Results 201-220 of 996 for speaker:John Gerard Hanafin

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Feb 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: I request the Leader to arrange for a debate on banking, particularly in light of the fact that HBOS, Halifax Bank of Scotland, is to let 750 people go. Unfortunately, banks that set up in this State do business here in the good times and when the tide turns they walk away or do not act properly in their dealings with this State. I am thinking in particular of Ulster Bank which is not...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Feb 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on NAMA. One does not have to be an economist, a banker or an IMF director to know that if one takes the bad non-performing loans from the banks, there will be money in the residue for lending. It is self-evident. That is what the whole purpose of the exercise was.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Feb 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: Changes are taking place internationally. The Basel requirement makes it more difficult and leads to a higher reserve ratio but that does not mean there will be no lending. I was fortunate enough to undertake a rapporteur report for the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service. The report made it clear that in Japan the failure to take action had led to the development of zombie...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Feb 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: Given that a great deal of money is being saved in this country, rather than being spent on consumer products, perhaps it is time for us to discuss the introduction of a national development bond. The Government should issue such a bond with a view to undertaking necessary and useful works such as the development of roads and other infrastructure to ensure we will be in the right position...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Feb 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: I ask the Leader when we will have live television coverage of our debates. Many of the guests I have brought to this building have met Senators for whom they would not vote if they had 1,000 votes. When such people are asked whom they have met, they are pleased to have met Senators with whom they might not necessarily agree such as Senator Norris or some of the other Independent Senators....

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Feb 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: Will the Leader arrange a debate on the current situation in the public sector as regards the go slow? I hope there will not be an escalation because, undoubtedly and to paraphrase Joyce, the good times are coming be they ever so far away. They might not be far away and, in the future, the unions will again sit down with the Government and say they participated fully in Ireland's recovery....

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Feb 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: Will the Leader arrange for a debate on the economy? The Revenue Commissioners have issued figures for January which show that VAT receipts were not what one would have hoped. However, I am surprised that no commentator has mentioned the obvious fact that VAT is generated by consumer spending and that in the first two weeks in January we experienced the worst weather for the last 30 years....

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Feb 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: I ask the Leader for a debate on the situation in the North, particularly on the issue of devolution. The hardliners in the DUP are holding up an agreement. The reality is that if they had prevailed on a previous occasion, there would have been no devolution. That devolution resulted in a fresh start being made by the communities in the North and also by Ireland and the United Kingdom....

Seanad: Haiti Disaster: Motion (27 Jan 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: I second the motion, and request permission to speak later in the debate.

Seanad: Haiti Disaster: Motion (Resumed) (27 Jan 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: I am pleased to support the motion and the Minister of State's actions. Before the earthquake, Haiti was a tragedy. It has an interesting history, in that it was the first black-led republic and the first independent Caribbean state. However, everything went downhill. The island's former colonial masters, the French, insisted on reparations that were only completed in 1949. Billions of...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jan 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: I support the call by Senator Callely for a rolling debate on the economy. I am especially mindful of the fact that the United Kingdom experienced low growth in the last quarter of 2009. This followed growth in the economies of Germany, France and the United States. The reports on the world economy for 2010 project increased growth rates from 3.1% to 3.9%. In other words, the world...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jan 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: I ask the Leader of a debate on the upcoming Privacy Bill and in particular the fact that many Ministers find their private lives have been intruded on in an unacceptable way. This goes across the political divide. I am conscious that this is a relatively new phenomenon. It is sad that it is a British paper, Daily Mail, that is the worst offender. It seems to be applying the same policy...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jan 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: It must be stopped. We want standards but unfortunately they are not being implemented by newspapers.

Seanad: Order of Business. (21 Jan 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: I ask the Leader for a debate on social partnership. When times are difficult and jobs are hard to come by even though the employers have the upper hand, that is particularly a time for a logical sequence of events to allow everybody to partake fully, not just in the good times, but also in the difficult times so that we avoid people going on strike unnecessarily. I am particularly thinking...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jan 2010)

John Gerard Hanafin: I welcome back our colleague, Senator Paschal Mooney. He was and is a very conscientious and diligent parliamentarian. In this instance it is gratifying that the person who was most deserving of the position got it. Will the Leader arrange for a debate on the Government's proposal to investigate the banks, which I fully support? The question at issue is not very difficult. It is about...

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2009)

John Gerard Hanafin: When we speak in this House, it is important we speak accurately and take great care with the statistics we use. I took the opportunity of the break to contact the Department of Finance in regard to statistics used in the House pertinent to this section. According to the Department of Finance, the number of people who are earning more than €100,000 per year is not 15,000 but 9,000, some...

Seanad: Business of Seanad (18 Dec 2009)

John Gerard Hanafin: If it is in order, the Opposition has proposed that the Order of Business be amended to allow the House to complete section 2 before the sos. I am willing to accommodate the proposal.

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Dec 2009)

John Gerard Hanafin: It is clear that quite specific wording was used in this section to include everything rather than what is suggested. This includes salary and additional payments. Remuneration is the widest possible word to include all payments. This is absolutely correct. Gratuitously offensive remarks by the Opposition do not help. I refer to the words used by Members opposite, who referred to huge...

Seanad: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Dec 2009)

John Gerard Hanafin: We have heard figures bandied about. I refer particularly to the figure used by the Shell to Sea campaign, which is Sinn Féin, that €540 billion of gas exists in the Corrib field. The figure for the number of fish taken from Irish stock waters was cited as 50 billion, 60 million or 70 billion. One can take any figure one likes, add ten and multiply by 100. To suggest we can get €1.3...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Dec 2009)

John Gerard Hanafin: I take the opportunity, a Chathaoirligh, to wish you and your office a happy Christmas, as well as the secretariat, the staff of Leinster House and my colleagues. This is a time of hope and it regenerates us at a difficult time of the year when winter sets in and we think of things higher and greater than the cold and the dark nights. All this reminds us that there is a symbolism to...