Results 6,201-6,220 of 9,823 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (21 Jan 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I welcome that the issue is being examined at national level. However, in Meath this service has been provided for decades. Most children with special needs whose parents wish them to attend a mainstream preschool do so. We would like certainty and we would like to see the results of the report, as well as having proper funding in place for next year. We would like to see parents and...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (21 Jan 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I thank the Minister of State.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (21 Jan 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Tá mé buíoch go bhfuil deis agam an ábhar tábhachtach seo a ardú ar an Tosú sa Seanad inniu. I wish to raise an issue that has been of considerable concern in County Meath, particularly in child care settings, for seven months or so. Not many people are aware that, in County Meath and possibly some other counties, the former health boards and then the HSE...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Provision (20 Jan 2015)

Thomas Byrne: There is no PR company in this case. None whatsoever.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Provision (20 Jan 2015)

Thomas Byrne: There is not.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Provision (20 Jan 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I would make a brief comment. There are significant differences between what the Minister read out and his script. He completely changed the meaning of one sentence and read out additional information. I am not complaining to the Minister but if one only had the script-----

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Provision (20 Jan 2015)

Thomas Byrne: Yes. The Minister also read out another paragraph which put a bit more meat on the bones. I appreciate the Minister does not deal with individual cases but there are so few of these cases that they must come under consideration. If the Minister is looking for evidence of a history of transfusions in a case, that is certainly the position in the case of the person I spoke about earlier....

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Provision (20 Jan 2015)

Thomas Byrne: His name is already on the public record. He said that he would urge the HSE to consider providing to this young man the correct treatment before he reaches catastrophic thrombosis, which would be catastrophic. I will not name his consultant haematologists but will quote them. His consultant said that given the overwhelming evidence that eculizumab is the only effective therapy for PHN,...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Provision (20 Jan 2015)

Thomas Byrne: I thank the Minister for coming to the Seanad and wish him the best. I will speak about a young man, John Duggan-----

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Health Services Provision (20 Jan 2015)

Thomas Byrne: The gentleman himself is here today, in the first seat beside the door in the front row of the Visitors' Gallery. He is a young man from Bellewstown in County Meath and I believe he deserves the chance of a normal life and, indeed, the chance of life. John was diagnosed with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria, PHN, in 2010. It is an extremely rare blood disorder which is characterised by...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: This was a Government decision to sink €500 million into the ground for something we now know it was at all times advised was not necessary.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: I argued trenchantly a few days ago for giving the forum another task, but I was only using the forum because it was an available device within the legislation. It is extremely weak. What greatly concerns me about the legislation in general is the Minister's extremely broad powers to regulate various matters including, in this case, the membership of the forum. The Minister is giving...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: I said the opposite.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: The Government has made at least 20 U-turns on this in the last couple of months. I sincerely hope we reach section 10-----

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: -----which deals with the €0.5 billion bailout which the Senator is standing over this morning.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: It would be an interesting feature of this debate if somebody distilled the Labour Party contributions and separated the heckles from the substantive contributions.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: It is nearly all heckles from the Labour Party in the course of this debate. There have been very few substantial contributions. The forum should have another function, which is to investigate the story yesterday on RTE radio. Bord Gáis told the Government-----

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: It is very specific. What the trade unions, the commercial water users and the householders want to know is why the Government pressed ahead with the metering programme despite being told by Bord Gáis, the experts in this area, that it was not necessary. Cui bono, who benefits? That is the question the public is asking. The question the public is asking is why €500 million was...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: On the basis that the Minister has not said he will come back to us on Monday on this issue, I have no option but to press it. He was asked a number of times to do so.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: Will the Minister come back on Monday on Report Stage with this?