Results 1,181-1,200 of 1,253 for speaker:John Crown

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Oct 2011)

John Crown: ----- hiring dieticians and fixing the waiting list for the dietary clinic and bariatric surgery in Loughlinstown.

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Oct 2011)

John Crown: I hope that the issue of our graduates who are candidates to become dieticians and are emigrating every year will be fixed by this tax.

Seanad: Statements on Finance (6 Oct 2011)

John Crown: I wish to preface my questions to the Minister by offering him a very personal and very belated thanks for the attention he gave to cancer services when he was Minister for Health. On his first day as Minister he gave a speech which has been forgotten but should not be in which he was the first person from the public side of governance to acknowledge the disaster which was our cancer...

Seanad: Statements on Finance (6 Oct 2011)

John Crown: -----using different rules. Will the Minister consider amending current pension law to allow people in negative equity and who are in danger of losing their home many years before they can access their pension funds, to be given premature access to that fund? This would give the Minister tax revenue and it would improve liquidity in the banks and reduce personal debt. Will the Minister...

Seanad: Statements on Finance (6 Oct 2011)

John Crown: I asked two questions that were not answered. I asked about the possibility of considering allowing people earlier access to retirement funds if they are in negative equity. I also asked whether the Minister would consider the wisdom of changing mandatory retirement in the public service, which has the effect of transforming productive taxpayers into State dependants.

Seanad: Statements on Finance (6 Oct 2011)

John Crown: I asked about allowing citizens who have substantial savings in private pension funds which they cannot access until they are 65, by which time they may have lost their homes, to get early access to those funds. They could pay the tax, plus a penalty premium for early encashment, thereby giving the Minister tax money, providing liquidity to the banks and reducing personal debt.

Seanad: Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Statements, Questions and Answers (5 Oct 2011)

John Crown: I am very grateful to my colleague, Senator Barrett, for allowing me to share his time. I will speak for three or four minutes and Senator Barrett will speak for six minutes.

Seanad: Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Statements, Questions and Answers (5 Oct 2011)

John Crown: In my view, the Minister has perhaps the most important portfolio of all of the Ministers in the current Government. The reason is it important is that the major existential threats which will face our species in the years to come are not the IMF or the ECB or Anglo Irish Bank or, indeed, disturbances between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael over interpretations of history. Those major threats...

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

John Crown: I have held the view since before I had the privilege of entering this House that our Constitution is badly broken and that it needs fixing. It is broken at a number of levels. As I said in my election literature, I believe the Seanad, as currently constituted, is an affront to democracy. I also believe there are significant problems in respect of the other House, the Dáil, which is...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Oct 2011)

John Crown: It was nice to have a quick recitation of the civil war. It got me all nostalgic but I remind my colleagues that it ended 89 years ago. Three more contemporary issues need to be discussed this morning. One of these is something we have dealt with before. I am asking my colleagues in the Seanad, the Leader and the leaders of the other parties if they would consider a further all-party...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Oct 2011)

John Crown: I am asking my colleagues to consider an all-party motion on the Bahraini doctors and I am asking the Leader to bring to the attention of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the plight of Pastor Nadarkhani. Indeed, my colleagues may also consider an all-party motion on this issue. Finally, I wish to mention a much less dramatic human rights abuse that is annoying me intensely. I...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Oct 2011)

John Crown: On a point of information, on that date they were detained and since then they have been found guilty and sentenced.

Seanad: Reporting of Lobbying in Criminal Legal Cases Bill 2011: Second Stage (21 Sep 2011)

John Crown: I thank almost the entire Government for attending the debate. My mother would be proud that so many distinguished Ministers attended. I also thank my colleagues for the courteous way in which the debate has been conducted and, in particular, the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, and her officials for a detailed and vigorous defence of their position and critique of the Bill. I am grateful...

Seanad: Reporting of Lobbying in Criminal Legal Cases Bill 2011: Second Stage (21 Sep 2011)

John Crown: On a point of order, I ask the Leader to clarify what the timetable will be for the proposed legislation on the registration of lobbyists.

Seanad: Reporting of Lobbying in Criminal Legal Cases Bill 2011 - Order for Second Stage (21 Sep 2011)

John Crown: I move: "That Second Stage be taken today."

Seanad: Reporting of Lobbying in Criminal Legal Cases Bill 2011: Second Stage (21 Sep 2011)

John Crown: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." It cannot have escaped the attention of the House that over the past few months there has been an inappropriate level of public and media attention and concern focused on what appears to be a fairly widespread practice, sometimes gentle and other times not so gentle, of interference by parliamentarians in the workings of the judicial process,...

Seanad: Order of Business. (14 Sep 2011)

John Crown: Prior to the recess, Senators were summoned to consider emergency legislation to deal with the shortage of medical person power which had emerged, despite the country having the highest number of medical schools per head of population of any western or OECD country. The House was compelled to pass urgent legislation in order that we would be able to recruit or, as some would say, plunder...

Seanad: Order of Business. (14 Sep 2011)

John Crown: Will the Leader request that the Minister come to the House and report to us on the status of the young doctors that we discussed and the number of beds available for the upcoming flu season compared to last year. Is it a desperate warning sign that in the month in which we need medical services the least, they are already breaking all records for under-supply and lack of resources? There...

Seanad: Order of Business. (14 Sep 2011)

John Crown: Their constituencies are either the universities, the panels or the Taoiseach, but they are not geographically defined. This is not the waiting room for the next Dáil comhairle ceantair selection committee.

Seanad: Family Home Bill 2011: Second Stage (27 Jul 2011)

John Crown: I support the proposals put forward by Senators Marc MacSharry and Thomas Byrne. The key message that must go out from this House is that, collectively, the body politic understands the effect, at a micro level, of what has happened at the macro-economic level. We must demonstrate an understanding that decisions made at high levels which led to major economic problems have had serious...