Results 101-120 of 2,017 for speaker:Paul Bradford

Seanad: Report on Dublin and Monaghan Bombings: Motion. - Local Authority Funding: Motion. (10 Dec 2003)

Paul Bradford: Blame the homeless.

Seanad: Report on Dublin and Monaghan Bombings: Motion. - Local Authority Funding: Motion. (10 Dec 2003)

Paul Bradford: Four times as many local authority houses were built.

Seanad: Report on Dublin and Monaghan Bombings: Motion. - Local Authority Funding: Motion. (10 Dec 2003)

Paul Bradford: I wish to share my time with Senator Brian Hayes. I am glad the Minister of State is in the House because there is no point in speaking about the Minister of State behind his back or making complaints when he is not present. I am genuinely disappointed not simply by the Minister's speech but by the approach he has taken over the past 12 to 18 months. I debated with the Minister of State in...

Seanad: Report on Dublin and Monaghan Bombings: Motion. - Local Authority Funding: Motion. (10 Dec 2003)

Paul Bradford: The country is awash with money. I can supply the Minister of State with the figures. This year in north Cork there will be sufficient funding for approximately 80 or 90 starts in direct and affordable housing. In 1985, the local authority built 150 houses. We have not made the progress we should be making and we are failing to do so now at a time when significant resources are available,...

Seanad: Report on Dublin and Monaghan Bombings: Motion. - Local Authority Funding: Motion. (10 Dec 2003)

Paul Bradford: I would like to be able to add in those figures but from what the Minister of State said, and taking into account voluntary and direct housing, we are still using much less resources for direct housing than in the mid-1980s. The statistics speak for themselves. We need to examine the area of direct housing. There are policy options which can be taken on housing. Even when money is scarce it...

Seanad: Address by Mr. Seán Ó Neachtáin, MEP. (11 Dec 2003)

Paul Bradford: I join in welcoming Mr. Ó Neachtáin. I presume it is his first time addressing the Oireachtas and his contribution has impressed us. He has been a good pupil to learn so much so soon. Politics notwithstanding, we wish him well in the remaining months of his term and hopefully onwards from there. His constituency, formerly Connacht-Ulster and soon to be Ireland-West, is the most peripheral...

Seanad: Address by Mr. Seán Ó Neachtáin, MEP. (11 Dec 2003)

Paul Bradford: So Mr. Ó Neachtáin should be.

Seanad: Address by Ms Avril Doyle, MEP. (11 Dec 2003)

Paul Bradford: She is used to that.

Seanad: Address by Ms Avril Doyle, MEP. (11 Dec 2003)

Paul Bradford: I welcome Deputy Doyle to the House. It is helpful to have her title clarified. During Ms Doyle's speech she referred to togging out in the Irish jersey. This is an interesting question, but we do not have time to dwell fully on it. Some members who go to Brussels are accused of going native; others are accused of simply peddling an Irish line. What is the balance? Do we send people to...

Seanad: Address by Mr. Brian Crowley, MEP. (11 Dec 2003)

Paul Bradford: I welcome Deputy Crowley to the House. We were advised earlier that the proper term was "Deputy". He is very welcome back to the House in which he served with distinction some years ago. Many of my colleagues have questions so I will keep to one or two areas. One of those is defence, the matter with which Mr. Crowley concluded his speech. He gave us his personal view and made the point that...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters. - Death Row Prisoner. (11 Dec 2003)

Paul Bradford: I am glad of the opportunity to raise the case of Mr. Roger Collins who is currently incarcerated in a jail in Georgia in the United States. He has been awaiting execution on death row for the past 26 years. This case was brought to my attention as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs's sub-committee on human rights. Some months ago the sub-committee heard a presentation from a group...

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Jan 2004)

Paul Bradford: I agree with the comments of and the request by Senator Leyden for a debate on undocumented Irish people in the United States. This was a major political issue ten or 14 years ago and was apparently resolved for a few years. There are many indications that the problem has returned to cause grave difficulty for a large number of Irish people in the United States. At a time when the American...

Seanad: Order of Business. (27 Jan 2004)

Paul Bradford: I want to revisit the issue of electronic voting which I have raised on a number of occasions. In a little more than four months hundreds of thousands of people will cast their verdicts on thousands of candidates by way of electronic voting machines. We all welcome the concept of electronic voting, but we must recognise that there are grave concerns about the system it is proposed to use next...

Seanad: FÁS Community Employment Schemes: Motion. (28 Jan 2004)

Paul Bradford: I second the motion and I am glad to have an opportunity to contribute. I thank Senator Finucane for his comments. It is appropriate that the Minister of State with responsibility for labour affairs, Deputy Fahey, is present because following the initial outcry some months ago about the possibility of large-scale cutbacks in the scheme, he was the first to use a megaphone to announce what he...

Seanad: Crisis Pregnancy Strategy: Statements. (29 Jan 2004)

Paul Bradford: I had not intended to speak on this motion. However, having listened to the contributions, I feel we are having a valuable debate that should be reflected upon by Members and the public. Since 1983, when the first constitutional amendment on the issue of abortion was put to referendum, we have had a long debate on abortion, its alternatives and where society should go. During the course of...

Seanad: European Presidency: Statements. (29 Jan 2004)

Paul Bradford: I welcome the Taoiseach to the House. While I am aware of the grave responsibility of the Taoiseach's European duties, we all envy him for the fact that he holds the Presidency of Europe at the most exciting time in the political history of the Continent. I first spoke in this House in 1987 and at that time the Continent of Europe was divided by the Berlin wall and the Cold War. The changes...

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Paul Bradford: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the motion and the amendment. I have addressed the question of decentralisation on numerous occasions both in this House and in the other House. I am supportive of the broad concept of decentralisation. The programme of decentralisation was announced by the Minister in his Budget Statement last December to the surprise of many. In my view,...

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Paul Bradford: We are advised that 200 people will move from headquarters. Unless the Minister of State insists that all the bus drivers will move to live in Mitchelstown, there has been no talk of Bus Éireann employees in other parts of the country being moved. It was announced that the headquarters of Bus Éireann would move to Mitchelstown and it would require 200 staff to run that head office whereas...

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Paul Bradford: The hub towns in the spatial strategy have been referred to by other speakers. There was a substantial welcome for that proposal from all sides of the House. More balanced regional and local development is required and the spatial strategy will play a significant role in that regard. The town of Mallow has been designated as a hub town and was very fortunate in being chosen for...

Seanad: Regional Development: Motion. (11 Feb 2004)

Paul Bradford: I agree with the Senator. In order to be consistent with what was said 12 or 18 months ago, the starting point should be the gateway and hub towns. It is surprising that some of those towns have been left out of this programme. While the concept of decentralisation is positive and there are thousands of civil servants who would be interested in moving to provincial locations, there is a...