Results 141-160 of 16,537 for speaker:Brian Lenihan Jnr

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I apologise to the Senator. He wants to insert the word "perfection" rather than "making". This point was considered during the drafting phase of the Bill but section 5(3) refers to the "making of the order" containing the declaration of incompatibility rather than the "perfection of the order" for purely practical reasons. This is because there may be a period between the making of the order...

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I confess that I have some sympathy for the point advocated by the Senator but, under the Bill as proposed, it remains that there will be a greater amount of information submitted to the Oireachtas. If, for example, the making of an order of the High Court was notified to the Oireachtas and an appeal taken to the Supreme Court, the Oireachtas would be perfectly well aware that it could not...

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The matter can be revisited on Report Stage. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I understand the thinking behind this amendment, but it provides for something which is not practicable. We are dealing with declarations of invalidity of legislation enacted by the Oireachtas, or previous legislation continued in force under Article 50 of the Constitution from the pre-1937 era. Senator Norris encountered such an item of legislation. In his passionate intervention, the...

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: May I interrupt? That is not a point of order.

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: As the Senator enriches our legal learning, I want to enrich his political learning and recall the case of Mrs. McGee, who instituted proceedings in the early 1970s under our Constitution and obtained a declaration from the Supreme Court that the legislation prohibiting the importation of contraceptives was unconstitutional. The matter then lingered for some time in these Houses. One...

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: All this amendment proposes is that someone may write to a Minister, which people may do in any event. It goes on to propose that the Minister can make a recommendation, which her she can also always do. Therefore, there is nothing in this amendment which is not part of our existing practice. The parliamentary counsel drafted the amendment in a peculiar and cumbersome manner. In saying that,...

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I should not and I apologise for doing so. The person who drafted this amendment knew well that the power of pardon is vested exclusively in and may only be exercised by the President, strictly on the advice of the Government. That procedure is written into the Constitution. Therefore, there is little one can do to hedge around it. If it was established that a person was wrongfully convicted...

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: That was not my intention. My point is that, because of the constitutional provision, there are doubts about the extent to which we can qualify it in legislation.

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: A case is pending before the Supreme Court on this issue. As I understand it, the provision under Irish statute law, which was deemed to be constitutional, was contrary to the provision of the convention. There is a conviction in issue and the entire matter is before the Supreme Court, where it will be examined in due course. I did not give an extensive textual exegesis on the amendment...

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: That touches on an earlier part of the debate.

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Section 5 is structured in such a way that when the High Court or the Supreme Court, on appeal, make a declaration of incompatibility, the person in whose favour the order is made will be faced with two choices. He or she can decide to take the case to Strasbourg on the sole issue of damages. In deciding whether to take that course, the person will receive legal advice on the issue. It might...

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: To address the point by Senator Norris about the right in republican justice to have a large sum of money paid to one on the establishment of a violation of one's rights as a result of a legislative violation, there is not always such an automatic right. When an Act of the Oireachtas is declared unconstitutional, there is no automatic right to damages. The plaintiff in proceedings which...

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Where a declaration of incompatibility is made, it means that a section – or sections – of an Act of the Oireachtas which is in operation is declared incompatible with the convention system. The Act, as enacted by the Oireachtas, remains on the Statute Book and it is for the Houses to address the issue. For the protection of all parties involved with the operation of Acts of the...

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The rights referred to are those specified in section 1 of the convention. That provision is made in the interpretation section of the legislation.

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The commission will have a role in testing legislation, which is one of the reasons I am not accepting this particular amendment. Under section 8(b) of the Human Rights Commission Act 2000, the Minister can request the Human Rights Commission to examine any legislative proposal and to report its views on any human rights implications it might have. That provision has already been used by the...

Seanad: OECD Economic Survey of Ireland 2003: Statements. (19 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: On behalf of the Minister for Finance, I am pleased to have this opportunity to open the debate in this House on the recently published OECD Economic Survey of Ireland 2003. The OECD undertakes an examination of the economies of its 30 member countries at up to two yearly intervals. Such examinations involve a visit by a team from the OECD's economics department to the country being examined....

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (24 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: It is difficult to explain in any greater detail the reason the Government cannot accede to this amendment. The matter was explored in some detail in the Lower House and on Committee Stage in this House. The primary issue is that it is not the practice to include a reference in legislation of this type – that is, a Bill which proposes to give effect to rights – to an international...

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (24 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I regret there are no signs of conversion, although I do not accept the Government is on a deathbed.

Seanad: European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (24 Jun 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: How well we know it. Here we have no abiding city. When considering this amendment, we must start with the European Convention on Human Rights. The fundamental principle, common to the legal tradition of all member states – more markedly to those of a civil than a common law tradition – is the distinction between public and private law. In this provision of the Bill the Minister is trying...