Results 501-520 of 1,683 for speaker:Derek McDowell

Seanad: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (17 May 2005)

Derek McDowell: There was some debate on this section in the other House, particularly on Committee Stage. The section provides for the gradual repeal of pre-1989 legislation and regulations. The Minister said in the other House on Committee Stage that a review was under way in his Department regarding the various pre-1989 provisions. The 1989 Act allows for the repeal of those provisions and this Bill, when...

Seanad: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (17 May 2005)

Derek McDowell: A debate on this section took place in the other House which there is little point in rehearsing. I am unclear regarding the exact scope of section 6(2)(d), which states that the provisions of the Bill do not relate to members of the Defence Forces engaged in training directly associated with any of the activities specified in the previous three subsections. On the face of it, that could be...

Seanad: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (17 May 2005)

Derek McDowell: I thank the Minister of State for the clarification. My concern related to training. The other provisions are specific, but the training provision appears to be broad in scope, meaning that it could be used as a means of excluding a great deal of day-to-day Army activity or training. I accept the clarification.

Seanad: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (17 May 2005)

Derek McDowell: Perhaps the Minister of State might clarify what that means, taking Senator Cummins's example of a subcontractor on a site. Who is responsible for ensuring that the information is provided to the employee? Is it the subcontractor or the main contractor?

Seanad: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (17 May 2005)

Derek McDowell: I thank the Minister of State. While this is dealt with in another section, perhaps, regarding the amendment, he might spell out how it would affect the employees or those employed by recruitment agencies. Is the agency responsible for passing on the information to the individual subcontractor? Does the agency for whom the person is working have the primary responsibility?

Seanad: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (17 May 2005)

Derek McDowell: If, for example, an agency brings farm workers into this country to work on a specific farm or co-op, it is the farmer who is primarily responsible for their health and safety and not the agency.

Seanad: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (17 May 2005)

Derek McDowell: I am inclined to agree with Senator O'Toole. In ideal circumstances, there would be no need for a statutory provision for a risk assessment. As circumstances changed and a risk was created in the workplace, people would take account of it and make suitable provision. The purpose of legislation like this is to flash an amber light on a regular basis. There is merit in doing it on an annual...

Seanad: Order of Business. (12 May 2005)

Derek McDowell: I support the request made by Senator Brian Hayes regarding the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon. His remarks yesterday were disturbing. The Taoiseach and the Minister of State have made much of their claim that no civil servants will be made compulsorily redundant as a result of decentralisation but it is becoming increasingly clear from the bullying and...

Seanad: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Bill 2004: Second Stage. (11 May 2005)

Derek McDowell: Seo an chéad deis agam tréaslú leis an Aire Stáit as ucht a cheapacháin. Is dócha gur chuir cúrsaí moilliú ar an gceapachán ach tá sé tarlaithe agus is maith an rud é, go háirithe do mhuintir thuaisceart chondae an Chláir, áit sa tír a bhfuil bá agus ceangal agam féin léi. Go n-éirí leis. I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute on this important legislation,...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Derek McDowell: Will the effect of this power in practice be that insider trading legislation will apply to more smaller companies? Is that, in effect, what we are saying?

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Derek McDowell: The Leas-Chathaoirleach is racing ahead of me. I made this point on Second Stage but we did not have time to tease it out. The directive applies only to public offerings of €2.5 million or more. I am no expert on these matters but I would be interested to know how often we would have offerings of this kind. I suspect we would not have more than a few a year. This would appear to exclude...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Derek McDowell: Does the Minister of State have any idea?

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Derek McDowell: Is it reasonable to say fewer than a dozen in any given year would be over that threshold amount?

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Derek McDowell: The point I am trying to make is that we are talking about the exception rather than the rule. The Minister of State is correct, section 44 provides that various warnings are to be given to potential investors to the effect that past performance may not be a realistic guide to future performance, simulated performance may not be a reliable guide to future performance and so on and so forth....

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Derek McDowell: The purpose of the directive is to give some sort of comeback against individuals who are involved in drawing up the information included in the prospectus. We are then going on to say that, in fact, most companies offering shares need not bother doing this, which appears to me to devalue the whole purpose of the directive in the first place. I understand where the Minister is coming from.

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Derek McDowell: The purpose of these sections is to put an onus on individuals drawing up a prospectus to ensure that its contents are correct, but we seem to be going out of our way to make this onus a light one, as this amendment allows people to evade responsibility if they did not know that something was wrong. We do not put them under any obligation to determine, or at least make reasonable inquiry, as...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Derek McDowell: Has anyone ever been convicted or sued on foot of a misstatement or a wrong—?

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Derek McDowell: I do not want statistics. I would like an indication that the section has been applied in any serious sense.

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Derek McDowell: We are transposing a directive which puts responsibility on people drawing up a prospectus. It is partly replacing or replicating existing law. It would be useful for the debate — I appreciate that the Minister of State does not have the information here — if we had some idea of whether the existing law is applied. Perhaps I should know that, but I do not. It would be helpful to inform...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Derek McDowell: I know the Minister of State will be familiar with the fact that for some years now the CRO has been striking off companies for not filing returns. Perhaps he can give us some information on that. Is that campaign still continuing and to what extent has it been successful? I assume this section and the following section are intended to facilitate that.