Results 701-720 of 9,823 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I move amendment No. 8: In page 12, subsection (1)(a), line 45, after "the" where it firstly occurs, to insert the following: "setting of certain revenues as may be established by order to be collected and the". This is an important amendment, the purpose of which is to try to include wording which reflects the powers which, we understand, the Minister will have under the Bill. The Bill...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: Will the Minister of State clarify the section to which she referred?

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: Will the Minister of State point to the page it is on?

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The Minister of State made the point. It does not seem to be altogether clear in the legislation that the Minister has this power. I do not accept that our amendment does not give sufficient scope. It allows the establishment by order of what certain revenues refer to. This relates to the social insurance fund which amount to €7 billion, the vast majority of appropriations-in-aid. It...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I move amendment No. 8a: In page 15, subsection (1), between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following: "(g) to develop policies in relation to combatting the high levels of salary and pensions of senior employees of public service bodies and of excluded bodies, and (h) to maintain a published record of all purchase orders in respect of the procurement of goods and services by and on behalf of...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I acknowledged that.

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I presume no Member of this House would question the right of any other Member to put down amendments on Committee Stage. If these proposals are out of order, we should let the Chair, through the officials, rule on that. I take grave exception to Members' comments. I have complimented the Minister, Deputy Howlin, on what he has done. However, to say we cannot propose additional functions...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: Will the Government adhere to the commitment contained in the programme for Government on the publication of such expenditure data? This has not happened and will entail considerable work. While one can have transparency in respect of spending figures, Estimates and so on, I understand it took the Tories in England one year to get down to providing the details in this regard. Obviously, it...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I am merely highlighting some measures. I must admit I have never been a fan of the Tories, but I hope to highlight helpfully-----

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: ----- the inspiration the Minister has received from Mr. David Cameron and his colleagues.

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: There is a list of worthwhile measures which have been copied directly, the most surprising of which is privatisation, the headline Tory policy from the era of Maggie Thatcher. Will the Government follow through on the commitments made in the programme for Government?

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I have little more to add to what I said about amendment No. 8ain my name. I was praising the Minister in his absence and specifying that some of the work he had done and some of the promises made in the programme for Government should be set out-----

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I like what the Minister is doing in implementing a Government commitment made in the budget, on which most of us are agreed. There is an impression given that certain politicians are siding with the wealthy, but we are not. I agree with the Minister that this is outrageous. There was a battle at our parliamentary party meeting before Christmas to secure some movement on high pay and...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: My first point is well worn at this stage. It is interesting to see the Minister applying so vigorously what he affectionately calls the FEMPI legislation which he and his party so vigorously opposed in Parliament. We are where we are, as was said before. On the commitment in the programme for Government to publish all purchase orders in excess of €20,000, will the Minister do that? It...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: When will the purchase orders be available?

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: It took a year to do it in England.

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I move amendment No. 8c: In page 15, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following subsection: "(3) In carrying out his functions in relation to the processing tasks of public service bodies, the Minister shall not identify or propose self-contained areas of processing tasks that could be considered for outsourcing/transfer to the private sector.". The Minister is probably aware that the...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: We thought we had to save €3 billion last year but it ended up being €6 billion. We lost our seats, partially as a result of that. I hope the same fate does not befall the Minister's party. The reality is that the bond markets turned against this country last year, not only for internal reasons. It is not always the fault of the people or the nation. The people generally have a great...

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: We felt it was reasonable that the Minister would be accountable for his actions up to now. We know what he is doing, we see the media briefings and press conferences, but there should be some accountability for what he has done up to now. This amendment is part of that because it relates to a letter sent out on his instructions.

Seanad: Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2011)

Thomas Byrne: We are starting that process now.