Results 15,181-15,200 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris
- Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2009)
David Norris: I agree with Senator O'Malley in that there are vested interests, but that is why they were there. The trade unions are an interest group, as are the employers and the Government. I was impressed by the remarks of Mr. David Begg and other union leaders, namely, that their vested interests include a significant and superior vested interest in the welfare of the country. They are prepared to...
- Seanad: Order of Business (29 Jan 2009)
David Norris: Well said.
- Seanad: Order of Business (29 Jan 2009)
David Norris: Hear, hear.
- Seanad: Order of Business (29 Jan 2009)
David Norris: Hear, hear. Well said.
- Seanad: Order of Business (29 Jan 2009)
David Norris: I welcome the Leader back. I do so because he very kindly welcomed me back yesterday. It was excessively courteous of him and I would not like him to think he was under any slight because I did not do the same to him. He is a Castlepollard man in whom there is no guile. Had it been anybody else, I would have thought it might have been a sly attempt to suggest I was not here at some stage....
- Seanad: Order of Business (29 Jan 2009)
David Norris: I thank the Leader for his constructive suggestion yesterday that we might be able to put together an all-party motion to support the Government's moves in regard to a war crimes tribunal on Gaza. The Minister for Foreign Affairs advanced this measure with other EU foreign ministers. He was supported by Cyprus, Portugal and Sweden. I suggest that the Government might be encouraged to...
- Seanad: Order of Business (29 Jan 2009)
David Norris: Hear, hear.
- Seanad: Care of the Elderly (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: I thank my friend and colleague, Senator John Paul Phelan, for so graciously allowing me to take part in this debate. He went right to the heart of the humanity of the matter and I am sure the Minister of State, who also has a warm heart and is a countrywoman, will appreciate these issues. I raised this matter on 17 December and the Minister of State undertook to get back to me. I have no...
- Seanad: Care of the Elderly (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: This is not just the closure of a facility. A death sentence is being pronounced on elderly people who deserve better. Senator John Paul Phelan indicated there was a meeting in Carlow town. Was it last night?
- Seanad: Care of the Elderly (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: I received information on it. It seems to have been an energetic, positive and constructive meeting. I ask the Minister of State to work with those people. A committee has been formed to try to rescue Bethany House. The Minister of State should let it do it. If, as its membership believe, it is a matter of refurbishment, this could be done. The local community could be energised and the...
- Seanad: Care of the Elderly (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: I thank the Minister of State for her gracious reply. Events have marched beyond what applied at that time so those questions are no longer relevant. Would the Minister of State or her representatives meet the committee to investigate the possibility of whether it is a better employment of money, with the assistance of the local committee which could fund raise, to preserve the building? I...
- Seanad: Care of the Elderly (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: I mean the newly formed committee of the supporters and relatives. I really would appreciate that. I did not say that the Minister of State had misled the House. All I would say is that the material on the website which the relatives of one of the patients read on-line in Scotland completely conflicted with the situation on the ground. The Minister of State is not directly responsible for...
- Seanad: Care of the Elderly (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: I appreciate that.
- Seanad: Local Authority Funding (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: Hear, hear.
- Seanad: Economic Issues: Motion (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: I welcome the Minister of State to the House, with which he is not entirely unfamiliar, as his elevation is comparatively recent. He is also somebody who has considerable distinguished expertise from within the bureaucratic branch of government. I have no doubt that his view on this matter will be of interest to all Members of the House. While I have mixed feelings about the motion, I will...
- Seanad: Economic Issues: Motion (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: I win once every three weeks on average but it is always the same amount, â¬75, which is not worth a damn. It is just a provocation and a tease. I would prefer to get nothing until I win the big one. The serious point I am making is that we must all pull together and that those of us who are in a better position must not be looking to see what others have got; we must all try to get...
- Seanad: Economic Issues: Motion (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: In that case I will be voting for the motion. We cannot take on yellow pack workers at whatever level we reach. I agree with overhauling FÃS. Yes, it always did wonderful work. It got mired in scandal and people jumped on the bandwagon looking for heads. I must add that they cost the Exchequer a hell of a lot of money in doing so. From â¬500,000 to â¬50,000 a year was not much of a...
- Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: The notion that the global economic recession and financial crisis is directly caused by the existence of Mr. Brian Cowen as Taoiseach is slightly fatuous. In St Patrick's Cathedral on Sunday, the Old Testament lesson was from the third book of the prophet Jonah. He was sent by God to Nineveh to tell them that because of their greed, their selfishness and their gross indulgence, he was...
- Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: Surely, the least a human being should have is control over the dignity of his or her body after death.
- Seanad: Order of Business (28 Jan 2009)
David Norris: The Leader is the pope. He is infallible. He speaks ex cathedra.