Results 3,781-3,800 of 5,132 for speaker:Trevor Ó Clochartaigh

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: Absolutely, yes.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: The Government had five years to address the issue.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: Where is your evidence?

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: It is one group.

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I share the frustration of Senator Norris. In fairness to him, we have had a number of Bills through the House in the past week and a half with hundreds of amendments coming at the last minute. As legislators, we can see amendments replacing sections and the discussion is on the new sections. It can be very confusing, especially as these...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: I echo the support for the amendment which is very important and on which there has been a lot of very good work done. This is obviously an incredibly complex issue, but the express will of the relevant person is certainly paramount. Any mechanism or means that can be used to find out what it is should be used, no matter what state the person is in. There are questions about somebody...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: Amendment No. 164 reads:In page 56, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following:“(b) a relative of a friend of the appointer who has had such personal contact with the appointer over such period of time that a relationship of trust exists between them,”. The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has stated in general comment No.1 that under Article 12 of...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: I did not have a chance to say it but I do recognise that there are a huge amount of amendments. We were very critical of other pieces of legislation where amendments were coming forward that had not been sought by an awful lot of people. It is important to acknowledge that a lot of the amendments here have been sought by groups and I commend the fact that they are being taken on board. I...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: This goes back to an issue we discussed earlier. It is about the advance health care directives. The Minister said she would come back to this. I understand that sections 59 and 60 relate to that area. I do not know if the Minister of State wishes to discuss it now or later but I wanted to raise it because it is proposed to delete the section that deals with it. I wish to raise those...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: I welcome the Minister of State's response but I wish to put on record that there are people who believe that the Mental Health Act is being used as an excuse to exclude the advance health care directives from the Bill. They feel that the deletion of sections 59 and 60 should allow for that to be addressed. An election is pending and legislation has been coming through the Houses at a fast...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: We might consider this issue again and I reserve the right to table Report Stage amendments to that effect.

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: I support amendment No. 203 proposed by Senators van Turnhout and Zappone. I have outlined my reasons previously which are similar in vein to the advance health care directives. There are concerns that the impending legislative provisions on advance health care directives discriminate against anybody who may experience mental ill health. Given that one in four Irish people experience some...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Public Sector Recruitment Panels: Public Appointments Service (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: What Ms Tierney has said is very interesting. I will pick up on the Gaeilge because it is an area of particular interest. Of the 127 people in the Public Appointments Service, how many are functional linguists?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Public Sector Recruitment Panels: Public Appointments Service (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: Who stipulates which jobs? As part of the review of the 20-year strategy of the Official Languages Act, all Departments were asked which posts were eligible for these functional linguists. Some Departments advised that none of the posts in their Departments had any need for a functional linguist. Who determines that? Does the Department approach the Public Appointments Service with a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Public Sector Recruitment Panels: Public Appointments Service (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: It is the Department.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Public Sector Recruitment Panels: Public Appointments Service (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: The Public Appointments Service obviously does not cover teachers for schools.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Public Sector Recruitment Panels: Public Appointments Service (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: That is a separate issue. That is an issue that has been through the courts recently. A Department may decide it wants, to put it crudely, new blood in the system. It might feel it has an ageing cohort working in the system and it might like for some reason to have younger people. Can it stipulate that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Public Sector Recruitment Panels: Public Appointments Service (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: If the Public Appointments Service saw something like that on a job specification, would it advise the Department that it could not include that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Public Sector Recruitment Panels: Public Appointments Service (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: The types of qualifications and degrees people have might have changed. Obviously, the Public Appointments Service will not discriminate against someone on the basis of age. If a Department were to define a relatively newly introduced qualification as a prerequisite for the job, would that be seen as being discriminatory against somebody who might have considerable experience in an area but...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Public Sector Recruitment Panels: Public Appointments Service (9 Dec 2015)

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh: Ms Tierney is probably aware of the huge issue around gender in third level institutions. Is a gender quota ever imposed to increase, mainly, the number of women in some positions where it is found that there is an imbalance in the gender representation?