During the Order of Business in the Seanad, I said: I would welcome a debate on the regional enterprise strategy. There is little doubt that the launch today of the action plan for jobs is a matter we should be debating here. Much work has been done on this issue by the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the conclusions of which are now coming to fruition in the context of some of the good results coming through...

During a second stage Seanad debate on the Universities (Development and Innovation) (Amendment) Bill 2015, I said: Senator Barrett's Bill deserves our support. This is not legislation proposed by a politician. Rather, it is legislation from someone who has been at the coalface in this area for many years and knows exactly what he is talking about. On that basis, it merits support...

During the Order of Business in the Seanad, I said: There are changes taking place in the world and some of the most significant of these are probably happening in Russia. The huge drop in the value of the rouble in recent weeks has been quite dramatic...

During the Order of Business in the Seanad, I said: It is very hard to contribute today without paying attention to the banking inquiry. There is little doubt that the two previous speakers have drawn attention to the inquiry. Let us not focus on blaming the ECB for not sending somebody as the only purpose. A great deal can be achieved by the inquiry and the Seanad is well represented on it. I hope we will be able to achieve what we set out to do...