Results 18,501-18,520 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 Oct 2005)

Shane Ross: I call for a debate on the Comptroller and Auditor General's report which was published last week. I am not doing so to knock the Government in any sense because, while it provides a great deal of material with which the Opposition can criticise the Government, I do not really believe that it is a matter of great concern. Successive Governments have presided over huge waste in the public...

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 Oct 2005)

Shane Ross: Like the Leader and Deputy Cassidy, we co-operate.

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 Oct 2005)

Shane Ross: We are constituency colleagues and we co-operate, like the Leader and Deputy Cassidy.

Seanad: Early Childhood Education: Statements (Resumed). (5 Oct 2005)

Shane Ross: I thank the Government for giving us the chance to debate this very important issue. Members will have received a letter informing them about the Oireachtas crèche in the last day or two. I think everybody has received this letter. Whereas it is fairly short on detail, there are one or two very stark statistics therein. I suppose the one that is most telling and strikes all Members who look...

Seanad: Early Childhood Education: Statements (Resumed). (5 Oct 2005)

Shane Ross: It is not right that we should say they should pay such an enormous proportion of what they earn to see their children are looked after. As the Minister of State knows, the budget is approaching on 7 December. I hope that Fianna Fáil will indicate then that an imaginative package on child care will come to fruition. Senator White deserves credit for the lobbying she has done within Fianna...

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: I support Senator Brian Hayes's proposal for a discussion on risk equalisation and the Tánaiste's order in this regard. I cannot understand how an issue of such controversy could be put on the back-burner and discussion stifled. It is an issue of great importance to anybody who has health insurance. It is also an issue that is incredibly confusing and which most people do not understand. It...

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: The purpose of this Chamber is to have such ideological debates.

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: For Senators to say this is a matter of ideology as though there is something wrong with that is absurd. This House is meant to be facilitate a clash of ideologies and be a forum for debate.

Seanad: Order of Business. (30 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: This is a great opportunity for such a debate. Everybody knows VHI and BUPA are at each other's throats, not only for commercial reasons but because there is a clash of ideology between the semi-State and private sector. This topical issue presents an ideal opportunity for us to thrash it out in this House. Even if the Tánaiste cannot come, I ask the Leader to accommodate a debate with a...

Seanad: National Consumer Agency: Motion. (29 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: I am speaking at the request of Senator Leyden. It interests me that the Government proposes a motion in this House as I doubt there are any merits for the Government. It has all the time in the world to propose its own legislation and motions and I do not understand why we share time with it through this particular process, a point proven in this instance. It is another congratulatory motion...

Seanad: National Consumer Agency: Motion. (29 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: If one examines it closely, this motion is window-dressing in an attempt to champion the cause of the consumer. I am suspicious when I hear the word "strategy". To me, this is a substitute for the word "action". The Government is giving itself a pat on the back for establishing a consumer strategy group that has decided to recommend a new agency, which will apparently manifest as an interim...

Seanad: National Consumer Agency: Motion. (29 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: It is a smokescreen and one must wonder whether this strategy will work. We have had a series of what now appear to be failed State agencies and State appointments——

Seanad: National Consumer Agency: Motion. (29 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: ——to protect the power of the consumer. An example is the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs. Does that satisfy Senator White to begin with? That body is now apparently irrelevant and will be subsumed, along with its director, into the new agency. This indicates that this office was a busted flush. It did not work and we all know that to be the case. The simple reason is that it...

Seanad: National Consumer Agency: Motion. (29 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: The Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs found fault with many of the banks. Ms Carmel Foley is a wonderful woman who did a great job but when she found the banks had broken the law, she could do nothing about it. Those whom she found guilty of committing offences could not be prosecuted by her in the courts. The Government could not put up with this any longer so it set up another...

Seanad: National Consumer Agency: Motion. (29 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: No, there are three.

Seanad: National Consumer Agency: Motion. (29 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: It is an auctioneer from the chambers of commerce. It is dangerous for the Government to set up agencies of this type to give the impression of action without giving them any teeth. This will be yet another piece of window-dressing which will have virtually no effect on behalf of the consumer.

Seanad: National Consumer Agency: Motion. (29 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: Senator O'Toole is confused again.

Seanad: Fisheries Protection. (21 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: In light of the Minister of State's reply, am I correct in believing he intends to do absolutely nothing about this problem?

Seanad: Fisheries Protection. (21 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: Plenty of monitoring. I thank the Minister of State.

Seanad: Fisheries Protection. (21 Jun 2005)

Shane Ross: I wish to raise a matter which is becoming close to a national scandal, namely, drift netting off Irish waters. I have come across an extraordinary number of people who are concerned about this although I represent a constituency which is not near the sea, the sea fishing community or any vested interest group. However, I have been lobbied by many people; anglers, hoteliers and others in the...