Results 1,701-1,720 of 2,476 for speaker:Malcolm Byrne

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: It was a pleasure to have President Franklin in the Houses. I also welcome that the Speaker of the Senate of Canada and her delegation are with us today. I wish to be associated with the very appropriate remarks regarding the late Michael O'Regan. I raise the question of funding support for amateur theatre and musicals. As Members probably know, the amateur theatre festival circuit is...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: Like the Leas-Chathaoirleach, I welcome the students from St. Tiernan's in Dundrum and our guests from the European Court of Justice and I offer a particular welcome to the Estonian ambassador. Ireland and Estonia have a long range of links and friendships. Tallinn is a beautiful city so I recommend that anyone who has not been to it definitely visit Estonia. Apart from recognising...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: We were discussing tax breaks for gym membership earlier.

Seanad: Second Anniversary of Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Statements (22 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I too welcome the ambassador of Ukraine, H.E. Ms Larysa Gerasko, and the ambassador of Lithuania, H.E. Mr. Marijus Gudynas, who are friends to many of us in this House. I hope our words today show the solidarity across these Houses with them and the people of Ukraine who must always be in our thoughts. I thank the Minister of State for being...

Seanad: Second Anniversary of Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Statements (22 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: That will be the Minister of State's next job.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: I will start by echoing the call by my colleague Senator Fintan Warfield for a debate on the Report on Inclusion in Sport compiled by the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, otherwise known as the "RTÉ committee". We do a lot of other work, including that which we did in respect of the report. The report contains a number of very effective...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Oversight of RTÉ's Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues and Plans for Longer-term Support and Funding for Public Service Media: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (27 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: Such an invitation should issue to both Siún Ní Raghallaigh and Katherine Licken.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Oversight of RTÉ's Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues and Plans for Longer-term Support and Funding for Public Service Media: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (27 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: I thank the Minister and her officials for coming before us. We would all rather be here under different circumstances. We are spending three hours discussing a "Prime Time" programme and the fallout from it. I would much rather be talking about the broader issue of the future of media and public service funding or even other areas in the Minister's brief. Minister, I have been a strong...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Oversight of RTÉ's Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues and Plans for Longer-term Support and Funding for Public Service Media: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (27 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: In the past nine months.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Oversight of RTÉ's Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues and Plans for Longer-term Support and Funding for Public Service Media: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (27 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: As a proportion, roughly. You have a pretty large brief.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Oversight of RTÉ's Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues and Plans for Longer-term Support and Funding for Public Service Media: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (27 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: Would it be fair to say that a quarter of your----

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Oversight of RTÉ's Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues and Plans for Longer-term Support and Funding for Public Service Media: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (27 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: How often would you have had contact with the chair since last July? Would it have been weekly? Would these be just occasional phone calls or regular meetings?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Oversight of RTÉ's Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues and Plans for Longer-term Support and Funding for Public Service Media: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (27 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: Would it be fair to say you would have had monthly engagements, a formal sit-down meeting, and then your officials would have been in contact regularly? It is probably fair to say that, during certain weeks, you were probably talking to the chair three, four or five times a week.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Oversight of RTÉ's Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues and Plans for Longer-term Support and Funding for Public Service Media: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (27 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: You have indicated that you had a pretty good working relationship with the chair and the team there. We have seen the catastrophe in RTÉ that was in many ways inherited by the former chair and the current director general. Are you and were you broadly happy with the direction in which the director general and the chair had been bringing the organisation? I totally acknowledge they...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Oversight of RTÉ's Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues and Plans for Longer-term Support and Funding for Public Service Media: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (27 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: Okay. I have to say and I am disagreeing with some colleagues here, I have confidence in Kevin Bakhurst. I do not agree with everything necessarily. I think he has made some missteps, but it is important from this committee to say, in the interests of the staff who are there and in the interests of the independent production sector, but indeed for public service broadcasting, at the end of...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Oversight of RTÉ's Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues and Plans for Longer-term Support and Funding for Public Service Media: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (27 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: It was getting to a pretty difficult situation. I cannot accept, Minister, that you would go on "Prime Time" not expecting the question as to whether you have confidence in the chair. I am pretty certain that whoever would have advised you would have said to you in advance if you were prepared for this question.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Oversight of RTÉ's Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues and Plans for Longer-term Support and Funding for Public Service Media: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (27 Feb 2024)

Malcolm Byrne: I want to come back to questions my colleague, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan was asking earlier. It seems to be that where your confidence was broken was around this issue where you had serious concerns about the information that was made available. You had said to Siún Ní Raghallaigh as chair that you were going to put those concerns in a letter to her, and Siún Ní...