Results 17,601-17,620 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Sep 2009)

Shane Ross: We will see who comes to the debate. I might be maligning the Leader but I will bet that the Minister for Finance will not be here this afternoon for any length of time, if at all. There is no point having people present who are just going through the motions and not listening to anything Members say. Perhaps the Leader will indicate which Minister will come before the House. I endorse the...

Seanad: OECD and IMF Reports: Statements (10 Jul 2009)

Shane Ross: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Calleary. It is the first time I have seen him here. Perhaps that is because I was not present when he was here previously. It is a great pleasure to see him. I hope he has a very successful ministerial career, which undoubtedly he will have. I wish him well. He comes at a very difficult period for the economy and for the House. The IMF and...

Seanad: OECD and IMF Reports: Statements (10 Jul 2009)

Shane Ross: -----to the unbelievable hype that existed in this country.

Seanad: OECD and IMF Reports: Statements (10 Jul 2009)

Shane Ross: They spoofed and boosted the economy to a level of confidence that was completely unjustified. That is something the Government will have to address, namely, that powerful organisations such as those command such clout, not just internally but on the national media. I saw them yesterday on the national media. I do not want to mention names. On the news yesterday there was a well-known...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Jul 2009)

Shane Ross: I agree with Senator Healy Eames on that. The Leader gave us a pledge last week that the Minister, Deputy Harney, would come in here before the end of the session. It was not a water-tight pledge because we do not get those in this House, but it was an aspiration that she would come in, and I ask that she do so before next Wednesday. She is away this week, but it is important that is done.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Jul 2009)

Shane Ross: I would like to address the issue of Arthur Cox, which was raised by Senator Regan, with whom I agree. The first victim of this will be Senator Regan because I doubt he will ever be briefed by Arthur Cox again after what he said.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Jul 2009)

Shane Ross: Senator Regan put his finger on a problem. It is not necessarily specific to these solicitors, but the House might address it at some stage. On the same type of issue, I am astonished at the number of times PricewaterhouseCoopers comes up in the banking issue. It is banker to the Bank of Ireland. It received an audit fee of €15 million from the Bank of Ireland a couple of years ago,...

Seanad: Pharmacy Regulations (7 Jul 2009)

Shane Ross: I thank Senator Buttimer for sharing time. There is an extraordinary spinning game going on here between pharmacists and the Government, and this is far too serious for a game or for macho stances to be taken. It is all very well at this stage, in July, to sit back and suggest that somehow the pharmacists will capitulate on their demand by the beginning of August. I do not believe this will...

Seanad: Pharmacy Regulations (7 Jul 2009)

Shane Ross: The Minister of State addressed some of the points we raised and I appreciate that he departed from his script. I thank him for that. What about the point Senator Buttimer made, that at least the Minister's officials should talk to the pharmacists? The pharmacists are willing both to make concessions and to talk. One of the reasons they are offering to talk is to settle the difference...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2009)

Shane Ross: I thank the Cathaoirleach and Senator Leyden for his preface to my remarks. I could not hear any of them but they were very entertaining.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2009)

Shane Ross: I wish to address a serious issue. Will the Leader ask the Minister for Health and Children to come to the House to address the issue of the pharmacists? This is causing a deafening silence from the Government benches, I suppose because of the situation that will confront us in the coming weeks. Everyone in the House knows that the pharmacists are sending back their contracts and perhaps...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2009)

Shane Ross: This is not just an issue of people making a lot of money being able to afford to take some of it back, which is how it is portrayed by some of the Government spinners. There are two very important elements involved. One is the issue of small businesses, some of which are in serious difficulties as a result of the cuts made. They borrowed a lot of money on the basis of the fact that they...

Seanad: Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Second Stage (25 Jun 2009)

Shane Ross: I wish to share time with Senators Bacik and Mullen. My first point might antagonise to some extent the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, for whom I have great admiration. This is a very important Bill which should have been fitted into the Minister's timetable because it is a reflection on the Seanad and its Members that we do not have the real McCoy here when debating an issue as...

Seanad: Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Second Stage (25 Jun 2009)

Shane Ross: We may get a bit more than that, but the point is that Deputy Mansergh is not there when the important things happen, nor is he privy to all the information the Minister has. That gives the Minister a knowledge and ability to impart that information with an authority which, unfortunately, the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh does not have. I do not want Deputy Mansergh to take this...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Jun 2009)

Shane Ross: If I could share some of the humble pie Senator O'Toole is dishing around the Independent benches——

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Jun 2009)

Shane Ross: ——on the basis that there is great rejoicing in the kingdom of heaven for the return of repentant sinners, I hope that the Leader will allow us to have a debate on the Lisbon treaty in order that everyone on these benches can revise their position.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Jun 2009)

Shane Ross: Including myself.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Jun 2009)

Shane Ross: The House will possibly have noticed that last week the credit rating of this country was downgraded in a very serious way by Standard & Poors. One of the results of this was that the euro tumbled steeply on foreign exchange markets. That development was received extraordinarily badly among our European partners. The latter have begun to regard Ireland and its economy and banking system...

Seanad: Information and Communications Technologies: Motion (17 Jun 2009)

Shane Ross: I hope Senator Martin Brady's words do not carry to the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party, and further. The Senator will be joining Mr. Joe Higgins MEP if he continues in that vein. I am sure it is not a particularly popular view on the Government benches but it is welcome to hear such fresh opinions from those benches and I congratulate the Senator on expressing them.

Seanad: Information and Communications Technologies: Motion (17 Jun 2009)

Shane Ross: I welcome the Fine Gael amendment. The issue of broadband has only recently been discovered in this House and I see very little evidence of it being debated in the other House. It is possibly the most important technological issue facing Ireland today. I find it difficult to approach this motion and the attitudes of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party to it because I tabled two Bills in this...