The Government is trying to give the impression it is doing something for the consumer while probably doing little. It is a smokescreen and one must wonder whether this strategy will work. We have had a series of what now appear to be failed State agencies and State appointments to protect the power of the …
Monthly Archive
for: ‘June, 2005’
Government Should Protest against Detention of Zimbabwean MP Roy Bennett
I raise the case of Mr. Roy Bennett, MP, who is detained in Zimbabwe without trial in circumstances that are completely and utterly unacceptable under democratic rule. I raise the motion in the hope that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern will bring the matter to the attention of the Zimbabwean Government and …
We have Behaved Appallingly in Allowing Drift Net Fishing to Continue
I have come across an extraordinary number of people who are concerned about this although I represent a constituency which is not near the sea, the sea fishing community or any vested interest group. However, I have been lobbied by many people; anglers, hoteliers and others in the tourism industry who say that what the …
Archbishop Tutu at the Phil
Archbishop Desmond Tutu was made an honorary Patron of the TCD Philosophical Society at the annual Inaugural Address. Also in attendance were the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Neil, two former Taoisigh, Dr Garret Fitzgerald and Albert Reynolds, the American and South African Ambassadors, and many other figures from the worlds of business, academia and …
Morris must be debated in a Calm, not Hysterical, Manner
We have for a long time been happy to dismiss the difficulties, brutalities and wrongdoing of some members of the Garda Síochána as bad apples in a good force. The questions that must now be asked are, how many bad apples are there to be rooted out, how systemic this is, whether there really is …
Establishment Favours Constitution, but do the People?
The evidence on the European constitution so far is that with all the great conservative establishments being in favour of it, the people are not. We recently had a superb debate on Europe which is now, I suppose, to some extent already overtaken by events. The fact that we did have a very good debate …