Results 101-120 of 445 for speaker:Eoghan Harris

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Sep 2010)

Eoghan Harris: No caesareans — it is full term.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Sep 2010)

Eoghan Harris: I welcome what Senator O'Toole said. I know this is a bad day for the economy and I know that people think the rock of the banking debacle lying on them is the worst they have to deal with, but there is a larger rock coming down on them and that is the public sector finances to which the Minister referred yesterday. If there is to be any credibility in the Croke Park deal, cuts in numbers...

Seanad: Order of Business. (29 Sep 2010)

Eoghan Harris: Last night, the President pointed out that the Seanad was a place where we could be fearless in speaking, but I am afraid that we are always flunking. We have had months and months of worked up public anger about the banks, which has all been very well, but two groups benefited from the Celtic tiger, namely, the property groups allied with the banks and the public sector. While Anglo Irish...

Seanad: Order of Business. (29 Sep 2010)

Eoghan Harris: They did not.

Seanad: Order of Business. (29 Sep 2010)

Eoghan Harris: Does the Senator support it?

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Second Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Eoghan Harris: I wish to share time with Senator Quinn.

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Second Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Eoghan Harris: Those who propose the abolition of this House should take stock of the contributions made by Senators on both sides today. They were of a very high order indeed. I wish I could keep the promise I made to myself this morning when I appealed to Senators to have regard to the civilities of the debate. When we discussed this last I said that toleration was not just permitting things of which...

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Second Stage (7 Jul 2010)

Eoghan Harris: Let me finish by congratulating the Minister on honouring the commitment made by the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, in the programme for Government in 2007. As I am a conservative who believes in Burke's definition of society as a contract between the living, the dead and those who are yet to be born, I regard this as a good day's work. I feel the shadow of Wilde and Casement here...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Jul 2010)

Eoghan Harris: I wish to be associated with Senator Fitzgerald's remarks on the civil partnership Bill. I will not go into the substance of it. This is one of these landmark discussions like the discussion about Articles 2 and 3, which arouse deep crises of conscience for people. Had everybody in our history behaved as per his or her conscience there would have been no peace process. Many people put...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Jul 2010)

Eoghan Harris: Our grandfathers and our fathers would have difficulty with civil partnership. I fully support it, but my father and grandfather would have problems with it. There are people on the other side who oppose it - perhaps doing so in good conscience - and those of us who support it also do so in good conscience. We need to understand that tolerance does not mean permitting things; it means...

Seanad: Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998: Motion (17 Jun 2010)

Eoghan Harris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998: Motion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Eoghan Harris: I welcome the Minister, who has more than perhaps any other Minister led the Department in a proactive policy of combating crime, criminal and quasi-political. I commend him on the work he has done and urge him not to play down, as was the case in the past with Governments, the extent of the threat posed by the Real IRA and allied groups which, in an ominous fashion, are beginning to seek to...

Seanad: Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998: Motion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Eoghan Harris: There is an international dimension to this document. This is the first time I have raised it and it is a bit sharp of Senator Fitzgerald to raise this when other Senators have been allowed liberal chats about all aspects of Northern Ireland.

Seanad: Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998: Motion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Eoghan Harris: I made but a single point on the international dimension. It would be very wrong for Hamas and its Islamist allies to believe Ireland was a soft mark for their activities here. The Waterford attempt is a very disturbing development, and if one keeps up the hype and hysteria against Israel, one will create the impression around the world in middle-management terrorist groups that this island...

Seanad: Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998: Motion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Eoghan Harris: What about North Korea, Darfur or the squalid fascist states of the Middle East?

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2010)

Eoghan Harris: I support Senators Coffey and Buttimer in their call for a jobs stimulus programme. Members will be aware that by and large I have supported the Government all the way through. I am a great believer in the principle of join the army, wear the boots. I support its anti-recession policy.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 Jun 2010)

Eoghan Harris: I support the Government's anti-recession policy. However, I put it to the Leader that, because there are internal problems in Fine Gael, it is no time for complacency on the part of the Government as to the extent of public shock on the news that Anglo Irish Bank is throwing away €22 billion. This is most important. It is what I call an iceberg situation. The Government has hit...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Eoghan Harris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Confidence in the Taoiseach: Motion (16 Jun 2010)

Eoghan Harris: The question is whether we have confidence in the Taoiseach to carry us through this recession. There are many answers. My answer is "Yes, I do". He is a humble man. One could say he has much to be humble about. He has questions to answer and he has made mistakes. However, based on the homoeopathic principle that those who make mistakes are probably the best to clear them up, he has...

Seanad: Confidence in the Taoiseach: Motion (16 Jun 2010)

Eoghan Harris: Hear, hear.