Results 6,901-6,920 of 9,823 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Seanad: Renewable Energy: Motion (12 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: They were decent people who were consistent on this issue. They were over the moon, but I told one of them to wait and see, and how right I was. One only had to read the newspapers at the weekend to see that one of the companies was fully going ahead with this, and I believe Bord na Móna has since come out and stated that it is fully behind it as well. I understand the Taoiseach was...

Seanad: Renewable Energy: Motion (12 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: I have a consistent position on this issue. I have always felt that they should be put underground and that they are a terrible imposition on the landscape. They are causing huge stress, worry and anxiety, as are the wind turbines in large parts of rural Ireland. We must have a proper debate on this. We must have a debate on the facts. We cannot have a debate when the decision is made....

Seanad: Renewable Energy: Motion (12 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: The motion covers two issues, which are interconnected. I will provide examples in County Meath. The parish of Kilbeg and Staholmog and the parishes of Oristown and Kilberry, along with all those rural parishes around Kells, are at the intersection of these turbine projects and the pylon projects. The pylons are going from north to south and the turbines are effectively going from east to...

Seanad: Renewable Energy: Motion (12 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: Go raibh maith agat. Na mór phointí arís: caithfidh an Rialtais a bheith soléir leis an bpobal cad tá ag tárlú anseo. Ní féidir leis an Rialtais dul ar aghaidh muna bhfuil an Rialtais soléir. Tá a lán ráitis ag teacht ón Aire, an Teachta Rabbitte, atá trína chéile. Cén stádas atá ag an...

Seanad: Renewable Energy: Motion (12 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: Most of those were completed under the previous Government.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: This is a serious Chamber for serious people.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: On a point of order-----

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: I have called for a debate which will emulate a debate that finished approximately two hours ago in the US Senate and which lasted 15 hours and I have been accused of wanting to talk about the weather. The level of ignorance and lack of knowledge on that side-----

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: "Isn't that what you tend to do during an election?"

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: "Isn't that what you tend to do during an election?"

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: I have a very good idea in regard to using up time in this Chamber, which would be valuable. Our colleagues in the US Senate last night took an all-nighter to discuss climate change to try to make a difference. They stayed up all night to debate climate change. I am not suggesting that we stay up all night-----

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: I am sorry; I am being very serious. I am talking about what our colleagues in the US Senate discussed all of last night, which was climate change, in an effort to get people to stop laughing about it, as those on the Government benches have just done, and to take the issue very seriously. We have a day on Thursday with nothing to do, so why not open up on Thursday and emulate our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: Is the practice of oral hearing prescribed by statute or is it that the Office of the Financial Services Ombudsman must conduct hearings in a fair manner?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: If the Oireachtas were to stop the Office of the Financial Service Ombudsman holding oral hearings, would that help in its work, or would decisions still be fair? Do oral hearings take up a great deal of time when things could be dealt with more informally?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: The Constitution is often cited by officialdom as the reason things cannot be done. It is cited regularly when we table Private Members' business. As Shakespear said, "The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose," officialdom in Ireland - I am not including the Office of the Financial Services Ombudsman, Mr. Prasifka in "officialdom" - can cite the Constitution for its own purposes. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: Would it be possible to envisage a system similar to that operated by the actual Ombudsman, in which decisions are not technically legally binding but are in practice. I know the Ombudsman is dealing with the State and that is different from the private sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: It is not possible.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: I will take that point back. We do not want to go back to those days. Mediation is provided under statute, is that an avenue for the type of informality that applies in the UK?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: Even though they were sold six years ago.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Bi-annual Review 2013: Financial Services Ombudsman (5 Mar 2014)

Thomas Byrne: The bottom line is that about one in eight complaints to Mr. Prasifka's office are simply out of time because they relate to sales and the sale took place more than six years ago.