Results 6,261-6,280 of 9,823 for speaker:Thomas Byrne
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: I will produce it later in the debate.
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: We could not believe it when we saw it.
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: I am not sure they even understood what equity investment was. The amendment would attempt to prohibit it because equity investment would mean the alienation of shares in Irish Water. It is a fact, as Senator Walsh has helpfully reminded us, that parties have proposed this and may propose it in the future. That is why we need something much stronger than what is contained in the Bill....
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: There is a circular definition. The Minister can correct me, but I do not see a definition of a plebiscite. I do not know what a plebiscite is.
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: Section 2(8) states: "In this section “Plebiscite” means the Plebiscite to which subsection (1)(b) refers." So it is a circular thing.
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: The reality is that we have plebiscites in other legislation. There is a plebiscite in planning legislation whereby there can be a plebiscite to have a housing estate taken into charge. What is the practice with those plebiscites? The practice is that the residents just fill out a form and submit it to the council. It is not a vote. It is not a referendum of the residents of the housing...
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: I wish to make a few points in response to what the Minister said. He read from Article 10.1 of the Constitution and implied that water was already protected in the Constitution when he stated: "All natural resources, including the air and all forms of potential energy ... belong to the State," but he stopped reading at that point. What he did not say was the phrase, also in the same...
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: The ESB is in State control, but there but there are also private generators of energy and private extractors of natural resources throughout the country, and that is as it should be. It was a bit disingenuous of the Minister to read partially from Article 10 of the Constitution. He said that we all know what is in Article 10 without reading the entirety of it. What is needed is an...
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: He does.
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: Senator Cullinane raised the issue of the bank guarantee. Who could have imagined us taking on those debts? Who could have imagined an Irish Government would have to do that? If it had been prohibited by the Constitution they might not have done that, but the reality is that if someone had made that proposal 30 years ago, we would have had the same answers that the Minister who was sitting...
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: I refer to the issue of taking part in EU defence missions. What Irish Government would take us into war? What Irish Government would have us involved in conscription? We changed the Constitution in order to allay the fears of the Irish people in that regard. We introduced the triple lock under the United Nations mandate, and approval of the Dáil and this House is required before we...
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: My colleague may have a proposal.
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: It was not agreed.
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: Sorry, Senator Moran has walked into the debate recently and with all due respect, some of us-----
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: For the last while, yes.
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: We are here since 10 p.m. We are here for four hours.
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: The Senator has confirmed what I said. She confirmed what I said, that she came in three quarters of an hour ago.
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: I thought the proposal of my colleague was perfectly reasonable, but if the other side does not see that, that is fine.
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: No, I want to speak. If the other side is not agreeing with me-----
- Seanad: Water Services Bill 2014: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2014)
Thomas Byrne: It is already on the record.