Results 81-100 of 1,253 for speaker:John Crown

Seanad: Order of Business. (18 Oct 2011)

John Crown: Last week, a paper was published in The Lancet, perhaps the world's most prestigious medical journal, outlining the implications for the citizens of Greece of cutbacks in terms of delivery of and access to their health system. For the first time we saw a real verifiable matrix which showed that this is not some vague aphoristic theoretical worry about what might happen if there are health...

Seanad: Order of Business. (18 Oct 2011)

John Crown: -----or any hypothetical oligarchs who may have substantial investments in failed Irish banks, but that it would be used specifically for the purpose of maintaining services within the health services currently constituted. I believe that this would be feasible. If it was appropriately constructed, perhaps - I do not know as I am not an expert in these matters - with some degree of tax...

Seanad: Order of Business. (19 Oct 2011)

John Crown: I would be grateful if the Leader could find out from the Minister for Health if it would be possible to clarify the lead up to, the circumstances of, and the implementation of a decision to bring in a firm of private management consultants to run the hospital services in Galway and Limerick. This is a fundamental shift in the way a large part of the acute hospital service will be run and...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Oct 2011)

John Crown: I will ask Senator Noone to pass on the matriculation details for that foreign college of physiotherapy and will have a chat with my daughters about it. I echo the Senator's remarks. We had no concert on the matter but I intended to bring up the issue of the necessity for a debate on a particular aspect of the education system which concerns me. We need fundamental, core curricular reform...

Seanad: Health Services: Statements, Questions and Answers (27 Oct 2011)

John Crown: I give the Minister, Deputy Reilly, a particularly warm welcome. It is critically important to understand that he has a set of credentials that distinguish him from his three most immediate predecessors. I will not personalise this other than to say that the aggregate work experience, in any part of the workforce, of the Minister's three predecessors in this portfolio was four years. I do...

Seanad: Health Services: Statements, Questions and Answers (27 Oct 2011)

John Crown: The Minister need not worry; he is not exactly my type.

Seanad: Health Services: Statements, Questions and Answers (27 Oct 2011)

John Crown: Diabetes.

Seanad: Reform of Junior Certificate: Statements (8 Nov 2011)

John Crown: I will cut down on the formalities because of time constraints. As we are all aware, the opposite of education is ignorance. The educated person lives longer and better, is more prosperous and healthier, eats better, smokes fewer cigarettes and has better control of their fertility. These are well-established international facts and the arguments for a good education are overwhelming. The...

Seanad: Reform of Junior Certificate: Statements (8 Nov 2011)

John Crown: I will allow Senator Mac Conghail to produce my first play. I read approximately 20 non-science books per year and I am interested in this issue. It is not a question of either-or, we must have both. We live in a world of science governed by gravity, temperature, relativity, meteorology and evolution. These are all realities and we should teach people science all the way through school,...

Seanad: Community and Voluntary Sector: Statements, Questions and Answers (9 Nov 2011)

John Crown: I understand that in respect of charities the primary regulatory function resides with the Department of Finance.

Seanad: Community and Voluntary Sector: Statements, Questions and Answers (9 Nov 2011)

John Crown: I learn something new every day. Are charities not registered with the Department of Finance?

Seanad: Community and Voluntary Sector: Statements, Questions and Answers (9 Nov 2011)

John Crown: The Minister should encourage the culture and philosophy of the charitable sector within his Department, which would have the same aims of most charities. Before making some general points, I would like to make one specific point. It is probably not widely known that virtually all the clinical medical research which takes place in this country is undertaken voluntarily. Almost no doctors...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Nov 2011)

John Crown: It is regrettable that at this stage, six months into the term of this Seanad, we have not yet had a debate - I ask the Leader to schedule one - with the Taoiseach on what is probably the most fundamental issue facing the Seanad, which is its own future, the existential crisis of a body which, according to stated pre-election Government policy, is to be abolished. I was reminded of this...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Nov 2011)

John Crown: The fundamental reform that is required if our country is to be fixed, if we are to secure proper, competent, technically skilled government which is answerable to the people, is in respect of how we elect people to the more powerful House of Parliament, which is the Dáil. We should invite the Taoiseach to the Chamber to outline his intentions in regard to the future of this House and to...

Seanad: Alcohol Pricing: Motion (16 Nov 2011)

John Crown: I second the amendments.

Seanad: Alcohol Pricing: Motion (16 Nov 2011)

John Crown: An interesting exercise occurred last week. We were in a session of the Joint Committee on Health and Children with representatives of the alcohol industry and also representatives of Alcohol Action Ireland who were concerned about the toll alcohol takes of our society. An illustrative point was to ask what would their attitude be to the notion that Ireland would be a better country if...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Nov 2011)

John Crown: I share the concern of some of my colleagues regarding the unfair treatment of Fr. Kevin Reynolds by RTE. Has it come out in the public domain yet as to which side's lawyers enforced the gagging order that is preventing us from finding out about the settlement? It would be useful to know this. Having seen it in the health service, as a statement of general principle, public bodies should...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Nov 2011)

John Crown: If there were any difference between the two major parties that got involved in this hissing fit, it would perhaps be of some relevance.

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Nov 2011)

John Crown: Of course, there is no difference, as we know. When one disrupts the proceedings of this House, one is wasting taxpayers' money. As a result of the disruptions last week, we need extra time for today's session to make up for the time which could have been used more profitably last week. May I remind Members what the Seanad should be? It should be deliberative, non-partisan and bring a...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Nov 2011)

John Crown: It is thoroughly unedifying. If one could have tried to design a better advertisement for the campaign to abolish the Seanad, one could have done rather little worse than just filming one hour of what went on here last week. Will Members please acknowledge that the core of a democracy is the structure of its parliament and the way it is elected? We must insist on a debate with the Taoiseach...