Results 241-260 of 602 for speaker:Fiach MacConghail

Seanad: Electoral, Local Government and Planning and Development Bill 2013: Second Stage (19 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I welcome the Minister on this sunny day. I have three ambitions today - first, to get some sunshine; second, to get the Minister to accept one of our amendments; and, third, to increase voter turnout, at which I hope he will look. We have gone toe to toe before and his doggedness has come through. What we are looking for is very simple. The ultimate objective of every parliamentarian...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: On a point of order, the first casualty in war is language. We are not talking about the abortion of children.

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I move amendment No. 6: In page 7, to delete lines 7 to 9 and substitute the following:“ “unborn”, means a foetus which has reached that stage of development at which, if born, it would be capable of life outside the womb;”.As if my life is not complicated enough, I find the grouping of these amendments complicated. This issue has to do with the discussion we had...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: On a point of order, there are young people in the Visitors Gallery.

Seanad: An Bille um an Dara Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Deireadh a Chur le Seanad Éireann) 2013: An Tuarascáil - Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013: Report Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: On a point of order, there is no monopoly of independence of mind.

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: We have a typographical error in amendment No. 3, so we will not move it until Report Stage.

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: Benignly.

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: The Minister of State should be aware that there are young children in the House.

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White. I wish to make a couple of responses to the Minister, Deputy James Reilly's, response to our argument. I fully accept the constitutional barrier to introducing the amendments on incest and rape and welcome Senator Averil Power's support for one of our amendments. Clearly, there is no monopoly on courage. As a man, I find it deeply...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: On a point of order, we have just got a new and revised list of Committee Stage amendments and have not spoken on some of them. Are we now precluded from doing so?

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: We are dealing with a group of amendments.

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: There are other amendments.

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: My point is there is an additional grouping of amendments on which we have not spoken. For example, are we precluded from speaking on the issue of imprisonment?

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: That is true. That was originally called group 1 but now more have been added.

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: The Minister could have answered my point.

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: I welcome the Minister who has taken a leadership role here. At the forefront of this debate he is legislating for the X case judgment, of which I am absolutely in favour. Therefore, all of my comments are based on this. We are not playing politics with the Bill. Women finally have a choice, even if it is limited, and the responsibility that they should have. The X case judgment is being...

Seanad: Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013: Second Stage (15 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire go dtí an Teach. As the first member of the Independent group of Taoiseach’s nominees to speak on the Bill, each has his or her own individual perspective on it. We are Independents in the best sense - independent of the Government and each other in the position we adopt in the course of our office work. We have diverse views on a lot of issues...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: We are not bitter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: There is a very vexed question around targets and how they are managed. What is Dr. O’Gorman’s view of the proposed composition of the expert advisory group? Does he believe it will have sufficient independence? There has been an emerging theme that the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government might not be the most appropriate Department to do this work....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jul 2013)

Fiach MacConghail: The difficulty is that what Dr. Doran has just described is not actually in the proposed Bill. All of the expert witnesses have acknowledged that changing the economic system will involve an extraordinarily radical and momentous effort. There is quite a strong and coherent argument in this country to the effect that we are not ready for change on such a scale, that it clashes with Harvest...