Results 4,681-4,700 of 6,454 for speaker:James Lawless

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: Am I right in saying the language the Deputy is referring to, that is, the phrase "seriously interfere" is taken from section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 and it will be interpreted by judges if a trial were to proceed-----

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: That is my understanding.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: Does that answer Deputy Pringle's question?

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: It is in existing legislation and the 1997 Act.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: I believe this concludes the discussion on the amendment.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: As I indicated amendments Nos. 15 to 26, inclusive, will fall if amendment No. 15 is passed. Amendment No. 26 is grouped for discussion in this block. Does the Minister have anything further to add on amendment No. 26?

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: As amendment No. 15 has been agreed to amendments Nos. 16 to 25, inclusive, no longer stand.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: If Deputies signal now.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: Before we move on from this group of amendments, Deputy Bríd Smith indicated her desire to come in.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: The Deputy is indicating she may return to this on Report Stage. Is that right?

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: That is in order.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: There are four amendments, Nos. 27 to 30, inclusive, in the next grouping. The position is similar to that of the previous grouping, namely, amendments Nos. 28 to 30, inclusive, will, by definition, fall if amendment No. 27 is agreed to. However, we can have some discussion on these amendments if members wish to raise policy issues. If they wish to press the amendments, that is possible also.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: Would the Minister mind repeating her final point? She has indicated that this is related to section 15 as well. Is that right?

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: Section 15 as it stands, as opposed to as amended.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: I think the Deputy is referring to section 4 of the 1964 Act, the homicide provisions-----

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: -----which have given rise to lots of jurisprudence-----

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: Very good. It is certainly tried and tested.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: On that section, is the term "grossly offensive" defined in the definitions section of the Bill? How is that to be defined?

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: I would like to flag for the record that I may return to this amendment on Report Stage. I will not elaborate on it now.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2020)

James Lawless: I believe that was the difficulty under the old section 10. The fact that prosecution required repetition was the reason for some of the complaints about prosecutions around cyber issues. The Minister is saying that is not the case in this section, as drafted.