Blog Archive
Sean Dunne and Dail Reform
Posted on November 26, 2009
Dail reform is the perennial issue, very topical, as if Dail reform would solve our economic woes. In fact Dail reform in the sense of how the Dail conducts its business is being looked at by the whips at the moment and I am on the Labour subcommittee to advise our own whip on the discussions. There are some worthwhile changes proposed including to the daily ritual of Dail Order of Business, which to be honest is a bit of a waste of time. You can only raise “promised legislation”, although many T.D.s do their best to make their chosen topic fit within this requirement.
Building links with Israel
Posted on November 16, 2009
Last week I was in Israel for four nights. I went as part of a group that included T.Ds and people from the Irish Business community. It was organised by the Oireachtas Ireland Israel Friendship group of which I am a member and vice chair. The idea of the trip was to try and facilitate links between Irish business people and Israeli counterparts. The Israeli Embassy was involved in the organisation and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs contributed to the cost. We also contributed as individuals and there was no Oireachtas funding for this trip. The group also met Israeli Government officials, members of the Knesset, the Chief Scientist and visited projects including a sea water desalination project.
Permanent link | Comments (0) | Categories: Foreign & European Affairs
Union Protests are for an approach to the recession that is in all our interest
Posted on November 02, 2009
Labour T.D. Sean Sherlock was reported in the Sunday Tribune today saying that he is “vehemently opposed” to the idea of a strike or national day of protest by trade unions. He said that those events would be “an affront to anybody that does not have a job and is struggling”. He also told the Tribune he was uncomfortable with unions spending money to fight cuts and that some of this money should be used to help the unemployed.
Defending the Seanad
Posted on October 26, 2009
I might seem a bit obsessed with the Seanad, writing again about it this week, when it seems the media have moved on from Enda Kenny’s announcement that he would abolish it. Unfortunately the dominant voices were those that were cynical about the Seanad and its value. It’s not that I am hankering to get back to the Seanad, I am glad I was elected to the Dail. But I worry for politics that the Seanad is being attacked in the way that it is, disappointed that Fine Gael would stoop to this and that so few would stand up for our Seanad.
Seanad important part of our history and can play important role in our future
Posted on October 19, 2009
I believe the announcement by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny that he will abolish the Seanad was driven by a desire to be popular with those who hold our parliament in low esteem, including those media commentators that do so. But in the current negative political climate, members of the Oireachtas, if they care about democracy in this country, need to come out fighting for our democratic institutions. If, as has been reported, the Fine Gael leader failed to consult with his colleagues in the Seanad about the future of the Seanad, what would that indicate about the Fine Gael Leader’s attitude to democracy? A vote to put the matter to a referendum would first be put to the Seanad. Would the Seanad vote for its own abolition and how would each individual Fine Gael Senator vote? Would Enda Kenny expect his Senators to have such a poor view of their role that they would go so far as to vote to end that role?
Permanent link | Comments (0) | Categories: electoral reform
And the winner of the Nobel Prize is --- a graduate of a tech
Posted on October 12, 2009
News that caught my eye this week was not the win by President Obama of the Nobel Prize for Peace, though I commend the Nobel Committee on their choice this year. Rather I was most pleased about the win by Professor Charles Kao of the Nobel Prize for Physics. Professor Kao won the prize jointly with George Smith and William Boyle for work that laid the foundations in Information Communications Technology. Their work contributed to developments that we take for granted now, when we use the internet, hold video conferences, or take pictures with digital cameras. In Professor Kao’s case the prize was for his work in the 1960s on sending information through optic fibre cables that are now used for sending emails, amongst other things. What particularly attracted my attention to Professor Kao’s win was the story in the Guardian that highlighted the fact that he studied for his undergraduate degree at Woolwich Polytechnic. Woolwich Polytechnic went on to become Greenwich University. But it was as a Polytechnic that this third level college educated a Nobel Prize Winner.
Permanent link | Comments (0) | Categories: Education
Cloudy with a chance of tax on child benefit
Posted on October 04, 2009
I went to the Cinema at the weekend with my 5 year old daughter to see ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’. It was an enjoyable animated film about a young inventor living on an island hit by a downturn because its main export, sardines, was no longer in demand. The inventor brings happiness and hope of prosperity to the island when he invents a machine that can turn rain into food. But then the machine starts to over produce and the weather takes a turn for the worse. It was a likeable film, surreal and far fetched. But it also had resonance with our boom and bust times. Going to animated films is one of the things I enjoy now about being a parent. That is partly because, apart from my work as a public representative, I don’t get to go out as much as I used to. These films can be good and usually there is a moral to the story (unlike many films for grown ups nowadays). It’s a nice way to spend time with my child. I also get to experience again a little of what it is like to be a child and the wonder and the leap of imagination that is the hallmark of children’s films, and childhood.
Permanent link | Comments (0) | Categories: Children • Social & Family Affairs
Getting on with working as part of the EU on the issues that matter
Posted on September 28, 2009
The saying goes that eaten bread is soon forgotten and that is the case when it comes to the billions Ireland has received in funding from the European Union from the time it joined back in 1973. When canvassing people for a yes vote in the Lisbon referendum I have tried to remind people about some of this investment, the investment in our education system through the European Social Fund. We have received over €6 billion ESF funding since joining the EEC. We are due to receive further funds over the next few years but the time when we received the highest levels of funding was from the early 1980s to the late 1990s and that funding made a significant contribution to third level education in Ireland.
Home Defence Bill will not make people more secure in their homes
Posted on September 18, 2009
This is the Dail transcript of my speech about the Fine Gael Criminal Law (Home Defence) Bill 2009 in the Dail this week. The bill can be accessed on line on the Oireachtas website www.oireachtas.ie under Bills and the full Private Members Debate on the Bill is also available on the Oireachtas website under Dail Debates 17/9/2009. There is an online debate on the merits of the bill at www.irishelection.com at http://www.irishelection.com/2009/09/guilty-until-proven-innocent/
Permanent link | Comments (0) | Categories: Justice
