Results 101-120 of 519 for speaker:Mary Ann O'Brien

Seanad: Order of Business (28 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I want to raise the lack of progress on the charities regulator with the Minister for Justice and Equality. Jim Cusack, a journalist at the Irish Examiner, wrote recently about a children’s charity because four of the seven directors have resigned, citing irregular governance and expenses. A raft of questions need to be answered. The charities regulator has not commented on the...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I second what Senator James Heffernan said about the proposed waste management gasification, which is a new word for me, instead of incineration. It makes one feel better to use "gasification" instead of "incineration". He referred to the old Gortadroma landfill site to which tyres from all over the world will be imported which we will incinerate. Goodness knows, the environment will once...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: -----to contain industry and its ruination of the environment and climate that we so proudly try to protect, but which we are not protecting.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Violence, evil, cruelty, terrorism, murder and destruction of human life are the words I think of when I recall the events of the bank holiday weekend in 1979 when a grandfather who was holidaying in Ireland and treating his children to a boat trip to fish in the afternoon were brutally murdered. The rest is tragic history. Lord Louis Mountbatten, his grandson Nicholas Knatchbull, Doreen...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I know it is not us.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I hope the Taoiseach will go and meet Prince Charles and apologise on behalf of the IRA.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: Will the Taoiseach be visiting Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall to mark this momentous occasion?

Seanad: Order of Business (14 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: The IRA-----

Seanad: Order of Business (14 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I would like to change the word "apologise" to "sympathise" for the Taoiseach. I will leave the apologising to Deputy Adams.

Seanad: Order of Business (12 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I advise Senators that the Alfred Beit Foundation in Russborough House has decided to sell eight masters' paintings via Christie's on 7 July. They will realise approximately £10 million. Sir Alfred and Lady Beit will forever be recognised by the State as among the greatest champions of the arts in Ireland. They placed their home, the Richard Castle-designed Russborough House, and the...

Seanad: Alcohol Consumption in Ireland: Statements (12 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: None of us here or anyone in society needs to be persuaded of the dreaded problems and costs Ireland faces by misuse and abuse of alcohol. When I was preparing for this and thinking about it over the weekend, I doodled and made a mind map. Sadly, I could not come up with too many pluses.The pluses are all gorgeous and include power, money, glamour, fun, cool, sexy, fast and fabulous. The...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I pay tribute to Phil Farrington who, sadly, died on 3 May aged 94 years. He served in France and Germany and helped to liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Earlier this week he died at a home for Second World War veterans in Dublin. If one remembers, the call to pardon such soldiers began in the Seanad when we spoke to the then Minister for Defence, Deputy Alan Shatter. Thank...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 May 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: The curriculum should include lessons on how to cook, not out of boxes and packets, but healthy inexpensive food that will keep people healthy and well. The Department should convey that obesity affects one's mental health.It will affect physical health, self-esteem and ruin the coffers of the State in years to come. We must do something about this. I wholeheartedly support Senator...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Apr 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I second Senator Katherine Reilly's call for defibrillators to be introduced in all public places and to be readily available. The spring statement has brought great news of wonderful extra finance and growth coming to the country. Let us spend some of it wisely. Senator Feargal Quinn brought a simple Bill to the House two years ago, the Public Health (Availability of Defibrillators) Bill...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Apr 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I appeal to the Leader to speak to the Minister. Let us get this through. Let us debate it and get it out of our water.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Apr 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I asked about the report.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Apr 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I am eternally grateful. I wish to utter two quick sentences. I welcome the announcement made by EirGrid on Friday. Is it not wonderful that when the people rise up and make their thoughts known, things happen? However, there are questions to be answered. The project to link Dunnstown, County Kildare with County Wexford which was supposed to cost €500 million. Now, however,...

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I support Senator van Turnhout's welcome of the announcement by the director of Diageo, David Smith, that he will be stepping down from the board of the Stop Out-of-Control Drinking campaign. I mirror the Senator's words. The drinks industry has no place in effecting attitudes in schools or public attitudes on alcohol. This applies overall not just to the Stop Out-of-Control Drinking...

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: An Dara Céim - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Second Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I will not take eight minutes, but I could not but stand up today to say a few words on this historic day. I listened with great interest to the Minister's speech and to some of the wonderful speeches of my colleagues, particularly Senator Zappone, who is one of my greatest friends of all time and someone I admire greatly. Taking a serious point made by Senator Norris, today is but one day...

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: An Dara Céim - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Second Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Mary Ann O'Brien: I beg the Acting Chair's pardon. Love has no regard for sex or gender. Happiness cannot be captured. It cannot be bought, it cannot be owned, and it cannot be earned. It cannot be worn, it cannot be travelled to and it cannot be consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living a human life openly, with love, with the one whom one loves, with grace and with gratitude. They are...