Results 41-60 of 159 for speaker:Billy Lawless

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Billy Lawless: Over the last 30 years, however, we did not hear discussions about the effect of alcohol on young people or the promotion of responsible drinking when Good Friday comes around. Instead, what we hear are the humorous stories of the ingenuity of those seeking to evade the prohibition, heading to train stations, theatres, greyhound stadiums and other sporting venues. It does not serve as a...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Billy Lawless: I will be brief. I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy Stanton, for taking this vigorous debate this evening. I thank my co-sponsors, Senators McDowell, Craughwell and Boyhan, and my fellow Seanad Members who contributed to and are supporting this Bill. It is 35 years since I first mooted this idea. I was president of the Vintners' Federation of...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Billy Lawless: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: Gender Recognition (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (10 May 2017)

Billy Lawless: I thank the Minister for being here. I will be very brief. I am very proud to be Irish today. I am delighted that I have held on to my dual citizenship in being American and Irish. I can tell the House that this discussion would not be taking place in the United States today because they are going backwards. That we are able to have this discussion on transgender people and on the rights...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Representatives of the Transport Sector (11 May 2017)

Billy Lawless: I thank Mr. Sean Kennedy for his detailed presentation. He actually shocked me with the implications of Brexit for air services. I fly regularly into Heathrow Airport to get back to Dublin from Chicago. I am concerned by it as I use air miles. One can be re-routed by the airline because of what seats are available. The implications that there is no agreement when Brexit comes in are...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 May 2017)

Billy Lawless: Further to Senator McDowell's proposal to finalise the Good Friday alcohol sales Bill, I remind the Leader he gave a commitment to have it completed by Thursday, 1 June. I hope he will stand by his word.

Seanad: Migrant Integration Strategy: Statements (16 May 2017)

Billy Lawless: I welcome the Minister of State. I also welcome publication of the migrant integration strategy, which contains a number of concrete, key measures that are worth highlighting. These include: the establishment by local authorities of networks aimed at reaching out to hard-to-reach migrant groups to help them to engage with Departments and to provide information on their needs; the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: EU Foreign Affairs Council (25 May 2017)

Billy Lawless: I am delighted to hear from the Minister that the Government supports the two-state solution for Palestine and Israel. I would like to let him know, however, that there was a meeting held here last week by Senator Black for the Irish Friends of Palestine. It was a meeting to which she invited all of us and I attended along with three or four other Senators to observe. Within hours the...

Seanad: Order of Business (31 May 2017)

Billy Lawless: The Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill 2017 passed Second Stage in this House on 12 April. When I raised this a fortnight ago, the Leader promised that Committee and Remaining Stages of the Bill would have been debated by tomorrow and I am disappointed that this will not now happen. I have submitted amendments to the Minister for Justice and Equality to address the technical issues the...

Seanad: Tourism: Statements (31 May 2017)

Billy Lawless: I welcome the opportunity to speak about tourism in Ireland. Working in the hospitality industry myself it is an area with which I am very familiar. I understand how Government and the industry can work hand in glove to deliver for what is a very important industry to this country. Tourism is one of Ireland's most important economic sectors, with total tourism revenue for the economy in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: General Scheme of Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Presidential Voting) Bill 2014 [Private Members']: Discussion (1 Jun 2017)

Billy Lawless: I thank Deputies Adams and Crowe for their presentation. I am very much in favour of this Bill. I am a founder member of votingrights.iein the United States with Ms Noreen Bowden and Mr. Kevin Sullivan. We have put much more into this, no more than the witnesses. It is just wrong that people do not have a vote in these circumstances. I could not vote for 16 years and when I became an...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Dr. Anthony Coughlan (1 Jun 2017)

Billy Lawless: I thank Dr. Coughlan for his attendance. I represent the diaspora abroad so he will understand that this issue will be of major interest for me in the United States of America, particularly in respect of what happens to Ireland. While I disagree with many of the statements in his presentation, I defend his right to put forward these views. It is extremely important that this committee...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Jul 2017)

Billy Lawless: As it is my first opportunity to do so, I thank the Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, for all the great work he did as Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora. I welcome the new Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, to the role. I am certain he will continue his predecessor's great success. I also warmly welcome the appointment of Deputy Deasy as special envoy to the United...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Jul 2017)

Billy Lawless: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Jul 2017)

Billy Lawless: I refute Senator O'Reilly's suggestion that we postpone the Good Friday Bill. It has been debated for long enough. We are all aware of what it contains and there has not been a change in the law since 1927. The Bill is in line with the Government's alcohol awareness plan in the sense that, with pubs open on a Friday, it would cut out binge drinking and drinking in pubs and restaurants...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2017)

Billy Lawless: I thank the Minister for the amendments and accept them. It was never my intention to restrict premises that held a liquor licence. I am more than happy to support the amendments the Government has introduced.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2017)

Billy Lawless: I thank the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, for taking the Bill today. I also thank the Leader, Senator Buttimer, for honouring his commitment and ensuring that Committee and Final Stages of the Bill are being taken today. I also thank the co-sponsors of the Bill, Senators McDowell, Craughwell and Boyhan, along with James Geoghegan, who helped me with the Bill. I commend my great friend, former...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jul 2017)

Billy Lawless: I believe Seanad Éireann was preserved by the people of Ireland because they believe that parliamentary democracy can serve their interests and that this House can have a decisive and influential role in that process. The passage of the Bill, initiated in the House, reinforces my belief. I again thank the Minister, Deputy Flanagan.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Diaspora Policy (26 Sep 2017)

Billy Lawless: I thank the Minister of State for taking this Commencement matter today. Before I begin, I would like to congratulate the staff of Leinster House and the OPW for their work in having this magnificent room ready for the new Seanad term. I got a shock when I walked in here. I thought I was in the US Senate for a moment when I looked up and saw the ceramics, and I thought I was looking at...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Diaspora Policy (26 Sep 2017)

Billy Lawless: Once one sees the resemblance, it is hard to escape. Over the last 20 years, Ireland went from being a country of emigration to one of immigration, "E" for emigration and "I" for coming back in, and then it went to emigration again. Now we are all delighted that, thanks to the improvements to our economy, Ireland is in a phase of return migration. This did not happen by accident. At the...