Results 15,441-15,460 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Dec 2008)

David Norris: I thought the Leader was doing it on principle.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Dec 2008)

David Norris: What about me?

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Dec 2008)

David Norris: Senator O'Toole asked me to press it.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (10 Dec 2008)

David Norris: I will be brief. I support the amendment for precisely the same reason as my two colleagues and also because this is a matter that was urged upon us by the various lobbying bodies. It is not in conflict with the Minister's objectives. In fact, it is putting a kind of headline for him to take specific action. Everything he said in the earlier part of the debate looked towards the question...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Dec 2008)

David Norris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Dec 2008)

David Norris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Dec 2008)

David Norris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Dec 2008)

David Norris: I am very glad Senator Leyden raised this matter as I intended to raise it myself. I strongly support his suggestion that Pamela Izevbekhai should be allowed to remain in this country. I have written to the Minister suggesting this should be done on a humanitarian basis, and there is no better day than today.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Dec 2008)

David Norris: We are used to praising ourselves with regard to our human rights records. People sometimes say I got my justice in the gay rights issue but I did not get it in this country. I did not get it through the European Union either but through the European Court of Human Rights. At the end of the 19th century, the great French novelist Émile Zola rebuked a government by saying "J'accuse", I...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Dec 2008)

David Norris: That is why I want a debate on this subject. If you want to hear the evidence, I will give it to you.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Dec 2008)

David Norris: Through the Chair, of course. I am sure the Chair wants to hear this too because I am sure the Chair must be as ashamed of our record as I am. I know where the Cathaoirleach's heart lies in human rights matters so it must gall him to have to preside over the farce that is going on here.

Seanad: Report of Sub-Committee on Ireland's Future in the EU: Statements (9 Dec 2008)

David Norris: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, back to the Chamber where he was once so comfortable and happy as a member of our little group here. There is no point in re-running the Lisbon treaty referendum campaign and I do not think the Minister of State did that. Once or twice he wobbled a bit because his tenses got a little confused or because of the way in which he expressed himself....

Seanad: Report of Sub-Committee on Ireland's Future in the EU: Statements (9 Dec 2008)

David Norris: That will mean 27 of them.

Seanad: Report of Sub-Committee on Ireland's Future in the EU: Statements (9 Dec 2008)

David Norris: The Commission will be quite big. That reverses all the arguments. They are now on their head, and that is fine, but if we were the only one, ours would be put in charge of the tea-making committee. Then there is the matter of the tax regime. The international financial system is now very volatile. Certainly, I could not predict what would happen with regard to that particular protection...

Seanad: Report of Sub-Committee on Ireland's Future in the EU: Statements (9 Dec 2008)

David Norris: I hope it will be an expansive minute.

Seanad: Report of Sub-Committee on Ireland's Future in the EU: Statements (9 Dec 2008)

David Norris: Fianna Fáil decided to be neutral in the Falklands war in order to get up Margaret Thatcher's nose. That is a policy with which I am in complete sympathy. The final article by this splendid woman, Dr. Devine, states: The primacy of the UN and its peacekeeping is eliminated under article 28A(1), as EU missions do not require a UN mandate. The neutrals' proposals for EU missions to require a...

Seanad: Report of Sub-Committee on Ireland's Future in the EU: Statements (9 Dec 2008)

David Norris: I will leave the final word to Henry Kissinger, who said: "No foreign policy — no matter how ingenious — has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none." Our position is not quite so extreme. However, my distinguished colleagues, Patrick Keatinge, Peadar Ó Bhroin and Ben Tonra, are anxious about the prospect of achieving Danish status....

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Second Stage (9 Dec 2008)

David Norris: On the other hand, perhaps the Senator does grasp the point.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Second Stage (9 Dec 2008)

David Norris: How does the Minister feel about her statement? It appears that she is ashamed of it. I have known her for a long time and she is a decent person but she is being used as an instrument in a nasty and cynical way. The reason I think she is ashamed is the extraordinary way in which copies of her statement were circulated to Members. Can she tell me what typeface was used and whether she has...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Second Stage (9 Dec 2008)

David Norris: Is it not? I think she should look at it, however, and compare it with the copy she was given.