Results 12,261-12,280 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: The Senator takes the full whack.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: On a point of order, I think the Senator is misleading his constituency.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: He does not have a geographical constituency.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: The Senator should not be such a tease. Was it about ruminants?

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: We are all geesed here. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: I will be very brief and this will be my final contribution. I will start by reminding my good friend and colleague, Senator Bacik, that balls is a metaphor and is completely gender neutral. I can provide a number. It was not directed at the gonads but rather it is a political metaphor frequently used-----

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: I was answering a point raised by my colleague.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: I agree very much with Senator Mac Conghail on the question of-----

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: -----corporate donations and the nuanced nature of the Bill as reflected in some of these amendments. It is very important that there be transparency, and the role of the Standards in Public Office Commission is a crucial one. We have seen in America how the political system can be corrupted by massive corporations. Just look at the tobacco industry and the criminal activities in which it...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: This Government controls everything - the councils, the Seanad, the Dáil, the Presidency, although we are lucky in that we have an Independent rump in this House.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: I am making the point, if I may, about the Independents. I will finish on this point because it has been raised a number of times. It is a very populist thing to talk about vouched and unvouched expenses. I suggest the Minister gives me accounting services so that I can hold on to all these things and have them assessed.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: One gets a much lower level if one is unvouched. One has a choice between grabbing the honey pot and getting something much more.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: I am a professional politician, as are we all in this House, including the Independents appointed by his Government. Why does the Government not permit election expenses to be allowable against tax, as a business expense? They are a business expense. We are in the business of politics. That is the kind of thing that improves political life.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: Yes, absolutely.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: I do not think I said that.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: The Government has a pretty full house and now it has its eyes on doubling it.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: I did not quite catch that remark.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: I repeat my call for a general discussion on the economy in light of the apparent decision to sell off part of Bord Gáis. We have been instructed by our economic masters that we have to sell off some of the heirlooms that were carefully built up by various governments and government agencies and utilities.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: This is a matter which needs to be discussed in this House. We are told now that we may be permitted to use some of this money for reinvestment in jobs. What about the assets? I will table a motion that we re-adopt the Keating principles. I hope the Labour Party will support me on this. The people are entitled to a just proportion of their assets. There seems to be a complete lack of...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2012)

David Norris: However, it interesting that Father Peter McVerry made a point that I, too, have made previously, that there is a certain spiritual danger in the fiction of a state and a state apparatus being sustained by the Vatican. It is not a country. It has accreditation with the United Nations and so on. If one looks at the interventions at diplomatic and UN level, of the Vatican as a state, they...