Results 3,481-3,500 of 4,873 for speaker:Malcolm Noonan

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: I intend to take amendments Nos. 25, 28 and 29 together, as they place responsibilities on the commission in respect of the prominence of the Irish language in the electoral and democratic processes. I again thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh for these amendments and we appreciate the good intent behind them. In respect of amendments Nos. 25 and 28, I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: I assure the Deputy that the commission will carry out reviews after every electoral event and that lessons will be learned. The opportunity to input to that will be important. There is a good robustness to that so that we ensure that if mistakes are made at an electoral event, lessons will be learned and the commission will be able to make recommendations based on that.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: I am taking amendments Nos. 27, 31, 40, 42, 45 and 50 together. They relate to the use by the commission of the Irish language in its communications and the use of the Irish names of constituencies in electoral events generally. I am satisfied that current electoral events are carried out with equal emphasis on each of the State’s official languages. It is current practice that the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: While I accept the good intent behind this amendment, I do not propose to accept it. By way of information, I wish to point out some features of the Bill which relate to persons with disabilities. Section 67 empowers the commission to conduct ex-post reviews of the administration of electoral events. These are mandated to include a description of the assistance provided by presiding...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: Absolutely, we give that commitment and it is important that we do so. We have regular meetings with disability organisations in relation to making polling stations and electoral events more accessible, physically and otherwise, for people with disabilities. It is a very important point and the Deputy has our full commitment on that.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: I move amendment No. 32: In page 37, line 12, to delete “Commission” and substitute “Registrar” The pairing of this amendment with amendment No. 70 may not quite work but I am happy to speak to the amendments in turn. Amendment No. 32 is a drafting clarification in respect of appeals against decisions of the chief executive in his or her role as registrar of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: I have addressed the amendments. Does the Chairman want me to address the points made by Deputy McAuliffe?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: We are of the view that anything under that is too small in terms of putting a burden of regulation on them.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: The Elections Modernization Act in Canada has a figure of 100,000 of unique monthly users for content available in a language other than English or French. The population of Canada that does not have either English or French as a first language numbers 4.7 million, while Ireland has a population of approximately 5.1 million. The state of Maryland's Online Electioneering Transparency and...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: It is probably smaller websites and such.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: Exactly.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: I move amendment No. 33: In page 38, line 40, to delete “section 10” and substitute “section 10(1)”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: I move amendment No. 34: In page 39, line 4, to delete “section 26” and substitute “section 26(2)”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: The maintenance of the register of political parties is currently the responsibility of the Clerk of the Dáil. As regards the register being available for inspection, the current legislation, that is, section 25C(2) of the Electoral Act 1992, as amended by section 11 of the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2001, only requires that the register be made available for inspection at the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: It is not the function of the registrar to oversee the property portfolios of political parties but to ensure political parties meet the criteria required for registration. Transparency of property portfolios is more appropriate for inclusion in the annual statement of accounts that every political party is required to furnish to the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, under Part IX...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: Absolutely. I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for this important amendment. They are all important but this one is significant. It is important to note there is a commitment. We had this at pre-legislative scrutiny stage as well. I have met with the Irish Second-Level Students' Union, the National Youth Council of Ireland and others on this. We look at the success in other jurisdictions. I...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: I move amendment No. 38: "In page 41, to delete lines 22 and 23 and substitute the following: “(a) the total number of members of Dáil Éireann, subject to Article 16.2.2 of the Constitution, shall be not less than 169 and not more than 179;”." Article 16.2.2° of the Constitution provides that the number of Members of Dáil Éireann shall from time...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: We designed in the amendment a degree of flexibility that is based on what we anticipate the figures might be. We cannot anticipate the exact figures that will come out from the census. I think the preliminary figures will be due shortly. That range between 169 and 179 gives us a fair degree of flexibility with how we might anticipate what the population growth will be.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: I accept the valid points made by Deputy O'Callaghan but I do not agree the legislation copper-fastens the status quo. This committee has an important role to play with the research function the commission will carry out. We do not anticipate a scheduled general election until 2025, so there is an opportunity to engage on this. I accept the points made by the Deputy nonetheless.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Malcolm Noonan: The Deputy is correct and it is prescriptive around having three, four or five Members. The point I am making about the role of this committee and the commission is that there is an ability to carry out research on future recommendations around extending that further. That is what we can commit to.