Results 6,081-6,100 of 9,823 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Mar 2015)

Thomas Byrne: The Seanad should take hold of a few issues. Previously, we addressed the issue of the elderly. This week, we have addressed the issue of farm safety. Unfortunately, I could not be in attendance for that debate but it was a worthwhile exercise. We should grab hold of the issue of housing. We should invite in those in the sector who plan such strategies. I refer to the non-governmental...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Mar 2015)

Thomas Byrne: It has not been implemented yet.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: General Scheme of Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Mar 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I will have to leave shortly, as I am due in the Seanad to move a matter. I note what has been said and will take into consideration all the viewpoints. There seems to be an issue about the labelling of products. I cannot envisage customers demanding the calorific or gram content of a pint of beer at midnight in a pub and I do not know if that is a huge issue. It is a positive move and I...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Services for People with Disabilities (25 Mar 2015)

Thomas Byrne: This is a very serious issue. A gentleman has been effectively under the care of disability services in a place called Caridas House in Drumconrath, Navan, County Meath, since 2007. At times he has been illegally asked to pay rent to the HSE, although I understand that was stopped when the HSE decided it was illegal, as it was not allowed to be a landlord. However, there is doubt about the...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Services for People with Disabilities (25 Mar 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I am very disappointed with the Minister of State's response. I plead with the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, to examine this case. In the reply the onus has been put on the applicant, and he has been told he did not fill out the forms. The man has Asperger's syndrome which creates serious difficulties. That is why he is under the care of the HSE disability services, which has...

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Mar 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I want to raise the issue of the dramatic cuts being made to Leader funding. When the European multiannual financial framework and CAP reform package were passed, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine could not wait to tell us that it was a great deal for Ireland and Europe at the time. The fruits of that rotten, disastrous deal that this Government negotiated...

Seanad: An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhionannas Pósta) 2015: An Dara Céim - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015: Second Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I and my party give our full support to this referendum. I am proud to stand here as a Fianna Fáil Senator, given our track record on the issue of equality for gay people over the years. This has been a journey not just for our party but for society as a whole, and that needs to be recognised at all times. Homosexuality was decriminalised after our colleague's case some time ago, and...

Seanad: Succession (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Mar 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I did not get any indication from Senator Mulcahy on whether he would support the Bill but I think it deserves serious support. A judge of the High Court has not been able to decide a case satisfactorily because of an absence of legislation. The Oireachtas has failed to do its job. As Senator Mullen said, this is not a new proposition in law but a well-known issue. There is a name for it...

Seanad: Succession (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (11 Mar 2015)

Thomas Byrne: My point still stands. What killer will take a constitutional challenge against this in any event? Last week, we were talking about the constitutional rights of banks and today we are talking about the constitutional rights of murderers. What are we coming to? Let us do our job as legislators, pass a Bill, study it carefully on Committee Stage and get it on the Statute Book. We should...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Heritage Sites (5 Mar 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Tom Hayes. It would appear that the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is busy. I ask that the Minister responsible for Brú na Bóinne, whom I understand to be Deputy Heather Humphreys, would meet a delegation of residents from the area. We are talking here about a very...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Heritage Sites (5 Mar 2015)

Thomas Byrne: We are afraid that the public consultation process is merely a box-ticking exercise. The evidence for such a belief is that the project was started back in 2011 and, as the Department's officials admitted at a meeting last week, very little has happened since. The Department was restructured and there was a move from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to the...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Heritage Sites (5 Mar 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I have said so a number of times. We are extremely proud of the site and we love it.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Home Repossession (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I raise the important issue of repossessions that are happening around the country. There is a huge number of repossession cases, thanks mainly to the enactment of the 2013 conveyancing Bill. It was very unfortunate legislation which I was happy to vote against. As it in place, I want to make sure it will work in some way and give some relief to those who face repossession, particularly of...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Home Repossession (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I am angry, not with the Minister of State, Deputy Humphreys, but the Minister for Justice and Equality. The idea that the excuse for county registrars handing out repossession orders and kicking people out of their homes is that there are too many cases and if we got judges involved, the system would not be able to cope. That is effectively what the Minister of State has said - the system...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Home Repossession (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: This Government brought in the law allowing repossession.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Home Repossession (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I was working on this issue before the Minister of State was ever in these Houses.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Home Repossession (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I wrote a report on this in 2009, before the Minister of State was ever heard of.

Seanad: Health Services: Motion (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I move: That Seanad Éireann: noting: -the deplorable overcrowding being regularly experienced in hospital emergency departments; -the record number of patients waiting on trolleys; -the further delays in scheduled hospital treatments that will result from such overcrowding; and -the failure of the Government and the Health Service Executive, HSE, to adequately prepare for a...

Seanad: Health Services: Motion (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I gave several examples of the tricks ---

Seanad: Health Services: Motion (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I gave the examples.