Results 3,941-3,960 of 9,823 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Heritage Sites (21 Oct 2015)

Thomas Byrne: This is the most outrageous reply I have received to a question in this House.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Heritage Sites (21 Oct 2015)

Thomas Byrne: For the Minister, who is legally and internationally responsible for arranging world heritage status between UNESCO and the Government, to claim there is not enough interest in these areas is outrageous. I have never seen a town so committed to its heritage tourism than Kells. The people are working tirelessly and are engaging with the Department. One group met with the Minister, Deputy...

Seanad: United Nations Principles for Older Persons: Motion (21 Oct 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Gabhaim mo bhuíochas leis na Seandóirí Ní Dhomhnaill agus van Turnhout as ucht an rún seo a chur os comhair an Tí anocht. I thank Senators van Turnhout and O'Donnell.

Seanad: United Nations Principles for Older Persons: Motion (21 Oct 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Senators O'Donnell and van Turnhout. Go raibh maith, a Sheanadóir. I said it in Irish first. Senator O'Donnell is prickly about the issue but no personal offence whatsoever was intended. I am glad this motion has been, fortuitously, tabled this week. Peter Sands, a Member of this House for a number of months in 2007, was a fiercely active man in the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament...

Seanad: United Nations Principles for Older Persons: Motion (21 Oct 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Ireland can be the greatest little country in the world in which to do business but, as my party leader has asked on a number of occasions, is this the greatest little country in the world in which to grow old in? We all aspire to growing old in good shape and with good facilities and security available to us. The one thing the elderly need and demand from the political system is a sense of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Grid Link Project: EirGrid (4 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Mr. Slye mentioned the Government policy statement of July 2012 on interconnectors and EirGrid infrastructure. On that date, there was a direction from the then Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, to EirGrid to go ahead with the project. There was a separate direction issued at the time, if Mr. Slye recalls.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Grid Link Project: EirGrid (4 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I am merely recalling that. Effectively, EirGrid is acting on that policy decision from 2012. Really, nothing has changed, from EirGrid's point of view, in respect of the North-South project since then. In relation to representations made, would Mr. Slye or any of his colleagues have had contact with the Taoiseach or the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, on the project in the west, and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Grid Link Project: EirGrid (4 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Facts from EirGrid.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Grid Link Project: EirGrid (4 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: They are not. This is a political body.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Grid Link Project: EirGrid (4 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: This is where politics are engaged. I do not know whether the Chairman had any role in that. Fair play to the Chairman if he was looking after his constituents. I would admire him for getting a result.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Grid Link Project: EirGrid (4 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Maybe the Chairman had a role there. As I said, I would commend him if he did. I am in no way critical of any representational function of Dáil Deputies on this issue. In fact, that is my point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Grid Link Project: EirGrid (4 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: The people of Meath and, I suppose, Cavan and Monaghan, are up in arms about this. They will be up in arms even more listening to what I would consider the clearest statement from EirGrid on the alternative of an underground option, as stated this morning by Mr. Slye. It could not be clearer. Mr. Slye has stated it here. That has changed incrementally over the past number of years. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Grid Link Project: EirGrid (4 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Is it in the press release?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Grid Link Project: EirGrid (4 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: There were no representations at all. We saw with Westport House that the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, was well able - fair play to him - to facilitate a meeting with NAMA and the local authority. Was there even anything like that in this case?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Grid Link Project: EirGrid (4 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: As I recall, the Minister, Deputy Reilly, was supporting that at the time, but not in Meath.

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Crime is a constant worry in all communities and we need a general debate on the issue in the Seanad. Obviously, we must seek more resources for the Garda and look at how the force carries out its business. In my county of Meath, at the start of the Government's term, the Garda Commissioner, for their own reasons, decided to merge two Garda districts. The Garda district of east Meath which...

Seanad: Tributes to Former Senator Jack Fitzsimons (18 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: On my behalf and on that of the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party, I offer my condolences to the family of the late Jack Fitzsimons, a former Member of this House. To his wife, Anne, his children, Cora, Lana, Lloyd, Emla and Ken, and his grandchildren I offer the collective sympathy of this House and of the people of Meath, many of whom crossed paths with Jack not only through politics...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I have no questions because this issue is self-explanatory, but I took a great interest in Joe Duffy's recent coverage of the Service Dogs Europe issue. It was one of the best and most important examples of public service broadcasting in recent times. I do not if it has done much damage to the sector in which our guests are involved, but it has clearly done much damage to those who have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: It has become an issue recently, as it is not only people who are blind who have assistance dogs.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Thomas Byrne: For the blind.