Results 9,781-9,800 of 9,925 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: I suffered a similar fate last week when a member of the Fine Gael Party asked what I would know because I was only a wet week in the House. It is disgraceful that this is the attitude among senior Fine Gael Deputies. It is important to make the point that all Members are elected for the term of the Dáil and, please God, if they run again they will be re-elected. They are all entitled to...

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: Perhaps we will get Deputy Durkan a slot on Ireland AM at some stage.

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: I started my apprenticeship as a solicitor in January 1999, which coincided, almost to the day, with the setting up of what was then called the Flood tribunal. The first matter I had to deal with in the office was to photocopy discovery for the Flood tribunal for a number of clients — clients who were cleared and who made a positive contribution to the tribunal. That was my first...

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: Discovery is what they were doing and they were paid a fortune for it. It is time that stopped. This legislation will go part of the way to stop it. The legal profession, barristers in particular, have a sin to answer for with regard to the expenses charged. It is very well to criticise it now, but while the tribunal was ongoing the Opposition had a full-time spokesman who digested...

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: Deputy Durkan complains about the ability of people to go into court, throw around allegations and libel people without consequence. They can do so, but they can also do it at tribunals. People comment on tribunals. Members of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party have commented on such allegations before any decision was taken.

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: We adopted the correct decision, to wait until the tribunal reported, as indeed did some of Deputy Durkan's colleagues. One is criticised for standing up for what is described as the wrong thing, but it was the correct thing to do.

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: We must respect the work of tribunals. We might have difficulties with them, but the Oireachtas sets them up. We must accept what they say, regardless of whether we like it. Sometimes we do not like what they say. Perhaps we will not like the conclusions of the Mahon or Flood tribunals, or perhaps the Opposition will not like them. However, we must accept what the judges say. Members on...

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: However, we have never heard about many others who were also paid significant legal fees. Some conducted background investigations but others merely reviewed discovery, which is time consuming work that could have been done at a much lower cost. This Bill is being brought before the House on foot of recommendations by the Law Reform Commission, which produced a detailed report on the current...

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: They investigate policy issues, accidents and major disasters, allegations of corruption and the deaths of individuals where the organs of the State were involved, all of which are matters of significant public concern. In contrast to the lengthy proceedings of, for example, the Flood tribunal, the inquiries conducted in America in 2001 on the dotcom bubble and the collapse of Arthur...

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: The committee was established to inquire into how King Charles II and his Ministers spent the taxes voted to them by the Parliament. That system, which we still utilise, is out of date and no longer works. Irish tribunals of inquiry were established to investigate the deaths of individuals in Garda custody, the accident off Whiddy Island, the Stardust tragedy and the Kerry babies case. I...

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: While I was trying to study for the junior certificate, significant confusion arose in that regard.

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: I recently read Seán Duignan's book, One Spin on the Merry-Go-Round. Recent media reports on the relations among coalition parties are mild compared to the statements made to the press in those days. The parties now in coalition generally avoid making statements about each other.

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: I spent my very enjoyable college years in Trinity College, Dublin, where one of my predecessors in the law faculty and the Fianna Fáil cumann was the Minister of State's brother. We spent much of our time studying High Court and Supreme Court cases which were brought as a result of issues arising in tribunals, such as Cabinet confidentiality. Not only do these tribunals have an impact on...

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: Opposition Deputies may blame us now for causing the expense of the tribunals but if we did not establish them, we would be accused of hiding evidence.

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: My party has established tribunals and co-operated with them. Those who were unfortunate enough to appear as witnesses, which thank God I never had to do, played their parts properly, as I am sure the tribunal will find. Tribunals were established under the 1921 Act to investigate matters of urgent public importance. There is no doubt that the issues referred to the Mahon tribunal were...

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: I was not paid well for it but the firm had to charge the client a certain amount of money, which may revert to the Exchequer if the tribunal decides to award costs. I do not know in that case because I had left the firm by then. If a good senior counsel charges a lot, that is one thing but anyone would do basic meagre work that anyone with a few brain cells could do. There would be...

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: He did nothing more than cite the report.

Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: The Deputy does not like the answers.

Training Programmes: Motion (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: I will continue with what Deputy O'Connor said about Barack Obama. Those of us who have been inspired by the civil rights movement in America, Booker T. Washington going to the White House and President Truman desegregating the army are aware that it is a fantastic time for the world when an African-American can become President of the United States. It is a moment of change, as Deputy...

Training Programmes: Motion (Resumed) (5 Nov 2008)

Thomas Byrne: The issue we are discussing tonight is very serious. Over the past decade we have seen incredible growth in the economy. In the past 11 years, coinciding with Fianna Fáil being in Government, some 640,000 new jobs were created. However, right now we find ourselves in the middle of an unprecedented global economic crisis. One hears people describing it as possibly the worst since the...