Results 1,041-1,060 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency: Statements (26 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: No, I think Fianna Fáil needs a bit of a rest.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency: Statements (26 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I will let Senator Daly play the politics.

Seanad: Order of Business (26 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I would like to take up the Senator's point. We will have a good opportunity to discuss the Ryan report tomorrow and I look forward to doing so and putting on the record some things about which I was challenged last week. In the meantime it is very important for us to articulate a clear view that in terms of responsibility, the congregations - the 18 orders - and the State should share the...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: -----until such time as we make up the amount that will be needed. I know they are not marketable at the moment. I do not want them sold, disposed of or liquidated, I want them transferred into our ownership to allow a 50-50 share of responsibility and cost all the way through. No fair-minded person could object to that. I do not know how many people are aware that we have two ambassadors...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: We need to ask hard questions of the head of state in the Vatican, who is also the head of the Catholic church wearing a different hat. There is a state within a state there and questions need to be put and answered. I would like the Minister to come to the House and explain to us how we find ourselves in this position. In the meantime I would prefer us to close down our embassy in the...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that we discuss the Ryan report today, if at all possible. I listened to the Leader's reply on it, but I believe this is an urgent issue. Senator Fitzgerald's point is crucial. This covers the whole of our community and follows logically from one step to another. The problem two weeks ago with the Ombudsman for Children was that she did not...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I can give the House chapter and verse and name the people who stood in the way of the Stay Safe programme, mandatory reporting, sexual education programmes in schools and I could go on. These people did the same here in education in some of the high offices of State and managed to carry the day. They have escaped in the course of these reports and I certainly believe they have much to...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: That is right.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: On the basis of the Leader giving a very clear indication that we will be taking this issue next Wednesday, I do not intend pressing it.

Seanad: Property Services (Regulation) Bill 2009: Second Stage (21 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Power. I compliment the advisers in the Department on their very extensive and difficult work. Much work has gone into the Bill. It has been very slow coming and Senator Ross and I have been shouting for it for the past five or six years. The Cathaoirleach spoke on this issue on a number of occasions. It is important to consider the genesis of...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I support some of the comments of my colleague, Senator Fitzgerald, on the abuse of children. I remind the Leader of his commitment two weeks ago to hold a discussion whenever necessary on the matter of child abuse in Monageer. Another report will be published today. The Government made a despicable and disgraceful decision this morning to withdraw support for the Middletown Centre for Autism.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: It was to have been a state-of-the-art centre, a manifestation of the good of the North-South Ministerial bodies and a concrete expression of the Good Friday Agreement. It has been subjected to much political abuse. Ken Magennis in the North has tried to bury it time and again. This House has been quick to criticise unionist interests in the North which oppose North-South and all-island...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (20 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: It is in the bloodline.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (20 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: Some of us are very happy about it.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (20 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: On the basis of the Leader's commitment to put this matter on the agenda for next week, I am prepared to take his word for that. I presume we will be told about it at the leaders' meeting next week.

Seanad: Companies (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (20 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: Absolutely, I do not want to hear about what is coming next year.

Seanad: Companies (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (20 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I am disappointed. The Government wonders why it gets bad publicity but this is a classic example. This simple amendment shows authority and commitment. When people criticise the Government for not putting laws in place, this is what they mean. The Minister said she intends to deal with this issue in the consolidation Bill next year and no one disagrees with that. The Minister has not...

Seanad: Companies (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (20 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I understand that but I sat in this seat in 1990 when the original legislation was passed. We had many discussions on this issue and on the importance of having a consolidated Bill. Then we went away for the summer holidays with our buckets and spades and suddenly the beef industry fell apart. The then Government needed to act urgently to deal with that and both Houses reconvened to pass...

Seanad: Companies (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (20 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: There are Brownie points to be won by the Minister in doing this. She is getting enough hassle knocking on doors around the country. She should put something on the credit side, namely, that we will not stand for nonsense. If I was arguing against the Minister on a doorstep and there was a proposal before her to deal with bankers and other people who will not supply information by imposing...

Seanad: Companies (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (20 May 2009)

Joe O'Toole: I did not have it at the time so I was stuck with the buckets and spades.