Results 9,021-9,040 of 9,832 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I am delighted the Family Home Bill, in my name and that of Senator Marc MacSharry, is on the Order Paper and listed for debate on Second Stage. If Senators have any doubt about it, they should contact FLAC which has provided briefing notes for a number of Senators on the Government side. Its comments on the Bill are generally favourable and while it has raised some issues about it, these...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I am and asking that the matter to be examined again. There is an expectation that property owners will pay the charge in respect of a rented house, but that is not true if one considers the standard letting agreement, under which the tenant is usually liable for any current or future local authority rates or taxes on property. I suspect no owner will allow a tenant to get away with not...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: Where did all the other votes come from?

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The Bill will have the support of the Fianna Fáil Party because as the Minister acknowledged it is another Bill off the Fianna Fáil shelf. It is a good Bill and we want to see it passed as soon as possible. The Bill makes it a requirement for judges to consider community service orders as an alternative to prison sentences for minor offences. The previous Government, whom I supported,...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: No. The Bill is practically identical to our one with the exception of the six months. This was put forward in the programme for Government and we support this aspect of it. We support the Bill because it will encourage greater use of community service orders and will provide reparations to the community in the form of work for the community. It will result in financial savings which are...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2011: Second Stage. (26 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: We on this side of the House are pleased that the Government has brought forward, relatively quickly, a Bill which was conceived by the former Minister, Dermot Ahern, who took a tough approach to crime and was always willing to look at new ways of dealing with it. It is a credit to the current Minister, Deputy Shatter, that he has come forward with the same type of idealism and willingness...

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 [Dáil]: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: It seems that every time a Minister comes to this House, he or she is announcing another U-turn in Fine Gael and Labour Party policy. Now that they feel they are safe in government, they are rearranging their objectives. It is ironic that in the last week of the Dáil before the summer break in July 2007, a Fine Gael Private Members' motion condemned incineration and called on the...

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 [Dáil]: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: It was not. It was the Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, in 1996.

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 [Dáil]: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: That is what will happen.

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: How can we justify spending €50 to spend a penny?

Seanad: Order of Business. (26 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I join in the congratulations offered to the Government and European leaders for the interest rate reduction. It deserves some nitpicking and we will have the opportunity to do so later. It is a good deal and it is good news for the country that the interest rate has been substantially reduced. However, further challenges remain. We await the decision on charging ordinary folk €100 per...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The section allows considerable scope to address general issues.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (21 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The number of Members of the Dáil has a direct impact on the layout of constituencies, a matter which gives rise to debate. In this regard, I return to the important issue of county boundaries. The Minister of State mentioned the constituencies of Westmeath and Meath West. After 2002 there was the ludicrous decision to include part of County Westmeath in the constituency of Meath West...

Seanad: Hospital Services (20 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this matter. Apparently, I am the only Member to give notice of raising a matter on the Adjournment so its selection was a fait accompli. This is an important function of the Seanad and I encourage Senators to use it. If we do not use it, we might lose it. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald. She is one of the better and more...

Seanad: Hospital Services (20 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I thank the Minister for her reply on behalf of the Minister for Health. There seems to be some watering down of the requirement that there would be capacity elsewhere to deal with patients who would otherwise be in Navan. The Minister's reply referred to a significant improvement in the performance of the emergency department in Drogheda and estimated that it would be at least six months...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (20 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I recall that after care was a major political issue when the Bill previously came before the House. When my party was in government it took tremendous flak for not agreeing to the proposal by various interest groups to include a provision on after care in legislation. I accept that such proposals were made in good faith. At the time, the Minister indicated that the issue was already...

Seanad: Finance (No. 3) Bill: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: This section deals with the taxation treatment of civil partnerships, in particular, Chapter 1, Part 44A, which deals with income tax. I invite the Minister to repeat the Government's commitment not to raise income tax rates in the budget, in particular for civil partnerships. However, I presume that will apply to everybody in terms of equality of treatment.

Seanad: Finance (No. 3) Bill: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I am making a very important point about tax rates and certainty surrounding them, which is of concern to many thousands of people. I ask the Minister to give that certainty again. It relates to this section on income tax.

Seanad: Finance (No. 3) Bill: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The Minister has refused to do so. This party contributed very constructively to this debate and I agreed with, and spoke on, a number the amendments Senator Zappone tabled. The Minister has refused to restate the Government's commitment not to increase income tax rates. We are dealing with a section on income tax. I have asked the Minister to repeat that commitment but he has refused to...

Seanad: Finance (No. 3) Bill: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The seventh word in the section is "income" and the eighth word is "tax".