Results 6,381-6,400 of 9,894 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: Is Sinn Féin not part of the pact?

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: You are in power in Waterford, as you told us already.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: When the Minister of State dismissed the ESRI study, I asked myself where I had heard that before. The last Government did not listen to voices that did not agree with it. We must learn the lessons from the crisis. We must listen to people who do not agree with us and accuse us of doing certain things. We cannot just say that the Christmas bonus was brought back in and that it was...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: Not by eliminating the standard rate allowance.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: As far as I recall, we removed the top rate allowance. This Government then removed the standard rate allowance - the exemption - at the bottom.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: I refer to the €264 that applied to every single worker, regardless of what they were being paid.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: We will answer them.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: Will the Minister respond to the ESRI report? Thankfully, the ESRI has published a report on income distribution and the effects of the budget. The Government used to have such a report in the budgetary documents. It used to tell us who gained and who lost, but it stopped doing so this year because we would have gone to that page and immediately seen that every budget the Government has...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: This is not why the Minister of State was elected. It is not what we think Governments are meant to do. Irish Governments are meant to bring people together in one society in which those who can contribute most pay most and those who need most gain most. The Government has turned this on its head to look after a narrow bunch who, unfortunately for the Minister of State, will predominantly...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: Contrary to what Senator Cullinane stated, the ESRI is an independent body which conducts independent research. One would probably find these figures somewhere on a shelf in the Department of Finance or the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as they used to publish them and tell us their own view, but they had to stop doing so because it was so embarrassing for the Government. With...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: Here we are yet again in the run-up to another Christmas having had another rushed legislative session for the past week. We will deal with nearly more legislation this week than we might have dealt with in the whole term. It is outrageous and it is doing the public a democratic disservice.

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: The Seanad and the Oireachtas as a whole has a huge challenge because there are those who do not believe in parliamentary democracy, rather they believe in other forms of democracy.

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: We must show that parliamentary democracy is worth fighting for-----

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: -----that it is something we value and something that people will support, as some people are getting very sick of it with legislation being rushed through, before Christmas in particular, and mistakes being made. We have seen that with the water services legislation and we are already on the third or fourth version of that Bill due to mistakes and U-turns. The Road Traffic Act is another...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: It is the Government's fault.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2014: Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: I second the recommendation.

Seanad: Standards of Care in Residential Care Homes: Statements (10 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: We were all shocked to the core by what we saw on television last night. Most of us do not watch much television, but last night's programme was what one might call "reserved viewing". Nothing prepared me for what I saw last night. I know a little about this sector as my wife is a nurse and works in a residential care home and is well used to dealing with individuals with disabilities or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functions: Office of Public Works (10 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: I welcome the representatives of the OPW, which does tremendous work in the various tasks it is set under legislation and by the State. It was stated that applications from local authorities are on the OPW website. I could not find them when I looked. Can the witnesses tell me if there are any applications in yet from County Meath in relation to recent flood events in Ashbourne?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functions: Office of Public Works (10 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: When was that granted?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Operations and Functions: Office of Public Works (10 Dec 2014)

Thomas Byrne: Meath County Council was granted €75,000.