Results 14,741-14,760 of 36,764 for speaker:Enda Kenny

Order of Business (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: -----the ongoing stimulus plans that the Minister has been referring to.

Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: Ba mhaith liom ar dtús mo chomhbhrón a chur in iúl leis an Teachta Ó Máirtín agus le páirtí Fhianna Fáil as ucht bás Pádraig Faulkner, a cailleadh beagnach bliain ó shin. Go speisialta, ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a chur in iúl le bean céile Pádraig Faulkner, Cáit, agus a chlann, Tomás, Bartle,...

Business of Dáil (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: Expressions of sympathy on the death of former Deputy Pádraig Faulkner shall be taken now and the Order of Business proposals shall be taken on the completion of the expressions of sympathy.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: They are all good Deputies.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: A citizens assembly is what one calls the local elections. While the town councils are being abolished-----

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: -----current members can stand for the municipal areas or the county councils. The Government has already published the independent report in respect of the boundaries for those local elections and the constituencies are much larger than applied previously which will give a fairer distribution of support from the people.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: They are in the vast majority of areas. That was an independent operation. I will give Deputy Martin whatever material I have in regard to the assessment of what needs to be done to draw up the Bill for the abolition of the Seanad and the reasons all the articles of the Constitution have to be dealt with by abolition, by amendment or otherwise.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: The Government made a very clear decision to ask the people whether to abolish the Seanad. I agree with Deputy Martin that some very fine speeches have been made in the Seanad over the years. Why would there not have been when Members included people from ordinary sectors of life to the very elite? Some have made outstanding contributions but these contributions will also be available to...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: When the Deputy commenced his contribution, I thought the Members from Cork were going to stick together at all costs. I thank him for his comments. There are two aspects to the work of the committees. The first of these relates to dealing with legislation. Select committees consider Bills that are presented to them on Committee Stage, while the heads of Bills can be sent to joint...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: I thank the Deputy for her questions. We have already introduced a change whereby if, for example, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, brings the heads of a Bill to Government and states that he wants to prepare legislation based on the general principles outlined, those heads will be referred to the relevant committee which will examine the principles involved. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: -----Capitol Building, the Senate or the Congress one will see it is much like this, except on a bigger scale. I have been there on a number of occasions when only one person was speaking to the television camera, with his or her script or whatever it might be. Others are away attending delegation meetings, doing committee work or whatever. We have an opportunity, which we intend to take...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: The main complaints regarding referendum commissions was that they were not set up for long enough and did not have enough time, according to the chairpersons appointed to do the job as effectively as they might wish. That is why we have given advance notice of the setting up of this commission. It knows it is to be established and therefore it is doing preparatory work on the kind of...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: The Deputy did not actually state whether he supports the abolition of the Seanad.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: Okay, that is clear, and so do I. I accept the Government must engage with the public in a public discourse in this regard. That is the reason there will be a campaign by the parties in government about the abolition of the Seanad and the referendum commission will proceed to do its work independently. When I spoke on this subject at the MacGill summer school a number of years ago, reform...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: My genuine belief is the committee system, having the ability to draw in experts or anyone who has a view on a subject, will get a far deeper and more comprehensive cross-section of analysis early on. Consequently, when the committee reverts to the Government with its response to the heads of a Bill, it will be with a much broader assessment than currently applies. I have heard people state...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: People in this country in general have always involved themselves extensively in the national politics of the day. That has always been reflected in the high percentages of turnout in national elections because people in this country are always interested in politics and the issues that affect us on a global, European and national scale. However, Government is about leadership and making...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: The position was that the assessment carried out by the Department and by the officials was on the basis of what needed to be done in order to put a question to the people to abolish the Seanad. In other words, it was necessary to prepare the heads of the referendum Bill and that meant examining the Constitution and focusing on every article that either directly or indirectly had a...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: Yes. There is nothing secretive about that. I can give Deputy Martin that information. It is the assessment of the articles in the Constitution that need to be dealt with, removed, amended or altered, as the case may be. Deputy Martin said the Constitutional Convention was examining the electoral system and that it would make recommendations on that.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: I hear the former Deputy and Minister, Mary O'Rourke, talking these days. She came up with proposals for Seanad reform in 2003.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (2 Jul 2013)

Enda Kenny: I am talking about her.