Results 8,641-8,660 of 9,823 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Seanad: Local Government (Household Charge) Bill 2011: Second Stage (6 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I will start by quoting from the programme for Government regarding legislation and rushing it through the Oireachtas. It states: While recognising that there may be exceptional circumstances in which debate may need to be concluded by a given deadline, we will restrict the use of guillotine motions and other procedural devices ..... We will also deal with the related problem of...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: Talk to Phil Hogan.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: What about the small schools in Galway that are going to have to close in view of the pupil-teacher ratio? What about the guidance counsellors? What about the Protestant schools?

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: They have all been affected.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: You are up there and -----

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: Tell that to the small schools of Connemara.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I second Senator Darragh O'Brien's amendment to the Order of Business. What is particularly appalling about this budget is the targeting of specific sectors in society, for instance, the targeting of the young disabled, the targeting of the old, the sick and the handicapped who depend on the fuel allowance and the targeting of small schools for a cut in the pupil-teacher ratio, contrary to...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The Senator should read the Minister's document yesterday.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I refer Senator Healy Eames to the press release and the leaflet issued by the Minister, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, yesterday and distributed to all of us. I also refer to the RTE news bulletin which reported that a Department spokesman told those schools to consider their future and that they would be better able to do so with a higher pupil-teacher ratio. While Senator Healy Eames is...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: -----on small schools which are crucial to rural life.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The Government has attacked rural life, not protected it. It has targeted sectors-----

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2011: Motion (1 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The Minister did not see the merit of it last year.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2011: Motion (1 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I rise on a point of order. It is scandalous that a Minister of State would come to the House and completely ignore the way he and his party voted last year, when his party excoriated Fianna Fáil for supporting this measure. He has come to the Seanad as if nothing has happened. It is scandalous.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2011: Motion (1 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: This is a scandal and a disgrace. It is as if nothing had happened and as if Fine Gael had never been against this measure.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2011: Motion (1 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: It is the Government side which is rewriting history. The Members opposite voted against this measure last year, but they are now telling us with straight faces that all is well and that what happened last year was a mistake.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2011: Motion (1 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The Minister of State told the people lies in County Sligo and has told lies again today.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2011: Motion (1 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: How can the Minister of State sleep at night?

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2011: Motion (1 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: I voted for this measure last year and will vote for it again today.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2011: Motion (1 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: The Senator is referring to a separate guarantee scheme.

Seanad: Credit Institutions (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Amendment) Scheme 2011: Motion (1 Dec 2011)

Thomas Byrne: It is not.