Results 17,681-17,700 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: There is €16.4 billion minus €4 billion — that is, €12.4 billion — left in the fund. Is that correct?

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: Would that not be enough for the recapitalisation process? Will we have to pay all that out?

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: I find that difficult to accept. The Minister says it would be wrong to do that for short-term reasons. However, we have taken a short-term decision by taking all this money out. I do not think the Government yet realises we are in a state of financial emergency.

Seanad: Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009: Committee Stage (5 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: One of the measures taken by Government was to take apart a ring-fenced fund that was never to be touched — a sacred cow. That was set out in legislation and that is why we need legislation now. The fund was devised by a former Minister for Finance specifically to make it difficult to raid and to this end legislation is required to change its purpose. The Government has taken the drastic...

Seanad: Local Economic Initiatives: Motion (4 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: I second the amendment to the motion. It is unfortunate for the proposers of this motion that when they put it down, it was bland and innocuous and probably meant to launch them on a crusade that identifies with a movement generally considered to be harmless, successful and socially beneficial. What happened yesterday and today was tough on them, with events in Mitchelstown particularly...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: Like other speakers, I offer a guarded welcome to the Government's decision to introduce a mini-budget at the end of this month. However, even though there will be relief at this decision, the Government does not deserve great credit. Its management of the economy and its attitude towards the crisis in the banking sector simply has been to react to the latest disaster or set of figures. It...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Mar 2009)

Shane Ross: The trend of the Government has been constantly to find a crutch which would allow it to share the blame. If it is not the social partners who, God knows, will probably be brought back into the equation in the coming weeks, it is the Opposition that will be the crutch, and therefore I beg Opposition Members to be careful. Yesterday's figures indicate we are very close to national bankruptcy...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: Will the Leader arrange for the Minister for Finance to come to the House? The Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Martin Mansergh, has been to the House for various debates and, while he is a man of great ability, he is not the real McCoy. We desperately need the Minister for Finance to come and listen to our opinions on various matters, not just the Bill we will discuss...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I apologise, but the new man is son of Brian. He is almost a duplicate or a clone who will implement similar policies and who is deeply imbedded not only in the banking culture but in the Bank of Ireland culture. It was even more devastating to read The Irish Times this morning and see my view confirmed that the new chief executive oversaw the growth of the bank's Irish development and land...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: ——because he has got an input into this. He has two members on the board. Were they asleep or were they doing his bidding? If they were doing his bidding, the Government might as well give up imposing a new culture on the banks. This is the alarming lesson we have from this appointment. We are going absolutely nowhere if this type of thing continues.

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2009: Second Stage. (26 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I thank Senator Leyden. The Bill is neither fair nor enough. The Government has succeeded, in an extraordinary ham-handed way, in creating a new class of victims, which it need not have done had it a balanced package. It is not enough. The world markets, impartial and independent observers, do not believe that we will get enough money from the Bill to scratch the surface. Next year, we...

Seanad: Banking Sector: Motion (25 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I thank Senator Quinn for sharing time. We have debated this issue in various forms, on various occasions and at some length. The motion represents an opportunity to mark time. I agree with Senator Quinn that it is not helpful to harbour resentments about the past. The problem is that the Government does not recognise the nature of the crisis with which we are faced. There is a worrying...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I want to say a few words on what was said by Senators Fitzgerald and Alex White. I do not know whether there should be a national Government — it is a difficult call to make and is a matter for political parties — but we should recognise that the Irish economy is at the eleventh hour. We now face very serious circumstances. This was stated in some media so it is fair enough to talk...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Special Educational Needs (19 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I raise the need for the Minister for Education and Science to reverse his decision to cut special teacher support for children with mild learning disabilities in St. Teresa's school, Balbriggan. I cannot understand why children with special needs should be victims of cuts, especially those in education. We agree that everybody should take his or her fair share of the pain but I do not...

Seanad: Special Educational Needs (19 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I thank the Minister of State for his reply, in which he read, "The Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe is open to listening to proposals from schools where they can demonstrate that it is educationally more beneficial for the pupils involved to be in a special class of their own rather than to be integrated with their peers and supported by the mainstream classroom teacher and the learning...

Seanad: Special Educational Needs (19 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: From whom should the proposals come: the teachers or the parents?

Seanad: Special Educational Needs (19 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: It was deliberately omitted then.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: I support the Senators who have called for identification of those involved in the support operation for Anglo Irish Bank. The sooner it is done, the better because there is a kind of opaqueness about what is going on with this shadowy carry-on which people cannot understand and which nobody is prepared to reveal to them.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2009)

Shane Ross: There are people not far away from here who know those names. It certainly would relieve some of the reasonable public disquiet if they were released without any prejudice. That said, we are in danger every day in this House of whistling past the graveyard. I ask the Leader to comment on the following. I have a great deal of sympathy with much of what was said on the economy on all sides...