Results 3,401-3,420 of 5,762 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell
- Seanad: Business of Seanad (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: I would ask him to do that.
- Seanad: Business of Seanad (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Leader for waiving the four-day rule. I am aware of it but time did not allow for four days' notice. We only received the GRECO report on Thursday and we were obliged to seek answers. The Minister told me I would be disappointed, but I was not at all disappointed in what I found in the report.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: No.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: On a point of order, we should have a quorum for the debate.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: This is the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan's Bill. In 20 or 30 years' time nobody will ask who else was involved or what pressure was brought to bear to have this Bill put forward. It is the Minister's Bill and nobody else's. It is his party's Government, supported by the Independent Alliance, that is putting it through the House. Let us move away from the personalised...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: I am afraid it is here in black and white. Let me read it again for the Minister because he might not have been listening. It reads:GRECO has also received information, directly submitted to it, by the judicial authorities, through the Chief Justice of Ireland, the President of the High Court and Acting President of the Court of Appeal, the President Designate of the Court of Appeal, the...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Members who turned up to make up a quorum. In his response, the Minister might deal with the issue of the disagreement between the various groupings in Ireland. GRECO, in paragraph 35 of the report, "calls for an independent authority drawn in substantial part from the judiciary to be authorised to make recommendations or opinions prior to such appointments". That comes from...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: Would the Leader like to take the floor?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: I am sorry about the Leader's outburst, but I understand his pain in agreeing to get this Bill through the House.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: When the Leas-Cathaoirleach regains control I will start speaking.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: The GRECO report goes on to talk about the composition of the appointments commission, and it is concerned with the need to reflect European standards. We constantly talk about being good Europeans.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: I have never seen such pain on the faces of the Government side in all my life. They hate this Bill. Why do they not stand up as people of their convictions and say, "Do you know what? We will not push this through"?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: Paragraph 36 of the GRECO report refers to "limit[ing] potential risks of improper influence from the executive/political power over the appointment process to the judiciary". It expresses a concern about that. I thought the whole purpose of the Bill was to remove that.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: I said it to the Minister for Justice and Equality last week. I will move tomorrow morning at the Order of Business that we set aside any further debate on this, and that we debate the GRECO report properly, rather than pursue this Bill which nobody in here wants. Everybody wants to see judges appointed, and I understand there are difficulties progressing that right now. At the end of the...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: It is black and white. GRECO has also received information directly submitted to it by the judicial authorities.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: I think I have the floor. In fairness, I have been hassled-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: For the record, paragraph 29 of the GRECO report stated that the Government stated that it had engaged in in-depth formal consultation with the senior representatives of the Judiciary on this draft legislation. For God's sake, tell me who decides what is in depth and who are the senior members of the Judiciary the Government engaged with when the President of the High Court, the President of...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: Is Senator Conway now speaking for the Government?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: One of the other definitions I would like to get from the Minister is what "in-depth" means. Is a phone call an in-depth consultation? Is it an actual round-table meeting where we sit down and discuss each aspect of the Bill? The Government cannot just fob off what is in this document and it is unfair of it to think it can. It is wrong in every sense of the word to think that we can take...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Gerard Craughwell: It is referred to but not defined.