Results 11,061-11,080 of 11,695 for speaker:Ivana Bacik

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the House in order that Members can ask him to so do.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (23 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I support Senator Fitzgerald and others who have called for a debate on Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin. It is obscene that parents with young children are being forced to take to the public airwaves and raise money from other sources to get necessary operations for their children. I have met some mothers of chronically ill children and have heard their concerns. We all welcome the...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (23 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I am calling on the Leader for a debate on the pension levy and on taxation. Clearly, the pension levy is a tax in all but name. If it had been described as a tax there would have been no requirement for judges to go through these hoops of having to make voluntary payments. It would have been a far more honest approach. I am also seeking a debate on Iran. All of us in the House will be...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: Is this a U-turn?

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I am grateful to Senator Mary White for giving us the sad news about Mrs. Sadie Walsh. I am sure we would all like to express our condolences to Mr. Jimmy Walsh on his sad loss. I support Senator O'Toole's call, and the calls we have made in recent days, for an urgent debate on the ownership of our so-called national schools. The State cannot afford not to take national schools into...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: The poll is conducted by Red C.

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: We can quote selectively from polls but it is important to have the full details of the poll in front of us.

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I understand it is the Fianna Fáil way to quote selectively. If we look at the full figures in the poll, we see clearly what parental choice and preference is in regard to schooling but they are not getting it. Some 95% of our national schools are run by the Catholic church.

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: That offers parents no choice, especially in rural areas where there is only one local school.

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I would like to finish by saying-----

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: With respect, I was heckled and prevented from speaking for a large part of my time.

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: Educate Together is the only education body that is currently offering parents the choice they clearly wish to have for their children.

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: That is exactly what I said.

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: Does Archbishop Martin have a hang up?

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I echo the words of Senator Alex White in calling for a debate on the ownership of national schools. While Archbishop Martin's comments that the Catholic monopoly, as he put it, over schooling is not tenable are welcome, some caution is necessary. The archbishop referred, in the reported version of his speech, to the management of schools rather than ownership. If we are to have debate on...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: -----or any sort of promise as to whether they would be introduced. There has been a long lead-in for both Bills. We heard accusations of Ministers sleeping in the other House last week and there is a danger that Ministers might be seen to be sleeping on the job if the Bills I referred to are not introduced very shortly because there has been plenty of preparation time. I introduced the...

Seanad: Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998: Motion (17 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister of State. I declare my own interest in this matter as I have represented people before the Special Criminal Court and have, therefore, worked with the provisions at issue in the motion. I echo Senator Alex White's words by expressing some concern about the procedure and the low level of scrutiny we give to these measures. It is important we retain the power of annual...

Seanad: Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998: Motion (17 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I was aware of that.

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I join my colleagues in congratulating former Senator Alan Kelly on his election to the European Parliament. Not only did he run a great campaign but he was, I think, the only candidate to have his own rap song, which I understand has become a cult classic on YouTube. I also congratulate the councillors who were elected lord mayor, particularly Emer Costello, the new lord mayor of Dublin....

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Jun 2009)

Ivana Bacik: ——and we need to see them in this House. I hope we can debate them before the end of this term but I do not think we should hold our breath.