Results 121-140 of 904 for speaker:Ray Butler

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Jul 2017)

Ray Butler: I wish my colleague, Senator Buttimer, all the best and congratulate him on his great news. Last week Senator Craughwell, Deputy Kevin O'Keeffe and myself visited the German Parliament to discuss the issues of Brexit and the European Union. We met with the Parliament's leader, the finance committee, the interior Minister and the education committee. Of course Brexit was the big issue. The...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2017)

Ray Butler: I would like to send my condolences to the people of the tower block in London, and also to the Portuguese people as a result of the forest fires which have claimed the lives of up to 70 people. There are going to be three days of national mourning in Portugal. I was delighted, along with everyone else, to hear about the deal done to get Irish beef back into the US market. I have to say,...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jun 2017)

Ray Butler: Senator Michael McDowell does not have a majority.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jun 2017)

Ray Butler: I wish the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, and their families a positive retirement when it arrives and I wish them the best for the future. I wish to speak about the terrorist attacks in London. I offer my condolences to the victims' families. I have spoken about Islamic radicals in this country previously. I agree with what Fianna...

Seanad: Order of Business (31 May 2017)

Ray Butler: I wish to raise the issue of paid parking in rural towns, which I have spoken about before. There is unfair competition when it comes to town centres. There are facilities on the outskirts of some towns with free parking and they are being given planning permission. If there is free parking outside the town centre, paid parking in the town centre should be scrapped because it is unfair...

Seanad: Order of Business (31 May 2017)

Ray Butler: The main role of a traffic warden is to keep traffic flowing. To be writing tickets for profit is totally against the Local Authorities (Traffic Wardens) Act 1975.

Seanad: Order of Business (31 May 2017)

Ray Butler: Are these tickets being written illegally? I want the Minister to come in here in order that we can find out what is going on in respect of paid parking being privatised. Are we going to close down town centres in rural Ireland? It is just not good enough. If it is happening in County Meath it is going to happen all over rural Ireland.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 May 2017)

Ray Butler: Last night's bomb attack in Manchester was a cowardly and evil act that has taken the lives of many innocent and defenceless people who were simply going about their daily lives, enjoying a concert, and it must be condemned. Our thoughts and sympathies are first and foremost with the families and friends of those who have lost their lives in this atrocity. To see the pictures of children...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 May 2017)

Ray Butler: I would like to speak again about the Book of Kells today. Senator Norris is not in the Chamber, which is a shame, but I thank the people from all over Ireland and abroad who contacted me about the book when I spoke about it in the Chamber on the last occasion. The question everyone was asking was who owns the Book of Kells. Is it the Irish people or Trinity College Dublin? I saw a sign...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 May 2017)

Ray Butler: Yes, we want one of the volumes back.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 May 2017)

Ray Butler: Good people such as John Bruton, John Farrelly and Brian Curran, town councillors and county councillors, were fighting to get one of the volumes back to Kells to the new heritage centre. The book could be brought around the world, but the peasants in Meath and Kells were not getting any volumes. If we are serious about the Ancient East tourism trail, the people of Meath and Kells want one...

Seanad: Order of Business (17 May 2017)

Ray Butler: It would not be stolen, I assure the House. It would be well minded. I will ask the Minister who owns the Book of Kells, and I will do so during Commencement Matters, because the only way I can see this problem being solved for the people of Kells, Meath and Ireland is through the courts.

Seanad: Order of Business (17 May 2017)

Ray Butler: It belongs to the people of Ireland, not Trinity College. The college has no right to keep the four volumes. A legal challenge will have to be made.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 May 2017)

Ray Butler: I welcome the results of a survey of the self-employed by the Department of Social Protection. Three out of four self-employed persons favoured paying a higher rate of social insurance to allow them to receive benefits similar to those received by PAYE workers. More than 80% of those surveyed put the payment of long-term illness benefit as the top priority. The survey found that 74% of...

Seanad: Gender Recognition (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (10 May 2017)

Ray Butler: On 15 July 2015, the Irish Government passed the Gender Recognition Act, providing the process to enable transgender people to achieve full legal recognition of their preferred gender, and to allow for the acquisition of a new birth certificate to reflect this change. The Gender Recognition Act allows all individuals under the age of 18 to self declare their own gender identity. Young...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Apr 2017)

Ray Butler: Will the Leader ask the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Varadkar, to come to the House to explain his new ideas for the self-employed, and the findings of the survey conducted last year of 20,000 self-employed people? We all heard the new advertisement on the radio for the extra services that self-employed people are entitled to on the S class stamp, such as dental and eye benefit and...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Apr 2017)

Ray Butler: I congratulate the Irish ladies' soccer team on their great win last night. They did well in standing up for themselves and deserved the win. I refer to the strike at Shelbourne Park greyhound stadium and the closure of Harold's Cross greyhound stadium. I welcome those who are present from the Greyhound Owners and Breeders Federation. I have been involved with greyhounds all my life and...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Mar 2017)

Ray Butler: I welcome the representatives of Retail Excellence Ireland who are in the Visitors Gallery and I would like to raise the issue of out-of-town business parks. During the Celtic tiger era, the majority of these parks were set up for manufacturing industries or offices and not for retail outlets. They have had a huge effect on town centres. A legal challenge has been taken in my county...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2017)

Ray Butler: I wish to follow on from what Senator Noone said about obesity. I read an article today in The Irish Timesabout type 2 diabetes. Between last August and September I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, my cholesterol was 7 and my blood pressure was crazy. I was told that I could get a long-term illness card that would give me all my medicines, which was a huge cost to the State. I went to...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2017)

Ray Butler: Two weeks ago when I got my bloods done my cholesterol had reduced from 7 to 3.3, my diabetes had gone from 42 to 32, my blood pressure is perfect and I am tablet free.