Results 361-380 of 1,874 for speaker:Malcolm Byrne

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Engagement with Coimisiún na Meán on the 2023 Work Programme (27 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: Yes.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Engagement with Coimisiún na Meán on the 2023 Work Programme (27 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I will talk specifically about the sound and vision fund. It was referred to earlier and is crucially important. It has been reported that licence fee income for this year is projected to be down by €21 million. The sound and vision fund accounts for 7% of the €21 million. By my calculations, that amounts to €1.47 million. Will the total income for the sound and...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Engagement with Coimisiún na Meán on the 2023 Work Programme (27 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: That is fine. As regards progress on the content levy or European works levy, I understand that it is within the programme. This levy will be critical for the independent production sector.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Facilities (26 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The national children's hospital is something we all want to see happen and we know its importance, but there continues to be growing concern about the cost and ensuring it is completed. James Reilly, who was the Minister for Health when this deal was originally drawn up and signed, indicated that it would cost €650 million. Planning was...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Hospital Facilities (26 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I thank the Minister of State. I and everyone else appreciate there is construction inflation but we are still talking about a hospital that is costing what, on the face of it, is looking like at least twice what was originally budgeted and we still do not have the final figure. Can the Minister of State assure us that the target for the national children's hospital to be open by the end of...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I am sure the Leader will join with me in congratulating Rosslare Europort on being named European ferry port of the year at the European Ferry Shipping Summit last week. She will know from the time we spent on the Brexit committee that one of the very few good things that came out of Brexit was the rapid expansion of Rosslare. This fantastic facility, led by Mr. Glenn Carr and the team,...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I will maybe stretch it in saying many farmers live along the Rosslare Europort route-----

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: -----who will stand to benefit from the new succession planning advice grant.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I met recently with Macra na Feirme. It is very keen that we look, within the budget, at addressing the issues of succession planning within agriculture. We still have the challenge that more a third of farmers in Ireland are over the age of 65, more than half are aged over 55, and only 7% are under the age of 35. I would like a debate, which I have called for previously, on the question...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I thank our witnesses. I am very conscious that Mr. Bakhurst is only eight weeks into the job and is appearing before Oireachtas committees to answer questions. I am almost tempted to ask him if he regrets going for the job, if he knew then what he knows now. He does not have to answer that.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: Given the crisis of confidence that is there - and Mr. Bakhurst's battle is to restore confidence - both in his approach to date and the approach of the chair in recent months to try to restore confidence, I am quite happy that they are making the best efforts. They are dealing with a lot of legacy issues, and they do need to be dealt with, but the approach that has been taken by Mr....

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: Obviously, due process is to be followed but on the basis of the findings of those reports, can we be confident there will be accountability?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I thank Mr. Bakhurst. I have a number of specific questions around some of the issues. Mr. Fives might be able to respond. The Grant Thornton report, which kickstarted all of this process, determined that there were a number of under-declarations, that those under-declarations were not made on the part of Ryan Tubridy and Noel Kelly and that the RTÉ board was correct in its actions as...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: One of the issues we sought to address related to the 100 highest salaries. I appreciate this information could not be published for GDPR reasons. However, it is perhaps appropriate, particularly if people are being put on a scale, that there be transparency around those salary levels and scales. When Mr. Bakhurst was on "Prime Time" on 16 August, he indicated what Ryan Tubridy was going...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: When Ms Mullooly says "a number", roughly-----

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: Out of 100, are we talking a handful?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: Okay.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: It will help that we see the scales published. I appreciate some of the issues.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: Perhaps Ms Cusack might be able to advise on the changing cultural in governance. One of the issues has been the Resolve report into the culture at RTÉ current affairs where a number of recommendations have been made. Has that been implemented and are the recommendations being acted on?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Malcolm Byrne: I come then to the broader funding question which still remains critical because we need to address many of the historic issues. First of all, I want to raise the question of the independent production sector which relies heavily on it. When we talk about the quality drama, in particular, coming out of RTÉ, much of that is with the independent production sector. There are naturally...