Results 1-20 of 204 for speaker:Tony Mulcahy

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Jun 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: This is the first time I have spoken in the House and, like my colleagues, I am very glad to be here. I intend to raise various issues. Over the weekend an advertisement appeared in the local media on the designation of a bird sanctuary on the Shannon Estuary covering the coastline of counties Clare, Limerick and Kerry, nearly 100 miles in total. Shannon Airport is in this area and it is...

Seanad: Special Educational Needs: Statements (14 Jun 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: I welcome the Minister to the House. I am a parent of a 19 year old with special needs who has moved beyond the education process and is now engaged on a Brothers of Charity work programme. There is no doubt that costs need to be managed within this wide-ranging area. Senator Reilly rightly pointed out the position up to 2009, including the OECD report. Over the past nine or ten years,...

Seanad: A Vision for Change: Statements (Resumed) (14 Jul 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I wish to outline a local example of a possible solution which may help to meet some of the housing needs of those with intellectual disability who wish to live independently. The Brothers of Charity in Clare have gone to great lengths in recent years to provide for the accommodation needs through the rent supplement structure. Unfortunately,...

Seanad: Agriculture and Fisheries: Statements, Questions and Answers (20 Jul 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: My question is primarily on food production. I welcome the Minister and I am delighted to take part in this debate. The food production side is always of great concern to me. I am a chef by trade - that is my background. I am a small producer in Shannon. I do not have time to find markets or to access the world market so who gets it to the world stage to showcase it in terms of tasting,...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Sep 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: I was contacted recently by a number of couples and also mortgage brokers who are trying to acquire mortgages from different banks. Even cast-iron cases of people in full-time employment are finding it very difficult to obtain a mortgage. The banks are now inquiring if housing estates are bonded even though these estates are unfinished and they also look for a guarantee that the local...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Sep 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: I find myself disagreeing absolutely with a Senator on one item, while agreeing with the same Senator on another. The Taoiseach has unquestionably stepped up to the mark in the past six or seven months in dealing with the massive economic crisis facing the country. I have absolute faith that he will carry us through the next four or five years, with our colleagues in the Labour Party, in...

Seanad: Sport: Statements (4 Oct 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: Like my colleagues, I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I thank him for his comprehensive presentation. I am somewhat at odds with Senator Mooney. I have no doubt that the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, will hold the senior ministry and that he will have the drive, spirit and enthusiasm to carry it to the end. We will see who is the Minister of State after a four or five year...

Seanad: Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Statements, Questions and Answers (5 Oct 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: I join with colleagues in welcoming the Minister to the House. Today we are at a crossroads in the history of this State. A wasteland of inaction and mismanagement by a succession of Governments over the past ten years has left our finances in tatters, another generation lost to emigration and our economic sovereignty surrendered to the Troika of the EU-IMF-ECB. I do not want to dwell on...

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: I echo Senator Conway's sentiments. I did not realise until yesterday that one of the victims of the recession was Proctor & Gamble because Fairy liquid was used in the building of most of the buildings in this country. That lasts about ten years and therefore many of them will crumble and fall down. I was delayed getting here yesterday when I am sure the issue of the Keane report was...

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: It was defended in the Dáil yesterday to the effect that it is intended to send our children and their parents to the poorhouse; we will give them a council house. That is a great cure for the problem after we fattened the bankers by giving them €70 billion and let off the biggest borrowers and developers. We did not ask them to pay anything back but rather let them get off scot free....

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: That is more money. Senator MacSharry brought a Bill before the House recently on mortgages on houses. It was a good Bill that required some touching up. We have a responsibility to all the people of this country and to the 30 children who sat in the Gallery a while ago to work together to find a solution. Another Bill came before the Dáil yesterday and I have a question-----

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: I am sorry. Another good Bill came before the Dáil yesterday from the Fianna Fáil grouping. Last night, Senator Jim D'Arcy invited representatives of New Beginning to give us a briefing in the Seanad but unfortunately not all of those who should have been present were present. I suggest that representatives of New Beginning be invited to this House if it is possible; I do not know if the...

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: -----and the raiméis that came out two years ago because I will not accept or stand over it. I was challenged in the House last night by Senator Byrne - we were all challenged - on whether we had the courage to state that and stand over it. Yes, I have the courage. As a member of my party and a Member of this Seanad I will not put up with that.

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: We must get them in here to defend it.

Seanad: Report by Interdepartmental Working Group on Mortgage Arrears: Statements (Resumed) (25 Oct 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: I welcome the Minister of State. However, I do not welcome the Keane report and I placed that fact firmly on the record last week. The report, which took five months to compile, is farcical. I concur with much of what Senator Reilly said. Like her, I would be interested in obtaining some details with regard to Mr. Declan Keane and his background. Mr. Keane adhered to the brief he was...

Seanad: Access to Central Treasury Funds (Commission for Energy Regulation) Bill 2011: Order for Second Stage (26 Oct 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: I move: "That Second Stage be taken now."

Seanad: Access to Central Treasury Funds (Commission for Energy Regulation) Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (26 Oct 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: I welcome the Minister back to the House. By passing this Bill we will enable the Commission for Energy Regulation to access funding through the National Treasury Management Agency at low rates of interest thus enabling the establishment of a safety framework for the petroleum sector. As Members of the Oireachtas we have a duty to taxpayers to spend their hard-earned money in the most...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Nov 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: Will the Leader ask the Minister for Finance if he has any plans to cull the practice of retired public and civil servants, who have taken substantial lump sums from the State and who are in receipt of State pensions, returning to State employment in one form or another, namely, nurses, gardaí, teachers, etc? This practice is wrong. Many people are looking for work yet people have pensions...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Nov 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: Some former Deputies left the other House with €250,000 and €200,000 in lump sums and with pensions of €150,000. Will the Leader ask the Minister for Finance if he has any plans in this regard in the coming budget. We seem to pre-debate the budget here every week, but none of us know what is in it, apart from the Minister and the Cabinet. Will the Leader ask if the Minister has any...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Nov 2011)

Tony Mulcahy: There is a senior Minister in charge.