Results 101-120 of 501 for speaker:Maurice Hayes

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Second Stage. (18 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I am grateful to Senator Feeney for her attempt to share time with me earlier. It would be unchivalrous to suggest that it become a test of sobriety that one knows what fellow Senators are doing.

Seanad: Order of Business. (25 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I am sure that a statute drafted by Senator Norris would be infinitely more entertaining and probably a good deal more intelligible than most of the material that comes before us from the parliamentary counsel's office. We should encourage some improvement in the language used in drafting legislation, which has become enormously technical. I am aware that we are making suggestions for...

Seanad: Council Regulation on Procedures for amending the Sirene Manual: Referral to Joint Committee. - Health Service Reform: Statements (Resumed). (25 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I am grateful to you, Acting Chairman, and to the Minister of State for that indulgence. With a degree of immodesty I suggest to the Minister of State that I spent several months of the year before last looking at the hospital system in Northern Ireland.

Seanad: Council Regulation on Procedures for amending the Sirene Manual: Referral to Joint Committee. - Health Service Reform: Statements (Resumed). (25 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I would rather he read this because he will not be able to take it all in today. If the Minister of State reads that report he will find that it deals with many of the issues that we have been concerned about, particularly the question of trying to square the circle between accessibility and excellence of treatment. I commend the Minister, Deputy Martin, and I urge him to put his hand to the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I support the request for a debate to review the state of play in Northern Ireland in order to ensure there is no political void. Coming from the County Down coast, I know the issue of Sellafield is of great interest, not only to the people living there but also to the fishing industry. While I do not want to start another food scare, the best of what passes for Dublin Bay prawns are caught...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Second Stage. (26 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I also welcome the Bill. I endorse many of the remarks of Senators McDowell and Dardis. I would have preferred it if the Houses had been granted their own Vote and did not have to go through the filter of the Department of Finance. Nevertheless, it is an enormous improvement. It is important that the Houses take a grip on their own administration. I hope the Secretary General, when appointed,...

Seanad: Order of Business. (1 Jul 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I refer to the matter raised by Senator Ryan in which, as a director of Independent Newspapers, I declare an interest. I have not seen the edition about which he complained and will not comment further until I do. However, I would deeply regret any offence given or pain caused to the Taoiseach or any other person mentioned in the item. The private lives of public people are entitled to...

Seanad: Order of Business. (4 Jul 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I thank the Leader and the Senators for their congratulations, which I found very moving. Speaking personally, the greatest honour I have had is to be nominated to this House. I regard that as the primary honour. I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his handling of the business and his respect for the Members and traditions of the House and I thank the Clerks for their help. I support the...

Seanad: Death of Former Members: Expressions of Sympathy. (7 Oct 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I would like to associate myself with the remarks about Lady Valerie Goulding that have been well made by other Senators. She restored real meaning to the title of "Lady" and to the terms "courtesy", "dependability" and "compassion and regard for others". She was one of the people who caused the foundation of the Ireland Fund and I knew her quite well through that organisation. She remained a...

Seanad: Death of Former Members: Expressions of Sympathy. (7 Oct 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I wish to speak briefly because I am from the North and Louis Walsh was a Derry man. When he was elected to the House, he already had a considerable career behind him and had been very active in his early days. I think he was even in the Sinn Féin courts in east Derry. He was very active in political, cultural and other affairs in Derry and Antrim. He was a very cultured man who wrote...

Seanad: Order of Business: Motion. - Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse: Statements. (7 Oct 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I am grateful to Senator Kate Walsh for sharing time with me. I would also like to draw attention to the priority we should give to the victims in this. Our minds should be directed towards them. I do not like recrimination in these matters but it is clear that the tribunal of inquiry is not necessarily the best instrument for dealing with these matters and it is perhaps a salutary lesson to...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Second Stage. (8 Oct 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I also welcome the legislation and I congratulate the Minister of State on the way in which he has brought the legislation forward. While we are not engaged in a wide-reaching review of the Prison Service, I would like the benchmark to be set a little higher than in Colombia or Iraq. Aspects of the Prison Service, which are not a reflection on the people working in it, need to be examined,...

Seanad: Benchmarking: Motion. (8 Oct 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I thank Fine Gael for tabling this motion and enabling us to debate this important matter and to seek clarification on it from the Minister. I have a great deal of sympathy for what lies behind this but it is not something which I can entirely support. Unlike Senator Norris I think there is utility—

Seanad: Benchmarking: Motion. (8 Oct 2003)

Maurice Hayes: Yes, but he is omnipresent. I was so overcome by Senator Ross's productivity I thought there were two Senators speaking.

Seanad: Order of Business. (9 Oct 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I ask the Leader to request the Minister for Health and Children to come to the House for a debate on the cancer report, perhaps in the context of a wider debate involving the Hanly report and other documents. I generally support that report. I am sorry that Senator Finucane is not here. It is not out of sympathy for his very heartfelt plea for Limerick, but simply because one cannot pluck...

Seanad: Order of Business. (9 Oct 2003)

Maurice Hayes: He was even more distinguished than I explained but he was the father of the Senator. I only mention it now in case the family would have been hurt in any way by my apparent ignorance. It is quite clear that the former Senator was hugely distinguished also and a worthy son of a distinguished father. I am glad to pay tribute to him and to be associated properly with the other tributes.

Seanad: Order of Business. (15 Oct 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I would prefer to have spoken before Senator Mansergh. As one from the North, I have been watching these processes for a number of years – of course the hurler on the ditch always knows more than the people in the field. There can be no question in anybody's mind of the contribution that Senator Mansergh has made over the years. He is a man of almost frightening integrity. The peace process...

Seanad: National Task Force on Medical Staffing: Statements. (22 Oct 2003)

Maurice Hayes: Although I have less involvement with local services than my colleagues in the House, I thought it might be helpful to offer some observations from the point of view of somebody from outside the health service who has worked in the health field. In recent years, I chaired a committee which carried out a review of the acute hospital services in Northern Ireland. Having done our sums, we...

Seanad: European Convention/Intergovernmental Conference: Statements. (22 Oct 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I welcome the Minister of State and congratulate him on the work he has been doing. I join in the congratulations extended to the members of the Irish group working in the convention. Deputy John Bruton, who held a pre-eminent position, made an enormous contribution as a member of the Praesidium, as did Proinsias De Rossa, MEP, Deputies Carey and Gormley and the Minister of State's alternate,...

Seanad: Order of Business. (5 Nov 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I support Senator Lydon's request for a debate on stem cell research. There is a question regarding whether we adhere to the position we take in European debates on the issue. The science is expanding at such a rate that it is not possible to wait for a Supreme Court decision which may not move us much further down the line. Therefore, a debate would be appropriate. I also add modest support...