Results 181-200 of 25,212 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I will deal specifically with that point because I have made a number of charges against the Government and the Minister in earlier contributions on the basis of the reason the Government is proposing to reduce the number of Deputies to perhaps 153 or less. The Leader of House said proposal did not go far enough and that perhaps the figure should be 120. I posed a question which I will pose...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I did not lecture the Minister about his salary or that of anybody else. I made the point about costs and whether this measure would reduce costs. We are not advocating that TDs, Ministers or Senators should earn the average industrial wage. That is a decision that those of us in our party make and we invest the money in our constituencies. What we propose are modest decreases in the pay...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I move amendment No. 4: In page 3, before section 4, to insert the following new section: "4.—Section 6 (amended by section 9 of the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009) of the Act of 1997 is amended in subsection (2) by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (b): "(b) each constituency shall return four, five or six members.".". I appreciate that other Members have tabled similar...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: That is the one. That was a six seat constituency. This country has a history of five and six seat constituencies. We should look at best practice in other countries. Many countries have multi-seat constituencies, and we pride ourselves on our PR-STV system. Its logic is to ensure good representation and diversity in the political system. If we just had four, five and six-seat...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: Senator Mooney will not be happy.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I support the arguments made by previous speakers regarding the introduction of a list system. Such a system would deal with many of the issues arising in terms of women's participation in politics. There appears to be cross-party support for the principle of a list system and perhaps this House could return to the proposal in the form of a motion or a Bill. In the 2007 general election,...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: There is no glass ceiling in here.

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I want to be associated with the expressions of sympathy to the people of Norway, the victims and their families and the AUF party, which is aggrieved at what happened. We must be careful not to allow one extremist or crazed individual to set the agenda. That is why I oppose the view proposed by Senator Quinn, that we should change our national anthem on foot of events in Norway. Comments...

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: -----to accuse a former Taoiseach of economic treason. All that has changed since that charge is that the Labour Party is in government and implementing the same policies. Sinn Féin has consistently called for a proper debate about the terms of the bailout. It is clear there is a consensus among the main political parties, who are happy to sell this country and its taxpayers down the river-----

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: The people who have gone too far are those in the Labour Party and in other parties who are selling this country down the river and ensuring billions of euro of taxpayers' money, which we had to borrow, is being put into banks.

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: On the question of waste in the system when we are putting money into the banks, a Minister from the Senator Bacik's party spent €48,000 of taxpayers' money-----

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: -----in refurbishing his constituency office, with three plasma screen televisions and a sign that says "Minister's toilet". This is the same Minister-----

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: -----responsible for making sure we curb spending.

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: That is what is happening in the country and I take exception to the comments of Senator Bacik. Sinn Féin will continue to stand up for the working people of this country.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2011: Second Stage. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, to the House. I must purchase one of those mobile telephones he has because he spends all the time on it. It must have all the answers he needs. Will he tell us which model it is? I welcome the introduction of the Criminal Justice Bill 2011. As Senator Bacik stated, there is cross-party support to deal with white-collar...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2011: Second Stage. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: If Labour Party Members cannot accept constructive criticism, then that is a matter for them. My point this morning was most certainly not a lecture.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2011: Second Stage. (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: The Labour Party was good at lecturing people before the election. If it can give it, then it should certainly be able to take it. There is a perception that those from a wealthy background or in well-paid jobs are favoured in the criminal justice system. My generation grew up with the brown envelope brigade which saw corruption between developers, the banking system and politics. As...

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 [Dáil] : Committee and Remaining Stages (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: This is not about any political party favouring landfill over any other method of disposal. The Minister is incorrect in stating otherwise. In many areas throughout the State, including in the Minister's county of Kilkenny, households have access to only two bins rather than three. We must have uniformity across the system in terms of the-----

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 [Dáil] : Committee and Remaining Stages (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: It is directly relevant to the amendment.

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 [Dáil] : Committee and Remaining Stages (26 Jul 2011)

David Cullinane: The point I am making is directly relevant to the amendment. The Government is proposing to introduce a levy to increase the cost of disposal to landfill without putting in place an adequate waste collection service to every household in the country. Waterford city has been a leader in this area for many years, with all households having access to a brown, green and black bin. However, the...