Results 241-260 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: I do not wish to embarrass the Minister of State, but has the appropriate Department received a copy of the Information Commissioner's report of the review of the Act? It would be helpful for us to know that.
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: We are commencing the Committee Stage debate on the Bill. Section 36 of the principal Act deals with the powers of the commissioner, one of which is to keep the operation of the Act under review. That is part of his functions. The commissioner has now prepared a review of the Act, which is to be â or may already have been â published. Section 36(7) makes it an offence for any person or...
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: They are somewhat embarrassed.
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: The Chair and I have served together here for some time. I am speaking at length on section 1 because I am trying to prevent a travesty of the democratic process, which is what is taking place. The Chair has plenty of common sense and I appeal to him to recognise that what we are doing is wrong. The most central person in this matter, the person who is effectively the fulcrum of this...
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: Nor am I asking the Chair to do so. I am discussing the process. The Government took a decision last week to go ahead with business when it did not have this information available to it. It still does not have that information, as the Minister of State confirmed to me 20 minutes ago. We now have the odd situation where everyone on this side of the House has access to information which is...
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: I am responding to an issue. The Information Commissioner has experience of both levels: at Secretary General level in a Department of State when he was a civil servant of the Government and now as a civil servant of the State. That distinction is not often made but it is a distinction and we should make it clear he has been both. The legislation also refers to those two groups of people. The...
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: There is a convention in the House that when a Member produces new documentary evidence he should present it to the Chair. I have not seen it done in the past 15 years but that is the convention.
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: I am happy to present it to the Chair to ensure he has access to the information the rest of us have. How would one explain this to someone in one's local pub tonight? How would one explain this in one's sitting room? A visitor in the gallery would say: "What is this? The person who operates the Act has given his view but we are deciding to ignore it?" By going ahead we are deciding to ignore...
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: I do not understand how the Senator arrived at that conclusion. My concern was what anybody wouldâ
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: I am not prepared to listen to this rubbish. I will not have words put in my mouth or interpretations made of my thoughts.
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: The Senator should withdraw his remarks.
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: If the Senator has no thoughts of his own, it would be a good idea for him to sit down rather than trying to interpret what I have to say.
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: This is a complex issue. I am concerned about the 500,000 people who listen to the show. Did the Senator not figure that out? He should try to think the matter through next time.
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: Correct, the Government dictates.
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: I fear a travesty of democracy.
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: We had a long discussion this afternoon. In the meantime we have had the opportunity to read the report of the Information Commissioner. What undermines our work today is that part of his report, appendix 2, contains a long list of amendments to the Act. No Members of this House saw these until this afternoon. In order to validate the process of legislation, I intend tabling each of these as...
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: Who published it?
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: Will the Senator continue reading? Will he read the next sentence?
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: That is the Senator's view, it is not what the commissioner says.
- Seanad: Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (11 Mar 2003)
Joe O'Toole: I regret to correct Senator Mansergh a second time this afternoon. The reporting requirement of the Information Commissioner is not only to the Government but also to the Houses of the Oireachtas. That is crucially important to this issue. It is not co-government â that is not what I am suggesting. It is for precisely that reason that we are the ones who are required to take account of his...