Results 1-20 of 445 for speaker:Eoghan Harris

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2007)

Eoghan Harris: I wish the Cathaoirleach well in his term of office. In general I do not agree with us posturing about foreign policy but in the case of Burma we should add our voices to those of other civilised nations in expressing our distress at what is happening to peaceful people, especially to monks dedicated to peaceful change. Regarding Shannon, I am struck by the fact that those loudest in their...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2007)

Eoghan Harris: On a more important matter, I support Senator Hanafin's call for a debate on the Middle East. I have been reading transcripts of debates held in this House and there has been a lot of unchallenged posturing directed against Israel as a force of occupation. I would welcome a debate and the chance to set the record straight. The matter that should concern us, because it is within our remit,...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2007)

Eoghan Harris: When one examines the record of public embezzlement in this country one sees that this is not the case. Most working class people are law-abiding, as are most travellers. The fact is criminals choose their line of business. Any person carrying weapons should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Along with Senator Walsh, though he did not mention this specifically, I deplore the...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2007)

Eoghan Harris: I wish to reinforce the comments made by Senators White and O'Toole on the address made by Mr. Justice Paul Carney. It was important that he made this address to the law society in UCC, which is a group of serious, young law students. I attended a packed meeting at the society a few weeks ago. As Senator White said, it is good he spoke at this democratic forum. Far too often judges keep...

Seanad: Order of Business (24 Oct 2007)

Eoghan Harris: I wish to confine my comments to the crime problem. While I welcome Gerry Adams's statement concerning the atrocious beating on the Border, nevertheless there is a clear link between the paramilitary tradition and the current state of gangland crime. The culture of paramilitaries and the use of lethal force, including executions, are tied in and synthesised with the drug culture....

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (25 Oct 2007)

Eoghan Harris: In no contentious spirit, I ask for guidance from the Cathaoirleach and the party leaders. The Cathaoirleach referred to the abuse of the Order of Business. While I accept that he must interpret the rules — I welcome that he is a firm Cathaoirleach, as I believe in order as a teacher — I am an inveterate reader of Dáil and Seanad debates. In preparation, I have worked my way through...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (25 Oct 2007)

Eoghan Harris: We discuss connecting with the public and the Oireachtas is anxious to have a high public profile, but one cannot have a bureaucracy in which everyone behaves well and still holds topical discussions. Last year, Senator O'Toole and others on the Committee on Procedure and Privileges investigated the establishment of a topical hour as in the Bundestag. The Oireachtas is like an iceberg. The...

Seanad: Housing Market: Statements (31 Oct 2007)

Eoghan Harris: I do not need five minutes. I congratulate the Minister of State, whom I have always admired very much as an independent, tough and clear-minded local politician, on the tough job he is doing. I ask him to think outside the box on his watch. One of the troubles of housing is that it has always been ideologically trammelled. We have had two great historical interventions. We had the great...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (31 Oct 2007)

Eoghan Harris: I was very moved by the tributes to Joe Sherlock from his political colleagues here. I did not really know him in that capacity and my knowledge of him is very different. The Joe Sherlock I knew was much more steely, as he helped the republican movement come out of a cul-de-sac and into the broader stream of the socialist and constitutional struggle. I knew him through ten years of very...

Seanad: Witness Protection Programme Bill 2007: Second Stage (31 Oct 2007)

Eoghan Harris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Witness Protection Programme Bill 2007: Second Stage (31 Oct 2007)

Eoghan Harris: I am grateful to Senator Hanafin for sharing his time. I will vote against the Bill but I do so reluctantly because it has one huge merit, the indication to involve the Director of Public Prosecutions in the programme. I say this as a matter of principle because I would like to see the DPP and the new prosecuting judges involved much more deeply in the prosecution of crime. However, I do...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Nov 2007)

Eoghan Harris: One of the great functions of the Seanad has been to increase the comity and civility of Irish life. It was good to hear so many touch on many aspects of that this morning because it is often wrongly felt that public life is the only life. It is actually the small details of domestic life that engage the public interest and engage the public desire for people to speak out for them....

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2007)

Eoghan Harris: I appeal to the Cathaoirleach to exercise discretion because I wish to earn my salary by dissenting from the remarks made by almost all other Members regarding the health service. I do not support an amendment on a debate on cancer any more than I would support an amendment on a debate on, for example, the use of computers in fighting crime. What we need is an honest debate on the health...

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2007)

Eoghan Harris: It has been used as a stick to beat the Minister for Health and Children, the bravest and toughest Minister we have ever had in this area——

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2007)

Eoghan Harris: ——and a man who is trying to do this job properly for the first time in Ireland. I am old enough to remember the aftermath of former Deputy Noel Browne. I remember from my childhood that he had to threaten to train local authority workers to give injections of streptomycin to break the consultants' attempts to smash his health reforms. Everybody knows what the problem with the health...

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2007)

Eoghan Harris: ——and none of the small hospitals is up to it.

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2007)

Eoghan Harris: Every time a reform is proposed, Senators start off this romantic business of saving the local hospital.

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2007)

Eoghan Harris: I understand their reasons for doing this. I do not have to stand for election as I am appointed. That is one of the reasons I can tell the truth. These local hospitals are not up to it. Second, the consultants are a vested interest group.

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2007)

Eoghan Harris: The consultants continually block reforms. There are vested interests in trade unions in the health services. There are hospitals in which managers cannot take decisions because they are afraid of the unions. As every European report has pointed out, the health services are a nest of vested interests. What we need is a proper debate on health services that points the finger at the people...

Seanad: Order of Business. (7 Nov 2007)

Eoghan Harris: This Government is the first in my lifetime — I do not want to talk about Michael Noonan or Barry Desmond, although I could——