Results 6,121-6,140 of 9,823 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: A dangerous man escaped-----

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Yes it is, because this is too urgent to leave until next week.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (19 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I have a point of order. I wonder whether we could postpone Final Stage until the Minister has a draft of the regulation he proposed. We have been fobbed off, not by this Minister but by others, in the House many times. It happened most recently during the debate on the Irish Water Bill when the Minister, Deputy Kelly, said he would accept changes and listen to the Opposition.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (19 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: That is the democracy in which we live.

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I support Senator O'Donovan's amendment to the Order of Business. It is essential that the Minister come to the House. I do not think she has said anything about it - certainly, there is nothing that I can find on the record. The prisoner concerned arrived in this country in 2012 after escaping from prison across the water in England, where he was serving 22 life sentences. We have been...

Seanad: Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (18 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I second the amendment.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Housing Adaptation Grant Funding (12 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: The RTE investigations unit this week raised the issue of disabled person’s grants and housing adaptation grants. For the past few years these have been in very short supply in County Meath. There have been long delays. I have seen people lying in beds who cannot leave their homes because essential work cannot be done to their houses. According to the RTE investigations unit, Meath...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Housing Adaptation Grant Funding (12 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: The Minister of State makes the case that the age profile is relevant and while it is important, the one constant in the figure RTE has released is that if there is a Minister in the area, no matter what the age profile or level of disability in the area, it will do well out of this scheme. The home of the Taoiseach receives the most, the home of the then Minister of State at the Department...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (12 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I want to follow up on Deputy Pearse Doherty's important question on Soliris. Mr. Tony O'Brien's comments to the committee this morning have already caused a stir locally. They were broadcast on the news and I have received many phonecalls on them. They appear to be directed at the patients. This type of comment does not appear to be placed before other resource issues. The Supplementary...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (12 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: For clarity, he should simply withdraw that paragraph. One could easily apply the same logic to the Department of Justice and Equality, which the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, said in his Supplementary Estimates speech was responsible for €52 million of extra cost last year on foot of delays in periodic payment legislation for catastrophic medical accidents. Why is the...

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Second Stage (11 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin. The Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014 is important legislation, but we must not over-egg the pudding. This is the first step in expanding the remit and powers of GSOC. I am a supporter of An Garda Síochána, as is every citizen. It deserves our support and does very good work...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I move amendment No. 30: In page 11, between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following:"(l) EirGrid Plc.,".I will speak briefly about these amendments before withdrawing them in order to raise them again on Report Stage. The amendments would affect companies and individuals including EirGrid, Ervia, An Post, the Railway Procurement Agency, members of An Bord Pleanála, members of the...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I accept, to some extent, the practical difficulties mentioned by the Minister. This is a real issue. There are groups of politicians who go abroad to meet people from companies coming to Ireland. Sometimes there are issues of land and other times there are other relevant policy issues. On the other side, one might be on holidays and just bump into somebody. Perhaps there is a practical...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: It would not be perfect but it would give responsibility to somebody to record any lobbying. Otherwise, there would be carte blanche. There could be hundreds of other suggestions of how to deal with this and somebody could be given the job of recording what, if any, lobbying takes place when one is on official business. We do not envisage this applying in Santa Ponsa or the Isle of Man,...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I will withdraw the amendment and return with something slightly different based on what Senator Norris and others have said. If an amendment similar to this is not accepted, the old catchphrase of "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" will turn into "what happens in Davos stays in Davos". That should not be the catchphrase for the Bill.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I withdraw my amendments on the basis that I will reintroduce them on Report Stage. If I pressed them now I would not be able to raise them on Report Stage.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I move amendment No. 28: In page 9, after line 35, to insert the following:“7. (1) Where a designated public official is lobbied outside of the State, (in a manner to which section 5 would apply had the lobbying activities occurred within the State) such public official shall be obliged to register the fact that he or she had been so lobbied and the public official shall provide the...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I thank the Senator.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I ask the Minister to consider the following scenario. A group of councillors go to England to meet representatives of a UK-registered company that owns land here and in the UK, and that company lobbies them about rezoning in Ireland. What is the provision for this in the lobbying legislation?

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: If the company is registered in the UK, there is no-----