Results 8,821-8,840 of 11,899 for speaker:Niall Collins

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: My concerns are similar to those of the Minister but I am coming at it from a different angle. If it is to be an authority to regulate the legal services industry, and the board is broken down six to five, immediately the main legal players find themselves in a minority on the board. Is this correct?

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: I know.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: The breakdown of board membership is six to five, with one representative each from the Bar Council, the Legal Aid Board, and the Kings Inns and two from the Law Society, with six more from the other parties plus the chairperson-----

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: The chair will come from the six lay people. Is this correct?

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: Will the Minister examine another composition? We propose 13 members and the Minister proposes 11. A total of 13 would give equilibrium.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: If there is a division the chair will have a casting vote.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: Is the Minister open to considering our proposal to recalibrate it? Is the Minister sticking on 11?

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: It is a fair point to state the law profession should have equal representation around the board table rather than being in a minority.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: We will have a chairperson.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: I move amendment No. 8: In page 13, before section 8, to insert the following new section:"8.—(1) The Authority shall consist of 13 members. (2) Subject to the provisions of this section, the members of the Authority shall be appointed by the Government and shall consist of the following persons:(a) 2 persons nominated by the Bar Council of Ireland; (b) 2 persons nominated by the Law...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: I move amendment No. 9: In page 13, lines 6 to 10, to delete subsection (2) and substitute the following:"(2) (a) The members of the Authority, other than the lay members, shall be appointed by the Government. (b) The lay members of the Authority shall be appointed by the President of the High Court.".

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: All of us in our amendments have offered the option that the President of the High Court would appoint the lay members. Can the Minister give us his reasons for rejecting that?

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: We are discussing a group of ten amendments. The Minister is sticking with amendment No. 11. Does this include the chair or will the position of chair be in addition? The initial concern was that the Minister, his office or his successor, when we all move on, would have too much influence in the appointing of members. The Minister has gone some way towards addressing those concerns. Can...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: I have a final key point.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: I understand.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: I understand but it is a key point. To ensure a complete RIA, outside interested parties will want to make informed submissions to the Minister on foot of these amendments and they will have to be afforded an opportunity to do that as well. Squeezing into a few days before we next sit needs to be examined.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: I tabled a similar amendment to Deputy Mac Lochlainn but we differ on the numbers relating to the different representative bodies, although we agree on the net figure of 13.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: Could there be knock-on issues which could be relevant to section 1 which might come up in later sections?

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: Is it correct that there is still not a regulatory impact assessment of the Bill? The Minister is introducing what we could term a cooling-off period of five years for former members of the profession before they could then be deemed laypersons. What is the basis for five years? Is there an industry or national standard for cooling-off periods? What has informed this decision?

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2013)

Niall Collins: Before the Minister moves off that point, it is not under our area of responsibility but there is legislation being discussed and I attended a conference on the Registration of Lobbyists Bill. There is talk of cooling-off periods of two years. The Minister is indicating that he is only prepared to accept a period longer than five years with an argument to substantiate it but he has not...