Results 521-540 of 1,687 for speaker:Eric Byrne

Written Answers — Department of Health: Chaplaincy Services Provision (16 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the provision of chaplaincy services by his Department; the amount of money spent on these services; the denominations involved; if humanist chaplain's are provided by his Department [17132/13]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: National Reform Programme for Ireland 2013: Discussion with Department of the Taoiseach (16 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: I thank Mr. Callinan for his report. I assume his team is as enthusiastic about the progress that has been made over the last two years as we are in government. It must be very satisfying for the witnesses, as a team of men and women who have endured 14 years of economic decline - plummeting to the extent that we needed a bailout and lost our sovereignty - to experience the hope that at the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Property Taxation Collection (17 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding the local property tax and its collection and distribution (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17956/13]

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Property Taxation Collection (17 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding the local property tax and its collection and distribution (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17955/13]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Position of LGBTI People in Uganda: Discussion (17 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: I welcome Ms Kasha Nabagesera and her advocates. I know Africa reasonably well, having lived there for four years. My question to Kasha is, why Uganda? Is there something going on in Uganda that has caused the targeting of homosexuals? I agree with Colm O'Gorman and other speakers that our response must take into account the sensitivities of the Prime Minister, the President and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: The Case of Mr. Sergei Magnitsky: Motion (Resumed) (17 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: I was a signatory to the original motion. Many of us were hugely impressed by Mr. Browder's presentation. We decided to go a particular route, namely, that the Chairman would initiate discussions with the Russian embassy and ambassador to ensure the committee was balanced in addressing the issue. I understand the Chairman subsequently met with the ambassador and that the joint committee...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: The Case of Mr. Sergei Magnitsky: Motion (Resumed) (17 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: Can I ask that the committee, in support of the amendment, would write to Ms Barbara Lochbihler, Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights at the European Parliament? She has conducted interviews with representatives of the Russian Government at European Parliament level. We should ask her to send us a copy of her report so that we can keep the matter ticking over. Is that permissible?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: The Case of Mr. Sergei Magnitsky: Motion (Resumed) (17 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: The Case of Mr. Sergei Magnitsky: Motion (Resumed) (17 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: I beg the indulgence of the Chairman. A committee more internationally based than this has had this debate in the European Parliament. I suggest we write to the Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament, which has dealt with the issue, to ask for a report of the sub-committee's deliberations. It might help us to see how the European Parliament views the debate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: EU Foreign Affairs Councils: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (17 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: I welcome the Minister. I have about five questions but I will try to hit the nail on the head and stop the waffle. The Minister mentioned the Arab Spring, the wonderful revolutions in the Arab world. Is he conscious of the reputed difficulties being experienced by the Coptic Christians in Egypt? I refer to US Secretary of State, John Kerry's visit to the Holy Land and to Israel. We have...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Trade Agreements: Motion (17 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: Some of these are awaiting ratification since 2009 and I will not hold up the process. The Minister should get on with it. It is a great idea to establish these three trading links. To follow through on Deputy Mitchell's point, is ratification by all 27 required in order for Ireland to start engaging? If we sign off here today, and in the Dáil next week, can the Government...

Leaders' Questions (18 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: It was not as bad as Sinn Féin's - the gun in one hand and the ballot box in the other.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Property Taxation Collection (23 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: 175. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will clarify the position regarding a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12 and the collection of property tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19131/13]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Vetting of Personnel (23 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: 509. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality in view of the delay in implementing the National Vetting Bureau Act 2012 if he will clarify the categories of employees currently are legally required to have been Garda vetted in order to take up employment; . if persons working on State sponsored work experience programmes – CE, Tús, JobBridge and so on are subject to the same...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Vetting of Personnel (23 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: 509. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality in view of the delay in implementing the National Vetting Bureau Act 2012 if he will clarify the categories of employees currently are legally required to have been Garda vetted in order to take up employment; . if persons working on State sponsored work experience programmes – CE, Tús, JobBridge and so on are subject to the same...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: VFM Report on Reserve Defence Force: Discussion with Minister for Defence (23 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: I thank both witnesses for their very detailed and learned contributions to the debate. I do not know whether, being a politician, I see the world through a politician's eyes while they, being economists, see it through the eyes of an economist. I presume we are mutually dependent, one on the other. If I am correctly interpreting what has happened yesterday and today with regard to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Issues: Discussion with Centre for Global Development and GOAL (24 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: I am mesmerised by the quality of the work our guests are doing. If I had known about the centre for global development at University College Cork when my daughter decided to do her primary degree there, I would not have been as sad about her leaving if I had known that she would be receiving an education of this quality. Her primary degree was in food science and she has now moved on to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Issues: Discussion with Centre for Global Development and GOAL (24 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: I thank Mr. Andrews for attending. Often, I wonder, given the complexities, diversities and scale of a problem, how an organisation decides where to provide aid. How does GOAL decide it is the northern liberated region as against another place that it will work in? We have been considering the figures for displaced persons pouring across the borders into Turkey and other places which are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: The Case of Mr. Sergei Magnitsky: Motion (Resumed) (24 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: I am caught in a catch-22, and am in moral bind on this issue. I was at one with Senator Jim Walsh in trying to express the views of this committee, having heard the witness describe the circumstances under which this man died in prison. It strikes to the core of this committee's work that a human rights issue is involved. I wish to separate completely the issue of the subsequent letter...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: The Case of Mr. Sergei Magnitsky: Motion (Resumed) (24 Apr 2013)

Eric Byrne: I have difficulty with two aspects of the Deputy's amendment. First, I refer to the suggestion that Mr. Magnitsky's untimely death took place in "undisclosed and mysterious" circumstances. According to a newspaper report on the matter, "The Kremlin’s human rights council says Mr. Magnitsky was probably beaten to death". That has come from Russia's own human rights council. I do not...