Monday, June 29, 2009
Action on Management Companies at Last
Finally the Government has started to act in relation to the regulation of apartment buildings and management companies. It's an issue that myself and the party have been calling for over the last number of years, so the possibility of things now being regulated is good news. I made that point in my speech to the Seanad on Tuesday.
On Wednesday and Thursday we held several votes in relation to the Financial Measures Bill. In some of the votes we came quite close to defeating the government. In fact, one of their Senators was in Brussels at the Council of Europe and received a phone call telling him to come home to vote. Votes are likely to remain close for the remainder of this session. So I'd say that the government will act swiftly in relation to the Seanad by-elections. They are certain to win them both (only TDs and Seantors vote in Seanad by-elections - so they have a built in winning majority) so they will hold them early to give them a bit of breathing space.
In terms of voting records and speeches delivered, I came across a useful site the other day. Its called www.kildarestreet.com and it provides a comparison of the performance of Senators. It's only in its early stages of usefulness (whether someone speaks a lot or not doesn't really tell us whether they are good or bad as a public rep) but it's an interesting site at any rate. I'll be checking it up from time to time to see how I compare to my colleagues.
On Wednesday and Thursday we held several votes in relation to the Financial Measures Bill. In some of the votes we came quite close to defeating the government. In fact, one of their Senators was in Brussels at the Council of Europe and received a phone call telling him to come home to vote. Votes are likely to remain close for the remainder of this session. So I'd say that the government will act swiftly in relation to the Seanad by-elections. They are certain to win them both (only TDs and Seantors vote in Seanad by-elections - so they have a built in winning majority) so they will hold them early to give them a bit of breathing space.
In terms of voting records and speeches delivered, I came across a useful site the other day. Its called www.kildarestreet.com and it provides a comparison of the performance of Senators. It's only in its early stages of usefulness (whether someone speaks a lot or not doesn't really tell us whether they are good or bad as a public rep) but it's an interesting site at any rate. I'll be checking it up from time to time to see how I compare to my colleagues.
# posted by Senator Dominic Hannigan @ 6:12 PM 
