Results 261-280 of 1,934 for speaker:Tom Shehan

Seanad: National Lottery Bill 2012: Second Stage (24 Apr 2013)

Tom Shehan: The up-front payment is €500 million. The annual levy will merely offset the costs of the regulator's office. I would turn the screw in this regard. There should be an additional benefit to the State other than the levy. Will it be a percentage or will it be a set fee? A percentage of the profits would be the best way to go rather than applying a set fee. We have to build a...

Seanad: National Lottery Bill 2012: Second Stage (24 Apr 2013)

Tom Shehan: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I have reservations about this Bill. There are no specific amounts in the Minister's information. The lotto has raised €4 billion in 26 years. Gross turnover last year was more than €700 million. Be it true or just speculation, it is expected that the national lottery licence will be sold for 20 years for an up-front payment of...

Seanad: Adjournment Debate: Garda Investigations (17 Apr 2013)

Tom Shehan: I urge the Senator to be more prescriptive when tabling his Adjournment requests. There was no reference to what he raised in the Chamber. He has abused his privilege in naming persons in the Chamber when he did not refer to them in his request. The Chair did not have prior notice of a reference to an individual; it only had reference to a school.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2013: [Seanad Bill Amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (13 Mar 2013)

Tom Shehan: I have a question along the same lines as Senator Wilson. What is the definition of the workings or functions of the authority? The Minister of State referred to 30% unpaid water rates in the current system. With all due respect, if 30% of ¤500 million in water charges is uncollected, the issue will have to be ironed out from the very start. The authority would be run to the ground very...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2013: [Seanad Bill Amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (13 Mar 2013)

Tom Shehan: Will there be a contingency fund to deal with emergencies such as the cryptosporidium problem we had in Galway a number of years ago if, God forbid, something like that were to happen again?

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Jan 2013)

Tom Shehan: One can call Sherry Fitzgerald Coghlan.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Jan 2013)

Tom Shehan: I would like to speak about the adverse effect that bank charges are having on start-up businesses. I have seen a document that outlines the charges that have to be paid by a new business that wants to install a Visa machine. A once-off registration fee of ¤175 has to be paid. The business will be charged between 25 cent and 35 cent per transaction, with an additional 2 cent per...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Second Stage (13 Dec 2012)

Tom Shehan: Now.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2012)

Tom Shehan: It is a Second Stage speech.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2012)

Tom Shehan: I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Deenihan, to come to the House next week for a debate on the proposal to designate special areas of conservation and the impact on the Porcupine Basin where it is proposed to drill ten wells in the next year to a year and a half.

Seanad: Credit Union Bill 2012: Second Stage (4 Dec 2012)

Tom Shehan: While the credit unions are deserving of all the plaudits and plámás they are getting today, what they really need is protection from the Central Bank and Mr. Matthew Elderfield, whose reputation precedes him. Having made inquires, I am aware of what happened under his watch to the credit union movement in another jurisdiction. The Minister of State stated in his speech:The report is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Review of Irish Coast Guard Service: Discussion (24 Oct 2012)

Tom Shehan: Despite its apparent remit, I have found very little reference in the entire report to the concept of value for money. In that regard, will Mr. Mullen indicate - I realise it is a very blunt question - whether Valentia Island and Malin Head are giving value for money? In the meeting I had with the Minister, he raised the issue of oil pollution prevention and response, an issue that is...

Seanad: Mortgage Credit (Loans and Bonds) Bill 2012: Second Stage (17 Oct 2012)

Tom Shehan: I had not intended to speak on the Bill but I have been moved to do so by Senator White's contribution. At the time of the Peter Bacon report, which was taken from the 2006 census, we had 215,000 unoccupied houses, 65,000 of which were second homes and holiday homes. There were 150,000 unoccupied houses in the country in 2006, yet Government policy was to build 90,000 units per annum. We...

Seanad: Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (17 Oct 2012)

Tom Shehan: I compliment and thank the Minister on bringing this progressive legislation before the House. I call on the Minister to be mindful of the comments of the former Minister for the Public Service, John Boland, in 1984 to the effect that it would be unthinkable for an agency or Department not to take on board the recommendations of the Ombudsman.

Seanad: Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (17 Oct 2012)

Tom Shehan: As the Minister brought up this subject, we are giving more powers to the Ombudsman's office yet the Ombudsman's decisions or recommendations are neither binding nor legally enforceable. Would the Minister consider that recommendations and findings by the Ombudsman's office should be binding? I refer to the point he raised in the previous Administration in 2009 about the lost at sea scheme....

Seanad: Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (17 Oct 2012)

Tom Shehan: I ask the Cathaoirleach to bear with me because it was the Minister who made reference to it. The Ombudsman's findings came back before the House but the previous Government, in protecting one of its own, voted down the Ombudsman's recommendation.

Seanad: Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (17 Oct 2012)

Tom Shehan: Why are we giving more power to the Ombudsman when her recommendations can be thrown out with the bath water, so to speak, and not taken on board when they come before these Houses? In 1984, John Boland, who was then Minister for the Public Service, said that he would not provide legislation for the Ombudsman's recommendations to be legally binding or legally enforceable because he found it...

Seanad: Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (17 Oct 2012)

Tom Shehan: Would the Minister consider reopening the lost at sea scheme?

Seanad: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Oct 2012)

Tom Shehan: Yes. How can a businessman at the top of the High Street continue to pay his rates if the fellow at the bottom of New Street is not paying his rates because he cannot do so?

Seanad: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Second Stage (11 Oct 2012)

Tom Shehan: If we are talking about transparency, we have to be honest about this. I agree very much with the outsourcing of elements of the work. The provision regarding estimating the net annual value of groups of properties needs to be examined because the valuation comes down to the best achievable rents and rents have fallen. Will there be an all-encompassing sweep to collect rates from people who...