Results 1,441-1,460 of 1,929 for speaker:Barry Ward

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 May 2022)

Barry Ward: I welcome the students from Malahide and the Croatian ambassador as he visited the House. I also wish to express our solidarity with Croatia today. Today I want to talk about accessibility. We have come a long way in this country in recent years. In these Houses in the past 15 years, accessibility has been facilitated in many ways but even this Chamber is still not fully accessible....

Seanad: Competition (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (26 May 2022)

Barry Ward: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit freisin. Just as my colleague, Senator Malcolm Byrne, was standing in for his party spokesperson, I am standing in for mine, Senator Ahearn, who unfortunately cannot be here but who had a discussion with me about the Bill. We are certainly happy, on behalf of the Fine Gael group, to welcome it and its provisions. I have heard what the Minister of...

Seanad: Competition (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (26 May 2022)

Barry Ward: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: Competition (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (26 May 2022)

Barry Ward: Dé Máirt seo chugainn ar meán lae.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Qualifications Recognition (25 May 2022)

Barry Ward: I thank the Minister of State for taking the time to come in to respond to this issue. I am proud of Ireland's response to the crisis in Ukraine and to the invasion by Russia. We can also be pleased that there has been a cross-continental and global response to that and as members of the European Union, we can be proud of how our political Union has responded. In Ireland the Government...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Qualifications Recognition (25 May 2022)

Barry Ward: I appreciate what the Minister of State said about what Ireland is doing. I welcome the fact that progress is being made in this area. I also welcome the fact that some professions are specifically moving in this direction to facilitate Ukrainian refugees. Others are not, however, and I am aware of specific individuals in Ireland who are having difficulty having their Ukrainian...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 May 2022)

Barry Ward: Earlier I tabled a Commencement matter in respect of Ukraine and the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. There are many other things we need to do at a legislative level to support Ukraine. I refer to Resolution 2436 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and to a number of points it made about actions that can be taken to support Ukraine at a legislative...

Joint Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Irish Speaking Community: Foilsitheoireacht agus Léitheoireacht na Gaeilge: Plé (Atógáil) (25 May 2022)

Barry Ward: Go raibh maith agat ach tá mé ceart go leor.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 May 2022)

Barry Ward: Yesterday, the BBC did the world a service by releasing documents hacked from the Xinjiang police relating to the Uyghur population in that part of China. There is nowhere for China to hide now on this. There is no doubt that what we are witnessing in Xinjiang is a genocide. It is a programme of re-education and the forced separation of families, and all the other awful things that we know...

Seanad: Regulation of Display of Electoral and Polling Posters and Other Advertisements Bill 2022: Second Stage (17 May 2022)

Barry Ward: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Mar is eol don Leas-Chathaoirleach, tá an-mheas agam do na Seanadóirí O’Reilly, Martin agus Garvey a chur an Bille seo roimh an Teach. Aontaím go hiomlán leis an intinn atá taobh thiar den Bhille seo ach ní féidir liom aontú leis an mBille féin leis an méid a dhéanann sé i...

Seanad: Regulation of Display of Electoral and Polling Posters and Other Advertisements Bill 2022: Second Stage (17 May 2022)

Barry Ward: Of course not, and I am not really suggesting the Senator did. I do not believe political parties have an advantage. Anybody can put up posters. In fact, the people who get a real advantage from posters, the real name recognition, are the first-time candidates. There are lots of other reasons. The international comparisons are perhaps not as reasonable as they might appear. Let us take...

Seanad: Regulation of Display of Electoral and Polling Posters and Other Advertisements Bill 2022: Second Stage (17 May 2022)

Barry Ward: I am aware of the huge work that is done by the Dalkey Tidy Towns committee and Des Burke-Kennedy. They have done amazing work making a fabulous place out of Dalkey, as if it was not a fabulous place already. In the most recent election, they talked about removing all posters from a wide area around Dalkey. I have got news for those who say this is citizens taking back power. We are the...

Seanad: Regulation of Display of Electoral and Polling Posters and Other Advertisements Bill 2022: Second Stage (17 May 2022)

Barry Ward: Will the Senator take a question?

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 May 2022)

Barry Ward: Two days ago I raised the spectre of the new Chief Executive of Hong Kong, the fact that he is a former security minister there and that he has been involved in the past in crackdowns on pro-democracy demonstrations, particularly in 2019 and since then. Overnight, we see the arrest of Cardinal Joseph Zen as an expansion of that crackdown on those who were involved in the 2019 pro-democracy...

Seanad: Protocol No. 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union: Motions (11 May 2022)

Barry Ward: These motions are self-evident and make perfect sense. I welcome the fact that the Government has taken steps to fast-track them and opt out of the delays that might have come with the updating regulations and the new ones, and with the opportunities available to Ireland. International co-operation benefits Ireland in particular. As a small and geographically peripheral country, that level...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Legal Services Regulation (10 May 2022)

Barry Ward: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, my colleague, neighbour and friend from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, who is here to deal with this matter. I am grateful to him for coming in because this is an important issue, namely the unwinding of cuts to criminal legal aid fees. It is not a secret that I am a criminal barrister and I still work in that sphere and...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Legal Services Regulation (10 May 2022)

Barry Ward: I thank the Minister of State. I do not deny that the fees were cut at a time when there was a need to make cuts. It is not the case that criminal and legal aid fees were responsible for escalating legal costs, given that they are controlled by the Government so that is an aspect that is not relevant. Even if it were the case that the Government cannot identify a looming crisis, that is...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 May 2022)

Barry Ward: I join with my colleague, Senator Ahearn, in calling for an invitation to be extended to our Ukrainian parliamentary colleagues. We saw terrible things there and the terrible devastation being wreaked by the Russian forces. The takeaway message for me, however, was the resilience of the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian politicians. Their extraordinary determination to overcome this is...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Apr 2022)

Barry Ward: I want to agree with Senator Malcolm Byrne. This is a clause that has been entered pro formainto legislation across the board for probably more than 15 years. It fundamentally ignores the fact that within local government, the membership of local authorities, there are councillors with huge expertise in a whole range of areas. The Minister and I served on the same local authority. She and...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (27 Apr 2022)

Barry Ward: Senator Doherty, in particular, and I have had a number of conversations about the Bill. I welcome the intentions behind it and acknowledge much of what has been said during the debate. We are surrounded by a breadth of experience in this area, which is unfortunate, be that on the part of a Senator who has been the subject of sexual assault, Senators who have been involved in calling it out...