Results 3,921-3,940 of 19,162 for speaker:Alan Shatter

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: This is getting more interesting as we go on. I thank Senator Leyden for his contribution but I will correct one thing he said. There are a number of things I find disturbing about what has been happening in this Chamber. I would have expected something better from some Members of this Chamber. I have sat through this debate and we are on day three of it. Comments have been made which...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I am absolutely clear that what was said about RACO was most unfair to that organisation.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: As Senator Leyden said, it has had nothing to do with the legislation before the House. In so far as a member of RACO sought that his representative body represent his position after he found himself, through no fault of his own, in a difficult position last summer, RACO did what I presume any representative organisation would do. I had no prior knowledge of whatever opinion this gentlemen...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I have checked the numbers and that is the level of the competition; there would be one person only.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: Senator O'Donovan is not listening to me. The nub of his case is that I should have in place a selection system, where I preserve the existing law with the attendant uncertainty and assume somebody is ineligible and about whose eligibility there is only uncertainty. Then we hold a competition that only allows the selection of one person. That is not a competition. Let us say we reduce the...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: We would have two. Therefore, there would be a competition with a pool of three people in total, from whom we could select a military judge. I do not regard that as appropriate. There is a need to widen the pool and ensure we have an adequate number of people from whom we can chose.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: Let us say for argument's sake that we held this competition and the person presently in a position to present cases before the military court was appointed as military judge and we lowered the criterion to eight years, one of two could be appointed to the position. I am listening to all of this nonsense about conspiracies and dark secrets and Ministers being led up the garden path and...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: The position is very clear. I have no idea what Senators Denis O'Donovan and Rónán Mullen have against the poor individual who found himself, through no fault of his own, in this position last summer, but I am asking them to attach some decency to what they are saying. This is a member of the Defences Forces, of unsullied reputation who, through no fault of his own - - - - -

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: -----has found himself in an anomalous position. He has sought legal advice. Would anybody in that anomalous position and for whom this legislation has not been tailored not do so? Should we change the criteria, as provided for in the legislation, to ensure there will be a significantly widened pool of people from whom we can select a military judge? I do not know what the Senators have...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I hope we will not have an action replay in the Dáil Chamber.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: Let me continue. Each of the speakers to whom I have listened this afternoon has completely ignored the reality that the Bill seeks to extend the eligibility criteria to barristers and solicitors practising for ten years

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: They are living out the fiction that this is a Bill which has been designed solely to benefit an individual. That is a fiction.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: It is unfair to the individual concerned.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: Senator Denis O'Donovan keeps on telling us about letters and memoranda that are scurrilous and scandalous that he will or might reveal or somebody will reveal if and when they are able to determine their validity. During the term of office of the former Minister, Tony Killeen, on 17 February 2011 the Office of the Chief State Solicitor sent a letter to this unfortunate man's solicitor. It...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I want to exclude Senator Terry Leyden from this.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: To some extent, I regret that the Cathaoirleach interrupted Senator Leyden but he may have an opportunity, if we suffer the next amendment, to say a little more. What has happened here is most unfair. The Office of the Chief State Solicitor wrote - I presume on the instructions of the then Minister for Defence, Mr. Tony Killeen - that the Minister was conscious of the personal position of...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: That was the former Minister's concern. My concern was not to address the position of any individual but to put in place coherent legislation in respect of which there could be no confusion as to eligibility criteria and to go further than it appears the former Minister proposed to do, namely, by extending eligibility to a broader pool of people. I did not wish simply to address the...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: On a point of information, I did not say anything about any military judge sitting. The Senator is obviously still incapable of listening to what I am saying.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I want to correct one thing. In regard to the letter I attributed to the former Minister, Mr. Killeen, I forgot about the musical chairs that took place at the end of January. The letter was actually sent while Deputy Ó Cuív was Minister for Defence. The letter on this matter from the lawyers representing the gentleman who was in difficulty last summer was received by the Department...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011: Report and Final Stages (8 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: That would be particularly complex in my case.