Results 8,021-8,040 of 9,823 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: That is wearing thin. The Government does not know how to run them either.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: The Senator's party backed the Minister, Deputy Reilly. It made its choice.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: The person will need the full support of the Minister, Deputy Reilly.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: She is a lady.

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: It is the only one giving answers; the Minister is not.

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: I support the Bill, although it is more a case of letting it pass. The Minister has promised something good will come from it and we must wait and see. The Minister has given himself two Dáil terms to implement his health policy, which is longer than he gave the HSE to sort itself out.

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: Many Members on the opposite side were members of defunct parties, including some in ministerial ranks. The Minister has argued that this is all the fault of the last Government; nevertheless, the people saying this and the staff representing the Minister are the same people who were in the last Government. It is a bit much to hear it repeatedly explained that it is the fault of the last...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: The politicisation of the health service led to ruin.

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: The director general of the HSE will be in the same position as the current chief executive in that he or she will be accountable to an Oireachtas committee. There is little change. This Bill is supposedly the first stage in the introduction of universal health insurance but we do not have much detail in that respect. The board of the HSE was abolished well over a year ago and nothing much...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: I speak for myself on this issue. I absolutely and wholeheartedly supported the national cancer strategy because cancer experts and the professor from Canada recommended it to us. I know not everybody, including Senator Crown, may have agreed but it was seen as the way forward. Fine Gael were unbelievably cynical in sinfully opposing that strategy, as it literally dealt with the lives of...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: My party did not oppose it. I supported it.

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: I completely and utterly disagreed with them but they did not make a promise that they knew was false, like the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, and Fine Gael. The Fine Gael organisation indicated that services would be restored after the election. My colleagues resigned because they disagreed with the decision but they were also realistic in that they did not promise that a decision would...

Seanad: Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2012: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: It is not the excellent system which the Minister purports. We should be cultivating and supporting the public health service, which is the best way to provide health care to the public. The biggest mistake made by Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats with the Health Service Executive was giving it an awful name. Why is the National Health Service in Britain beloved? It is a public...

Seanad: Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2008: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: True.

Seanad: Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2008: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: The Minister will not be.

Seanad: Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2008: Second Stage (26 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: Fianna Fáil welcomes this Bill, the introduction of which it proposed in 2008. It is a pity the previous and current Governments delayed in this regard. However, I acknowledge there were other priorities for both. The Office of the Ombudsman is one of the few offices of State which attracts universal respect and praise in terms of citizens' interactions with it. I have never heard a...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Primary Care Centres (25 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach as ucht an deis seo a thabhairt dom an t-ábhar seo a ardú ar an Athló. This important matter has been in the news for the past week and relates to the primary health care centres. Although the row between the Minister of Health, Deputy Reilly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, is ongoing, the public need primary health care. I am...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Primary Care Centres (25 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: I thank the Minister of State for his reply. He acknowledged the work of his former party colleague, Ms Mary Harney. Many of his colleagues would not do that, but she did a great deal of work in this regard in Kells. Unfortunately, the private sector let her down. The HSE seems to be continuing with unrealistic negotiations. The Minister and Deputies Hannigan and McEntee promised a...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Primary Care Centres (25 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach as ucht an deis seo a thabhairt dom an t-ábhar seo a ardú ar an Athló. This important matter has been in the news for the past week and relates to the primary health care centres. Although the row between the Minister of Health, Deputy Reilly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, is ongoing, the public need primary health care. I am...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Primary Care Centres (25 Sep 2012)

Thomas Byrne: I thank the Minister of State for his reply. He acknowledged the work of his former party colleague, Ms Mary Harney. Many of his colleagues would not do that, but she did a great deal of work in this regard in Kells. Unfortunately, the private sector let her down. The HSE seems to be continuing with unrealistic negotiations. The Minister and Deputies Hannigan and McEntee promised a...