Results 17,401-17,420 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Oct 2010)

Shane Ross: I am in a forgiving mood this morning.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Oct 2010)

Shane Ross: I thank the Leader for allowing us to debate the Croke Park agreement. That is both constructive and helpful and I am delighted to hear it will continue after today because the matter is relevant. I was a little disappointed because when I heard Senator O'Toole say there would be a debate on CIE, I thought he was being serious; I should have known better. As far as I am aware, there will...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Oct 2010)

Shane Ross: Wait a minute, a Chathaoirligh, I am just finishing.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Oct 2010)

Shane Ross: Fianna Fáil voted down a request that a key witness should come to an inquiry into CIE when people on the other side had already been heard in public. What is going on? Now, we are not being allowed a debate on the same semi-State organisation. Something very murky is going on here. I want the Leader to respond, not by saying we can discuss it under this, that and the other but with a...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Oct 2010)

Shane Ross: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Oct 2010)

Shane Ross: No thanks. I decline the Leader's kind offer.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Oct 2010)

Shane Ross: I was a little surprised when I received the schedule of business for the week. Senators are extraordinarily frustrated at what is taking place in the House. When one receives a schedule indicating that the House will debate the economy on Wednesday and the smart economy on Thursday, one must ask whether the Seanad is being completely politically neutered. This is what is happening....

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Oct 2010)

Shane Ross: Why is it not being discussed this week?

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Oct 2010)

Shane Ross: I am glad the Leader raised this matter because he is responsible for the Order of Business. Why, in the name of God, did we not debate the issue of waste in the Health Service Executive or the position with regard to SIPTU yesterday? A good case can be made for debating the role of trade unions. Did the Leader know that partnership money was regularly provided for trade unions? I did not...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Oct 2010)

Shane Ross: Now that the horse has bolted, everyone is on the same bandwagon condemning what took place in FÁS.

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Oct 2010)

Shane Ross: Let me set the Leader a final test. I challenge him to arrange a debate on CIE which will be the next disaster. He will not have such a debate because he wants to protect it. Instead, we will debate the issue after the disaster.

Seanad: End of Life Care: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Shane Ross: I congratulate Senators Mullen and Quinn on tabling this motion. It is very difficult to tackle taboos of this sort in the political environment and it is in the tradition of this House to do so. One of the more notable aspects of this debate is the great agreement we have had during the debate from people on the opposite side of the House, which makes it ironic and a great pity that the...

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2010: Motion (29 Sep 2010)

Shane Ross: I find this motion very difficult. When we deal with these issues in a piecemeal fashion, this type of motion and debate leads to a further loss of confidence by the global markets. I do not mean that the debate should be suppressed. The fact that it is temporary, that we do not know how long it will last and that we do not know what will happen tomorrow leaves us in an odd situation when...

Seanad: Semi-State Bodies (14 Jul 2010)

Shane Ross: I welcome the Minister of State. The matter I wish to raise is one with which he will have some familiarity because he was a member of the Joint Committee on Transport in a former life. The issue is the refusal of the non-executive directors of CIE to appear before the Joint Committee on Transport. I regard this as an extraordinarily serious issue. These non-executive directors were asked...

Seanad: Semi-State Bodies (14 Jul 2010)

Shane Ross: Of course, the reply did not answer the question and the Minister of State should be ashamed of himself for reading that script given to him by the Department of Transport. The issue here is not whether it is compliant. As he stated, CIE complied with all requests about procurement. The issue here is whether non-executive directors - take CIE out of the equation - should appear before and...

Seanad: Semi-State Bodies (14 Jul 2010)

Shane Ross: It does not stop them coming in.

Seanad: Semi-State Bodies (14 Jul 2010)

Shane Ross: I did not ask that question. I am sorry, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, I will not ask a supplementary. I will ask the same question and I want an answer to it. Does the Minister approve of non-executive directors on any issue being allowed not to come in and not to be answerable to the Oireachtas? Do not give me this stuff about procurement or about the Act. Does the Minister approve of them not...

Seanad: Semi-State Bodies (14 Jul 2010)

Shane Ross: It does not provide for Coco the Clown coming in either but he can come in too.

Seanad: Order of Business. (13 Jul 2010)

Shane Ross: I add my voice to those of Senators Corrigan, Bradford and others on the situation in Iran and congratulate the Department of Foreign Affairs. I echo the words of Senator Mooney - if the words of the Minister for Foreign Affairs had an effect last week, that is laudable and something we should encourage. The case involves a barbaric act, something on which we cannot be neutral. However, I...

Seanad: Order of Business. (13 Jul 2010)

Shane Ross: I am not going to rank capital punishment on various levels of barbarity and primitiveness. It would be appropriate, however, were we, at every possible opportunity, to make it clear to the United States of America, China and other nations that we also find their activities in executing people utterly unacceptable. We have abolished capital punishment ourselves in this country.