Results 17,721-17,740 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross
- Seanad: School Staffing (5 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: I have been approached by a constituent who has availed of extra personal vacation, EPV, days abroad and is faced with the prospect of no longer being allowed to avail of them. The Minister of State will be well aware of the purpose of EPV days, which is to give teachers the chance to attend courses in order to gain skills which can then be used for educational benefit. Teachers can go back...
- Seanad: School Staffing (5 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: I am gobsmacked by the Minister's reply. I do not understand the reason that this course has been discontinued. The only reason given is that the "nature of the work or experience can vary considerably". What does that mean? Does it mean some of it is good and some of it is bad? Will the Minister expand on the reply? What is the reason for it being discontinued? The only reason given...
- Seanad: School Staffing (5 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: That would have been a more honest answer.
- Seanad: School Staffing (5 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: Will the Minister of State ask the Minister to send me a reply by letter?
- Seanad: School Staffing (5 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: No, but I am as happy as I can be.
- Seanad: Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Statements (5 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: With the permission of the House, I will share time with Senators Bacik and O'Toole.
- Seanad: Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Statements (5 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: I was struck by Senator O'Malley's comments. Regardless of some of the debate's party political spats, we must recognise that we are facing a large schism in society. The situation is fundamental. According to Senator O'Malley, she was raised at a time when all her generation did was save money to go abroad, a situation she never wants to recur. While it is now recurring, it is worse in...
- Seanad: Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Statements (5 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: Perhaps I could have ten minutes and give Senator O'Toole eight and Senator Bacik two, or seven and three.
- Seanad: Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Statements (5 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: I thank the Cathaoirleach. We are not in an alarming situation with multinationals but we will desperately need them. The main reason for their coming to the country, apart from the young educated labour force, is the 12.5% corporation tax. People who have ideological difficulties with that should not because the multinationals have produced employment on a scale that we could not have...
- Seanad: Order of Business (5 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: I endorse some of the cries for a national effort, whether one calls it national government or solidarity among the parties. There is a sense of urgency in this House, among both Government and Opposition, about the emergency situation we face. In Northern Ireland, when they were trying to make the big leap they said they would all jump together. If we are prepared to make sacrifices, it...
- Seanad: Order of Business (5 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: It is unforgivable that it should happen at this time. This is a well-paid workforce where people earn up to â¬70,000 per year, with some, I suspect, earning a great deal more. This body is owned by the Government, although a semantic defence is put that it is private sector under partnership. That is nonsense. The ESB is owned and controlled by the Government. It was refreshing to hear...
- Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: It is welcome we in this House have suddenly and belatedly developed a sense of urgency about the economy, especially those on the Government side who for so long â this is a political Chamber where it is perfectly justifiable to make political points â fiddled around in talks that have come to nothing, brought us in to discuss matters in a vacuum and now suddenly realise we are in a...
- Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: It is not mine, as I do not have one. A great deal of political capital has been sunk into Government by the permission of someone else. When one does not get the permission, one does not know what to do. I do not say that as someone who is critical of social partnership. What happened last night has been an incredible shock to the Government because it presumed, as did everyone else,...
- Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: They are getting it on condition that the whole lot of them clear out, go for their tea and go somewhere else.
- Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: It is an extraordinary situation. I do not apologise for making political points because this Government is somehow paralysed. It is constantly taking the cowardly course and refusing to take unpopular or, sometimes, popular decisions on its own. I ask the Government to start governing, accept the mandate the people gave it nearly two years ago and get on with it for the sake of the...
- Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2009)
Shane Ross: The Senator is in trouble. He should withdraw that.
- Seanad: Alternative Energy Projects (29 Jan 2009)
Shane Ross: That is one of the most outrageous performances I have ever come across on the Adjournment. I think the Minister does not understand the protocol here. Ministers usually read a speech that is written before they hear a Senator's question and then sit down. I am being facetious. I am grateful to the Minister for the fact that he actually listened to what I had to say and responded to it,...
- Seanad: Alternative Energy Projects (29 Jan 2009)
Shane Ross: Would that not slow things up?
- Seanad: Alternative Energy Projects (29 Jan 2009)
Shane Ross: The matter I raise is the need for the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to improve existing methods of carbon emissions reduction and support the development of alternative methods. It may surprise the Minister to learn that I have received a large number of representations recently about the slow development of alternative methods of energy generation. This is...
- Seanad: Economic Situation: Statements (27 Jan 2009)
Shane Ross: I thank Senator O'Toole for sharing his time with me. The idea of a recovery bond, which has just been mentioned, is an imaginative one. That is the way we should be thinking but the Minister of State's speech, and that of Senator MacSharry, was somewhat calm, lacking in urgency and, to a great extent, too complacent. The Minister of State should read the article on bonds in today's...