Results 6,181-6,200 of 9,894 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Seanad: Health Services: Motion (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: The Government can sit back and relax because it is all Fianna Fáil's fault. That election was over four years ago.

Seanad: Health Services: Motion (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: It is an easy way of abdicating responsibility and asking what the Government can do because its hands are tied.

Seanad: Health Services: Motion (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Today, the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, complained that the Minister for Health was pretending about something. On the questions of targets and maximum waiting times, there are strong hints of pretence. What is a target? What is a maximum waiting time? How do they relate? There is no clarity. In fact, after parsing the Minister's speech and the motion, there...

Seanad: Health Services: Motion (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Of course it is all someone else's fault from four years ago. The Government entered into office with specific commitments on universal health insurance, which was dropped by the current Minister last summer but has been resurrected in light of the upcoming election. The former Minister, Deputy Reilly, stated that we would need two terms to do it, but little has been done.

Seanad: Health Services: Motion (25 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: The establishment of the HSE did not even take that length of time. The period of two terms was just an excuse for the Government to do very little. It is the Minister's Government that has no health policy. That is frightening. The Minister is crisis managing day in, day out, analysing and stating the obvious. There is no problem in that regard, as he is a good man at stating the...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: With regard to the Workplace Relations Bill, we oppose section 72 and I ask the Labour Party in particular to look at that. Members of trade unions and workers throughout the land are very upset about section 72 of the said Bill. It potentially imposes a fee on using the labour relations mechanisms in the State. It is very unfair and is not what I thought those in the Labour Party were...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I propose an amendment that the Minister for Justice and Equality come to this House to clarify the situation regarding crime, justice and policing in light of the events in recent days. I raise the issue of the Slane bypass in County Meath. The Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, who I acknowledge met me before Christmas about the Slane bypass - the Leader arranged that and I was thankful to...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: We are trying to make sure you do your job.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: The resources are available to prevent it happening in the first place.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Back to the 1990s again.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2015)

Thomas Byrne: We resourced the Prison Service to make sure dangerous men would not be allowed to escape.

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...