Results 17,321-17,340 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Jan 2011)

Shane Ross: Cronyism is practised by all sides and not simply by Fianna Fáil. I wish to ask one further question. I do not understand and perhaps someone can explain to me the reason the finance Bill must go through both Houses before an election is held. We do not. It is complete and utter nonsense to suggest this is necessary. It is camouflage and is a smokescreen being put forward by the Green...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: We expect and are used to AIB helping itself to money to provide bonuses and that atrocity has been exposed in the past week. However, the idea that public servants, the Department of Finance in particular, should be at the same racket is extraordinary, because these public servants are the guardians of the public purse.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: Of all the Departments in which this should happen, this is the worst because the Department of Finance is the one that distributes and controls the money. It makes decisions on how money is spent and about social welfare and elsewhere. Now we find that hundreds of thousands of euro are going into the pockets of some of these Department officials on the q.t. It was done quietly and we knew...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: I am certainly looking for a debate on this. I know the Deputy Leader, because of his past history, will be sympathetic to this. We need to know what the hell is going on in the Department of Finance. It has been a kind of secret Department and its activities have been covered in secrecy for many years. Its mandarins appear before Oireachtas committees but give us no information. Now we...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: Perhaps we need to have a debate specifically on Allied Irish Banks which has been virtually 100% nationalised. The fiasco in recent weeks has been extraordinary. We do not need to congratulate the Government on its performance in this matter.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: The Minister behaved in an appropriate manner at the last minute only because he was forced to do so by public opinion. It is highly disturbing that AIB and the Government have moved in tandem rather than in opposite directions on the issue of bonuses. This was evident in their simultaneous release of press statements yesterday in which they tick-tacked to each other exactly what they would...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: I am grateful to Fianna Fáil whose carry on with the Green Party has probably ensured we will not have a Seanad election until May, which will be extraordinarily welcome. I encourage Fianna Fáil to continue its game and let the Green Party run rings around them in order that we can campaign.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: I apologise to the Cathaoirleach. That was an aside. I am not surprised that the banks are again getting bonuses, as reported in today's newspapers. That is what we have come to expect from them. The Government now has a duty, because it in effect fully controls Allied Irish Bank, to stop these bonuses being paid to people-----

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: -----for performances in 2008, when we all knew the banks were bankrupt. I cannot understand how one can reward people for being principal players in a State owned company which has brought the State to its knees. I simply do not understand this. It is no good saying there are legal reasons and so on. It is unacceptable, ethically, that people should be rewarded for this type of...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: I am asking the Government, through the Leader, to do something about this. I am not at all convinced this will not continue to happen. We have had assurances on this before. We were told before that these bonuses would no longer be paid but that is not the case. This bonus culture appears to be prevalent and not alone in AIB. In regard to the €250,000 cap imposed in the budget on the...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: Except for one person, Mr. Dick Fearn, who only earns €258,000 and as such will be only sacrificing €8,000. The people are the top are refusing to accept this cap.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: On top of this, these people are to receive performance related bonuses. Why on earth is the Government allowing-----

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: -----people at the top of semi-State bodies to receive performance related bonuses when they are losing money?

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: I do not understand this. I ask that the Leader answer that question for me today.

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: The most notable characteristic of this debate has been the guerilla warfare from the Fianna Fáil benches. I presume they will be able to indulge themselves a lot more in this in the months to come, but from this side of the House. I have been disappointed with this debate. I have been disappointed with the fact that I have not noticed a particularly sturdy defence being put up by the...

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: The Minister was very keen on giving us a lecture on banking. I am grateful to the Taoiseach for the fact that the limit of the Minister's ambitions appear to be the Department of Defence, because the Minister does not know an awful lot about banking. Senator Cassidy knows more about banking but that is because he read it from a script. The Minister said something interesting. He said...

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: Does he not know that the Government appoints cronies to the board of the regulator? Does he not know that? Does he not know why or on what criteria they are appointed? Does the Minister not know that one of the greatest abuses in this country is the cronyism to which he refused to respond, except to say that if the Government did that, it would be guilty of political interference? The...

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: That is what Fianna Fáil is good at and that is why Fianna Fáil should be out of office. It has been in power for too long. There are semi-State companies in this country, FÁS being one of them, which are political protectorates of Fianna Fáil. That is one of the reasons the party is unsuited to be in office. CIE is a political protectorate of Fianna Fáil. Let us look at the boards...

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: Fianna Fáil has appointed its own people whose loyalty is to one Taoiseach or Minister and not to the country. The Minister then comes to this House and says to me there are reasons I can understand why boards of State bodies cannot give evidence to Oireachtas committees. I do not know those reasons and I ask the Minister to explain them to me. I will give him one minute of my time now to...

Seanad: Confidence in Government: Motion (8 Dec 2010)

Shane Ross: The Minister said I knew the reasons but I do not.