Results 24,501-24,520 of 33,118 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The commissioner would have to be satisfied that sections of the Bill, when enacted, have been breached.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Chairman, the most likely way in which an issue might arise might be in terms of the returns that a member might make. As an example, it is entirely possible that somebody who is subject to this legislation could furnish a return that the standards commissioner believes is not compliant with the legislation. On the back of that, he or she would initiate the investigation in the matter....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I guess that concern does apply to any official in which one invests a significant level of public power.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: That is how the matter will then be referred to.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: No, because-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: In those circumstances, if we were to include that requirement, it would actually end up limiting the power of the standards commissioner to do his or her work. This is a particular power the Standards in Public Office Commission believe would aid the office in its duties. I believe that the most likely way this would be triggered is through the returns I spoke of earlier. It is possible...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: That is a very unlikely scenario.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Too strong? Okay.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I will make two points in that regard.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Excuse me Deputy.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I suggest the Deputy goes back to section 35 in this regard. Section 35 lays out the circumstances in which a preliminary inquiry would take place. In the circumstances that the commissioner felt that he or she needed to initiate that step it is extremely likely that a preliminary inquiry would need to take place first. I draw the Deputy's attention to section 35(2). The breadth of what...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: There could be. In my experience of dealing with the Standards in Public Office Commission in the past, its first step frequently is to ensure that the statements are accurate and that the officials realise the consequences of what they may have said. I am certain this attitude would not change. The preliminary inquiry could be a meeting to clarify a particular matter or to make sure the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: One can only do so much. The Bill has been in circulation for a year. I accept the point made by Deputy Calleary that he believes the amendments could have been circulated earlier. We will unsure that if there are further changes on Report Stage everyone will have them. There have been calls for quite a while for the measures. The Bill has been available for a period of time. I have...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: That is exactly it. Let me clarify what we are referring to. It gives the deputy commissioner the power to appoint a member of staff.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I would expect that the overwhelming number of such officers would be members of staff. We are providing for the possibility that something could be the subject of an investigation that the commissioner might feel requires expertise that his or her organisation does not have. As I sit in front of the Deputies, I cannot think of such a circumstance. Something could happen in regard to a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: If we do that, we limit the latitude of the commissioner to investigate a matter if he or she deems it needs to be investigated. On reputational damage, such investigations would have to take place privately. Of course the commission would have to talk to people, and other people do talk. That will happen. We have just dealt with a section that made clear that oral hearings will not be...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not think this is a point in regard to the deputy commissioner------

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The point does not concern the deputy commissioner per se but the principle that the office of the commissioner can now initiate an investigation if it believes there are grounds. Under subsection 37(1), it is made clear that, and I quote, "The Deputy Commissioner shall appoint one or more suitable persons ... to perform the functions expressed by this Chapter .. one or more members of staff...