Results 17,401-17,420 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (22 Feb 2007)

David Norris: My credentials regarding what occurred yesterday are reasonably beyond question because I took part in the various health debates. I was dining last evening and, by accident, I happened to look at the monitor and saw that we were to be summoned back to the House at 10.55 p.m. I asked various people if they knew the reason for this development but was informed that they had no idea. I am...

Seanad: Mental Capacity and Guardianship Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: I agree with Senator Glynn on most things but I do not think Senator Henry will return to the Seanad because she does not intend to stand for election.

Seanad: Mental Capacity and Guardianship Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: We will be diminished by her absence. We have not always seen eye to eye but she has offered something important to this House which will be missed. I refer not only to her care and concern for vulnerable people, which she has displayed in producing this Bill, but also to her medical expertise, which will be lacking on the backbenches. One can never tell, however, who will pop up at the...

Seanad: Mental Capacity and Guardianship Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: It sounds good but it is not, life is not like that. Sometimes people apply for these without realising all the implications. Someone mentioned that there was a difficulty with a ward of court who needed alterations to her house. That is the same as taking up one of these equity release schemes. It gives a bank equity and its permission is needed to install a chair lift or similar...

Seanad: Mental Capacity and Guardianship Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: No one can say for definite that we will be here. I remember very well what happened to you, honey, when you came along with a poster stating, "When shall we three meet again?" and you met your fate. I will not tempt providence.

Seanad: Mental Capacity and Guardianship Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: I am not a bit gleeful. To adapt Oscar Wilde, and I am sure he thought of saying this if he did not say it, I have never understand the idea of tempting providence because it is older than the whole bloody lot of us put together and should be able to resist temptation. I will not bank on providence being able to resist temptation in my case because, over the years, I have been a deliciously...

Seanad: Business of Seanad (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: We are only keeping the President up.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: The House is entitled to an explanation. The Leader evidently believes there is some justification for her position. She has been advised the Bill must be passed by midnight. It would be helpful if we were to know why this is so. I said jocosely when it was first announced it had to be passed by that time because the President wants to go to bed.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: It is a reasonable human need but if this is an emergency the watchdog of Ireland cannot sleep. If there is a real reason perhaps the Leader could share it with us, or has she just been told it must be passed by midnight? If that is all she has been told, that is showing considerable disrespect to Seanad Éireann and to those of us who stayed on late in order to take part in the debate.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: There is a note of farce about this because we have not been told the reason for it. I am happy to accept the Bill if it closes off a loophole and is urgently and legally necessary but we have not been given any reason, we have simply been informed that the Attorney General says it is necessary. We are entitled as a House to be treated with respect and to be fully informed.

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: Most reasonable people would agree that the phoenix syndrome should be prevented, where companies could be formed in Dublin and, when they must meet their tax liability, collapse and a new paper company formed. We had this situation in the entertainment industry and apparently it now exists in the health service. I believe the Department was aware of this possibility and it should have...

Seanad: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2007: Second Stage (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: ——I support it. We need a service for the sick and elderly, those who need it, and if this provides it, I am all for it but we are entitled to be told why there is such unseemly haste.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: Taxpayers' money must not be used to promote a particular ethos.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: Let there be open exemptions for the churches here as well while we are at it.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: No, it is not. Rubbish.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: I have already dealt with that.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: Rubbish. So we support religion in England if it is Irish? That is a very good idea.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: I commiserate with you, a Chathaoirligh, because like Senator Quinn when I hear the M50 being impotently rattled by vote-hungry politicians from various sides, I can smell an election in the air.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (21 Feb 2007)

David Norris: On the issue of the tricolour in Trinity, yesterday the question of the rugby match at Croke Park was raised. Without going over that too much, all national anthems can be contentious. The British is a comparatively mild one. The tunes are usually fairly nice. Our own could do with being reviewed, including the line "Le gunnaí-scréach faoi lámhach na bpiléar". It comforts me that...