Results 941-960 of 9,894 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: Too late.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: Yes.

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise a health matter on the Adjournment but if the Minister for Health is not in the Chamber to respond, I will leave and will not take part in the debate. The Minister for Health avoids the Seanad and it has gone on too long. He opens hospitals for political purposes to give a leg-up to a bad candidate, as Senator Darragh O'Brien said. It is...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The Leader would want to ensure the Minister for Health is here in the Chamber to respond to the Adjournment debate. He has never responded to an Adjournment debate in the Seanad and he has never been here on a health issue.

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: My question is to ensure the Minister for Health is in the Chamber today to respond to me on the Adjournment debate. We have made requests of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Justice and Equality and they have attended and will do so again. I have no difficulty with them. I am giving notice that I will raise the question of NAMA tomorrow when the Minister for Finance is in the...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I am calling for a specific debate. Vincent Browne has an excellent article today following a committee meeting in these Houses a number of weeks ago. NAMA appears to be letting developers off the hook for what they owe. I would never have supported the NAMA legislation if that was clear. It is not provided for within the NAMA legislation, in which the purpose of NAMA is to protect or...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I am giving notice to the Leader, the Minister for Finance and NAMA that, as a taxpayer and as a legislator, I will seek legal advice on what NAMA is doing and whether it has the power to write off debts in the way it is doing. There is no debt write-off for ordinary people. This was not the function of NAMA and it better stand up and take notice of what people who supported and encouraged...

Seanad: Presidential Elections: Motion (Resumed) (5 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I welcome the Minister, Deputy Hogan, to the House. Like the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan and Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, he is a frequent visitor to this House, for which he deserves praise in comparison with some of his more recalcitrant colleagues. Molaim Sinn Féin as an rún seo a ardú sa Seanad inniu. Tá áthas orm go bhfuil an rún seo á phlé againn,...

Seanad: Hospital Accommodation (5 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Leader for forcing the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, to come before the House. We welcome the Minister today but it is a shame that I, after 15 votes in this Chamber calling on him to present himself, had to threaten to walk out this morning if he did not.

Seanad: Hospital Accommodation (5 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: That was not an unreasonable request; it was simply because he refused time and again to come to the House to talk about the issues of the day. His own colleagues were calling for this and we put the matter to a vote at least 15 times in this House. When I finally reached the end of my tether, I said I would withdraw from the House this evening if the Minister did not turn up. Other...

Seanad: Hospital Accommodation (5 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The Minister opposed all the reforms we put in place.

Seanad: Hospital Accommodation (5 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I thank the Minister for coming to the House. The Minister referred to years of mismanagement. The reality is the clinical director and the group general manager are, in practice, the same people in which he now has trust. They are the people I always had trust in when the Minister's party was undermining them personally on local radio interviews in recent years. Every time they made a...

Seanad: Statements on Finance (6 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I thank the Minister for coming to the House and very comprehensively answering questions. I also thank him for continuing the banking policy of the late Brian Lenihan. We certainly support him in these endeavours.

Seanad: Statements on Finance (6 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: With regard to credit unions, a small handful of credit unions will be affected by the measure being introduced. When the regulator goes about the job, I do not want to see Deputies and Senators complaining about the regulator and arguing that a particular credit union had been doing a great job. We need to support and uphold the independent regulator and wish it well in its work. Too...

Seanad: Statements on Finance (6 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I remind Senator Bacik that this is a very important point because it is a rip-off of workers and of pensioners. Instead of creating jobs, the pension levy is being used to improve the Exchequer figures by approximately €200 million in 2011. This is an unfair imposition on pensioners. The Tara mines pensioners in my own constituency have received a 10% cut in their pensions as a result.

Seanad: Statements on Finance (6 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: It is because of the levy.

Seanad: Statements on Finance (6 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: Senator Darragh O'Brien raised the same scenario with regard to airport workers in the debate on the Finance (No.2) Bill. It is because of the levy. It is because of the way their pension scheme is structured and Senator O'Brien raised this issue with regard to another company at the time the legislation was being debated.

Seanad: Statements on Finance (6 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: About €200 million from the jobs initiative, money from the pension levy, is not being used for job creation. This money is just being used to make things look better and to make the budget options easier. Workers and pensioners are being ripped off.

Seanad: Statements on Finance (6 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: That is why we appointed him.

Seanad: National Asset Management Agency (6 Oct 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I thank the Cathaoirleach for permitting me to raise this matter. I thank him also for allowing me to raise the issue I raised yesterday. I understand he had to apply some pressure to get the appropriate Minister here. We do not have any problem with Deputy Noonan, as he has always made himself available to the Seanad. I am sure the Minister will not take what I say as an attack on the...