Results 321-340 of 1,874 for speaker:Malcolm Byrne

Seanad: Budget 2024 (Finance): Statements (10 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I thank the Minister of State for coming the Chamber. I was rather alarmed when I heard Senator Keogan criticising the increase in the overseas aid budget. The Government should be proud of our record of investing in overseas aid and supporting the most vulnerable on this planet. While I note that Senator Keogan’s friends were not protesting today outside Leinster House, the kind of...

Seanad: Budget 2024 (Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform): Statements (10 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. This budget is quite comprehensive and it addresses not just the short-term challenges but indeed the long-term challenges and opportunities for Ireland. I will start by addressing specifically some of the areas within the Minister of State's own brief and where he has an interest. I welcome that under the circular economy an additional...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Children in Care (5 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The Minister of State will be aware that there are around 6,000 children in care in Ireland, and about 90% of those are in foster care. Foster carers are individuals who have a passion for what they do and they care for some of the most vulnerable children and young people in society. I know the Minister of State will have met many of them as...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Children in Care (5 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I thank the Minister of State for that answer. There is, within her answer, an acknowledgment of the problem. We should be particularly alarmed by that trend that we are talking about, and the fact that even though we are heavily reliant on foster care, the number of parents who are willing to continue to foster care continues to fall. That is a trend that is deeply worrying. I welcome...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I wish to ask if people remember where they were on this morning exactly ten years ago.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: You may, for slightly sad reasons, remember, because yesterday ten years ago was the day of the referendum which proposed to abolish this House and this was the morning of the count. Most of us here, I imagine, were either at a count centre or tuned into the radio listening to some of the early tallies.Part of the commitment that was given ten years ago, when the people took the decision to...

Seanad: Visit of Slovak Delegation (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: We are now approaching 600 days since Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. I hope that this Chamber will invite the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Chamber to talk about the strong and correct support Ireland continues to give to Ukraine. A number of us had the privilege last week of meeting the speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, who was very clear that the people...

Seanad: Access to Third Level Places and Student Accommodation: Statements (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House for this very important discussion about access to further and higher education and issues relating to student support and accommodation. We know the issues of funding for students and higher education funding have continued to be kicked down the road by successive Governments. This Government took a very clear decision to cost what it...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: RTÉ Oversight and Long-Term Support and Funding: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I welcome the Minister and her officials. I appreciate the approach she has taken in respect of the reviews in that she has been willing to extend their terms. I also welcome her engagement with RTÉ staff. The NewERA report will be on her desk for a decision on, as she mentioned, the critical issue of the level of interim funding for RTÉ. Will she give us an indication as to the...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: RTÉ Oversight and Long-Term Support and Funding: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: Could I work on the basis that two or three weeks after the budget next week, we will know the sum that will be given to RTÉ?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: RTÉ Oversight and Long-Term Support and Funding: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: Turning to the conditions attached to that funding, which will be related to the strategic plan, if RTÉ fails to meet its commitments, what sanctions or actions could be taken?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: RTÉ Oversight and Long-Term Support and Funding: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: The Minister highlighted the importance of the independent production sector. If there are cuts to RTÉ's funding, there is the danger of cuts through the independent production unit as well. What guarantee can the Minister give that, in the money going to the independent production sector through the independent production unit in RTÉ, those budgets will not be cut in 2024?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: RTÉ Oversight and Long-Term Support and Funding: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I appreciate that. Why is there not a requirement on RTÉ, given that this is part of the problem, to maintain separate accounts for its public service activities versus its commercial activities?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: RTÉ Oversight and Long-Term Support and Funding: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: Would the Minister favour such an approach?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: RTÉ Oversight and Long-Term Support and Funding: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I want to move on to the bigger picture. This is a direct political concern. When Kevin Bakhurst came before us, he indicated that some of the areas he would be looking at possibly reducing funding for included coverage of the local and European elections and also possibly ard-fheiseanna and party conferences. From a political point of view, public service broadcasting can be vital to a...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: RTÉ Oversight and Long-Term Support and Funding: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I agree. It was that particular point the director general raised that I was concerned about. The bigger picture here is around the future of public service broadcasting, which is the issue we were all looking at before the scandal arose in RTÉ and which our committee will be reporting on. The licence fee model is clearly broken. When Coimisiún na Meán's representatives...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: RTÉ Oversight and Long-Term Support and Funding: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I appreciate that. I know that with the TV licence technical working group it was a different environment but we are now in the situation where significant numbers of people are not paying their TV licence fee. We are going to reach a tipping point where those of us who are paying are going to ask why we are continuing to pay it when so many are not paying it. I would respectfully suggest...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: RTÉ Oversight and Long-Term Support and Funding: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: The Minister will be aware that the political clock is ticking and that we are going to be moving into a general election phase in a year or 18 months. If this is to be done in the lifetime of this Government, would it be fair to say that in the first half of next year, a decision will be made?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: RTÉ Oversight and Long-Term Support and Funding: Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (4 Oct 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: That is great. I very much appreciate that. You could certainly see a body such as Coimisiún na Meán, operating at arm's length, managing a fund to allocate resources to public service broadcasting.