relationship. I am interested in hearing the witnesses' views on a suggestion that comes up here from time to time in terms of structures for strengthening our relationship with our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Brexit Negotiations: Members of the House of Lords (21 Oct 2020)

Vincent P Martin: I anticipated an answer along those lines. I thank Lord Kerr in particular. I fully accept that it is Ireland's prerogative in the first instance. That is a given. When Deputy Ó Cuív and others spoke about it, it was about North-South reconciliation but maybe there is an added dynamic that we should look at, of east-west economic co-operation. Talking about unthinkables, while...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Oct 2020)

Vincent P Martin: .... I hope it will be a new President, with Joe Biden becoming the 46th holder of that office. It could not be a more serious time for the world. The outcome of that election will have serious long-term consequences for the Iran nuclear deal, for the Paris climate agreement, for the EU, for Brexit, for ethnic minorities and for respect for women.Many years ago, in the 1990 World Cup...

Seanad: Budget 2021: Statements (14 Oct 2020)

Vincent P Martin: ...alluded. There is so much to be welcomed about the €4 billion on health. Ill winds blow good fortune and some of that investment, leaving aside the Covid-19 part of it, might remain with us in the long term. The record €5.2 billion spend on housing has got to be welcomed. At the heart of the Government's budget is that it boosts business, although it invests heavily in...