Results 41-60 of 1,687 for speaker:Eric Byrne

Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2015)

Eric Byrne: Unlike the Trotskyists here on my left, I speak from personal experience of having grown up in this society and having been party to a mixed marriage.

Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2015)

Eric Byrne: Those of us who engaged in mixed marriages in this country had a particular difficulty in deciding where our children would go to school and where they would be accepted. I was very lucky that the Protestant population going to Kildare Place National School in Rathmines was diminishing in numbers with the result that there were openings for non-Protestant children. I was very lucky in that...

Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2015)

Eric Byrne: I welcome the legislation. Years ago some Members made the mistake of empowering the Roman Catholic Church to discriminate against LGBT teachers. Mervyn Taylor was the Minister for Equality and Law Reform at the time in the rainbow coalition Government. I am delighted years later to vote with the Minister of State to repeal that clearly discriminatory provision against LGBT teachers. ...

Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Dec 2015)

Eric Byrne: If there were fewer objections, I could say a great deal more and I have no intention of ceding to this bullying tactic.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Sustainable Development Goals and Disability Issues: Discussion (2 Dec 2015)

Eric Byrne: I apologise in advance as I have to leave at 10.30 a.m. I am very sorry but it is one of those unique occasions that I must attend.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Sustainable Development Goals and Disability Issues: Discussion (2 Dec 2015)

Eric Byrne: I apologise for being late and for having to leave early. I congratulate the witnesses and thank them for their presentation. I have read their substantial documentation and have put it on file upstairs for future reference. I thank Dr. Keogh for acknowledging the Government's efforts to fine-tune its overseas development aid programme through Irish Aid. I have a great deal of experience...

Written Answers — Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Noxious Weeds (1 Dec 2015)

Eric Byrne: 631. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she is aware of the increasing presence of Japanese knotweed in urban areas, particularly in Dublin; how individual citizens can report and have a remedy to the ever-increasing presence of this noxious weed, much of which is to be seen in the Kilmainham area of Dublin, and in particular on some sites which are to be developed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Terror Attacks in Paris: Discussion (26 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: We are meeting on a regular basis with the ambassador under tragic circumstances. I thank him and his staff, who in terms of the many engagements they are attending on behalf of the French people, are representing them well. I understand President Hollande was in the thick of the attack in terms of his being at a football match at the time. What is most impressive and reassuring to us as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Work Programme 2016: European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development (26 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: The Commissioner is welcome. I am unsure whether it is coincidental or whether the Commissioner is aware of it, but we held a debate in the Dáil one or two hours ago which resulted in the ratification of two economic partnership agreements. One was an agreement with the CARIFORUM states and the other was with west African states. This leads me to a question on point 6 in the document,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Work Programme 2016: European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development (26 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Work Programme 2016: European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development (26 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: You do not have to thank me. I will take it as given.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Work Programme 2016: European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development (26 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: I will go back to where I was, if I can remember. I was telling the Commissioner about a vote today in the Dáil. These economic partnership agreements are interesting. Previously, we have had Eastern Partnership agreements with Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. There are dissenting voices in the national parliaments. There are eurosceptics in our national Parliament. Some people...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Work Programme 2016: European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development (26 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: They are very nice people.

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: Say it before the Committee of Public Accounts.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Affairs Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (25 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: The Minister might also tell us about the procedure for labelling Palestinian goods. Palestine is producing excellent herbs and citrus produce. Are these goods listed as Palestinian in order that we can choose? Rather than arguing against purchasing Israeli goods, let us argue in favour of recognising the Palestinian produce on the market. Is there a formula in that regard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Affairs Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (25 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: I welcome the Minister and, to get straight to the point, I would like him to answer a couple of questions. We are looking at Europe through the eyes of a small island nation, and then we have the bigger conflicts in the greater world. Would the Minister agree with me that the last thing the world required was the shooting down by Turkey of a Russian jet on the border with Syria? As a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Affairs Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (25 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: I asked about Ukraine also.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Affairs Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (25 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: Will the Minister please reopen the embassy in Tehran?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: UK Referendum on EU Membership: Discussion (25 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: I thank the delegates for their presentation. As colleagues noted, we have debated this issue in great depth here at the committee. The collective conclusion of those debates was that Ireland will suffer terribly if the UK decides to pull out of Europe. We also discovered from our academic and financial advisers that Britain, equally, would suffer terribly. It is saddening that the UK is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (25 Nov 2015)

Eric Byrne: 200. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to set out her views on a matter (details supplied) regarding an Educate Together national school for Dublin 6 and 6W; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41971/15]