Results 13,881-13,900 of 14,090 for speaker:Marc MacSharry

Seanad: Pre-Budget Outlook: Statements (1 Nov 2007)

Marc MacSharry: I welcome the Minister to the House. This is the first opportunity I have had to wish him well in the new Administration, as Minister for Finance. At the outset I want to pay tribute to the management of our finances in recent years. It is almost inconceivable, when one considers where we have come from in the last 20 years, what has been achieved in that period and the level of prosperity...

Seanad: Pre-Budget Outlook: Statements (1 Nov 2007)

Marc MacSharry: The Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, stated yesterday there would be an increase in the population of the State of approximately 1 million over the coming decades. I believe the north west has the best opportunity to help to alleviate the pressures that will arise as a consequence in Dublin and the main population...

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Second Stage (25 Oct 2007)

Marc MacSharry: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is the first opportunity I have had to congratulate him on his re-election. I wish him well in his portfolio in the next five years. By way of rebuttal, it is ridiculous in the extreme that one should put one's name forward to speak on legislation if one is going to start by saying that, like most others, one has no interest in the...

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Second Stage (25 Oct 2007)

Marc MacSharry: I did not interrupt the Senator.

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Second Stage (25 Oct 2007)

Marc MacSharry: Thank you.

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Second Stage (25 Oct 2007)

Marc MacSharry: I have been in this House for a little bit longer than the Senator and I am aware of the procedures and of best practice in terms of achieving the best for our constituency. I am also aware of our constitutional requirements to members of the public.

Seanad: Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2007: Second Stage (25 Oct 2007)

Marc MacSharry: That is, to comment on this Bill in a positive way. Irish people can get loans from foreign banks, but if the Senator had read the Bill, he would realise that it does not deal with that issue. The Bill is about investment firms and the dealing of shares across borders. The Senator wants to get stuck in to the only thing he knows anything about, which is health. Furthermore, it is...

Seanad: Economic Competitiveness: Statements. (18 Oct 2007)

Marc MacSharry: I am glad of the opportunity to speak on this issue. I welcome the Minister of State to the House and wish him every success in his endeavours in the area of innovation. Like the Senators from Donegal, I am from the north west and have a specific interest in that area. It would be remiss not to acknowledge the tremendous and outstanding work done by the IDA and other agencies. Senator Mary...

Seanad: Cancer Services (17 Oct 2007)

Marc MacSharry: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher, and am delighted to have the opportunity to raise this Adjournment matter, which refers to the need for the Minister for Health and Children and the Government to ensure cancer services at Sligo General Hospital are maintained and improved to include a satellite service for radiotherapy. I know the Minister of State is aware of this issue...

Seanad: Cancer Services: Motion (26 Sep 2007)

Marc MacSharry: I take pleasure in seconding the amendment. I welcome the Minister for Health and Children to the House. I am a great admirer of her and the determination and conviction with which she pursues the reform of the health service. I would not have been in favour of the break-up of the health board system but, as Senator Feeney stated, we are where we are. The HSE is in place and is...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2007)

Marc MacSharry: I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his election and assure him of my full support. As Senator Jim Walsh stated when the House last met, the Cathaoirleach is one of life's true gentlemen. On this, the first formal day of normal business, I ask the Leader to request that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, attend the House for pre-budgetary statements. While I am aware the Seanad does...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Marc MacSharry: I join Senator Ross in calling for a debate on planning, a subject I have consistently raised in this House for five years. It is a significant issue and on which we have not made progress. We have had rural planning guidelines and although the Minister's intention was certainly to help the process, my experience in listening to people in a number of different counties is that the different...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Marc MacSharry: No, but unfortunately it did all it could in messing up the process.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Mar 2007)

Marc MacSharry: Its role as a prescribed organisation, along with others, needs to be monitored. The influence of such organisations on the process is not always positive, although they do carry out some good work. I call for yet another debate on transport and road safety in particular. I join Senator Quinn who stated that we know the problems and asked why we are not dealing with them. Although speed...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Mar 2007)

Marc MacSharry: Yesterday the Government published the bio-energy action plan for Ireland. I ask the Leader if it would be possible to have a debate on it, in advance of the publication of the White Paper, because some useful suggestions could be made by Members. We have a responsibility, as we look to the future to protect our environment, to take steps such as those outlined by the Minister in the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (31 Jan 2007)

Marc MacSharry: Will the Leader arrange a debate on the environment? As Senators will be aware, the United Nations will launch an important report on global warming later this week. Even President Bush is beginning to acknowledge that this is the greatest single issue facing the world. Ireland needs to play its part in tackling global warming and the Houses of the Oireachtas could lead by example. A...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2006)

Marc MacSharry: While I appreciate that Senator Ryan tabled a Private Members' motion some time ago on the issue I raise, an additional debate on homelessness in our major cities and towns is required. As we heard from many speakers earlier who highlighted the 1987 budget speech, we appear to have come a great distance in terms of our economy, but if we can rightly offer refuge and housing to many foreign...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2006)

Marc MacSharry: It is disgraceful that a small group of individuals are being allowed to affect the lives of the elderly, who are the most vulnerable in society. Will the Leader raise the issue with the Minister for Health and Children as a matter of urgency? This dispute has been going on for months and people will die as a result of it.

Seanad: Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Nov 2006)

Marc MacSharry: That was a remarkably technically adept contribution from a Senator who said he had no technical expertise in this area. I join other Members in welcoming the Minister of State and his officials to the House. It is interesting that we had no debate on energy in the House for some four years but have had five or six such debates in the last several weeks. Many of us have had opportunities...

Seanad: Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Nov 2006)

Marc MacSharry: If the various car manufacturers were encouraged to make available a wider range of hybrid cars, the public could be incentivised to buy them if VRT on them was waived. This is the type of innovative approach that must be employed to get the public to engage with renewable energy. While the greener homes schemes are great on paper, it is very Irish that we cannot get wood pellets from...