Results 61-80 of 605 for speaker:John Whelan

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2015)

John Whelan: I am pleased with today's discourse regarding the sale of Aer Lingus. The Seanad should voice its unanimous and stout opposition to any attempt to sell the national carrier from under us for a pittance. The State would receive €300 million for its share in a company that has €400 million in its bank account. The sale of Aer Lingus would be the final straw for many people. As...

Seanad: Appointments to State Boards: Statements (22 Jan 2015)

John Whelan: I am glad to have the Minister, Deputy Howlin, in the Seanad today. We have taken a long time to get around to this debate on the issue of appointments to State boards and the broader question of political reform. It is long overdue. In Deputy Howlin's portfolio as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, the emphasis has necessarily been on the question of public expenditure and the...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jan 2015)

John Whelan: I appeal to colleagues across the political divide to support me with regard to libraries. They are at the heart and soul of our communities, particularly in regional and small rural towns. Some people who are involved in local government management - quite frankly, I would classify them as bean counters - are trying to make names for themselves by planning to merge library services across...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Provision (20 Jan 2015)

John Whelan: I thank the Minister for his reply. I was glad to hear him say that the door is not closed. However, time is of the essence. The conduct of the pharmaceutical company is despicable in this regard. I urge the Minister to use his good offices to ask the HSE to engage with urgency on this and come to a positive conclusion with urgency. People's lives are at risk here and we must help them...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Provision (20 Jan 2015)

John Whelan: I am particularly heartened to see the Minister, Deputy Varadkar. I am grateful to him for taking these questions from myself and Senator Byrne. It is not unfair to say the Minister is regarded as one of the most forthright, upstanding and decent politicians of all time. His reputation and credibility precede him. I am not saying that, in any way, as a charm offensive but I know he is a...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Provision (20 Jan 2015)

John Whelan: I respect that but Ms Gorman has travelled here today from County Laois to be with us. She has gone public on this as a result of suffering in silence for the past two years in what has turned out to be a vain hope that the HSE would address her medication and her treatment, as recommended by her consultant team and haematology team from St. James's Hospital whose reputation is...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: It is a debate on toothpaste

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: On a point of order, is this a debate on the amendment or on toothpaste?

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: This is ridiculous.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: Exactly.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: Actually, there are one or two people going around the country, scaring the living daylights out of people, trying to suggest to them that they are being poisoned, virtually, with the fluoride in the water. It is tantamount to reckless scaremongering. They have no peer review of that science and no endorsement from any reputable scientific or health agency in Ireland, in Europe or within...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: There is a lot of misinformation swirling around in the mix on this issue. For example, we put chlorine in public swimming pools but we do not go around advising people to absorb chlorine.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: It is used in proportion, on the basis that it purifies and keeps the water safe. There is an idea that, somehow, by putting minute quantities of fluoride in the public system, there is a virtual conspiracy to sedate the entire population. We have to be sensible about this. I believe the amendment is well-intentioned. Senator Ó Clochartaigh generally has a sound basis for his...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: This is a worthwhile amendment in that it gives us the opportunity in this section to address this issue and for the Minister to come back with the Government perspective and Department's outlook on it. We are well versed with the issue in the Seanad, because as far back as three years ago Senators Norris and Quinn tabled a strong and worthy motion to deal with the issue. I came to the...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: I have done so on a number of occasions.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: On more than half a dozen occasions.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: Yes.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: In any event, the motion was debated. Like other colleagues, I had been contacted by genuinely concerned citizens across the country who were fearful of what they see as mass medication through the public water system. Some people genuinely believe that exposure to fluoride poses a risk or a danger to their health and well-being. I do not take the view that just because the State is party...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: The Senators did not put it to a vote, but I am saying, as the Senator has said, that the case for doing so was not sufficiently strong to warrant that course of action. At the time, the Minister set out the existence of the 20-member scientific advisory panel to the Department. To be fair, I will defer to those who have qualifications in specific areas-----

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

John Whelan: We are certainly taking it seriously, to the same extent that anyone from Sinn Féin or the Reform Alliance spoke to the amendments on Friday. I could not follow what they were saying then. We are going around in circles.