Results 4,061-4,080 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 20:In page 13, line 3, to delete "Government" and substitute "Oireachtas". I welcome the Minister of State. These matters are important as we head towards the Paris conference at the end of the month. Everyone in the House wants to assist Ireland's presentation in being the best it can be. The purpose of my amendment is to bring the Oireachtas into decision making on...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I will withdraw the amendment on the basis that the developments mentioned by Senators on the Government side will feature on Report Stage. I very much appreciate what the Minister of State said about involving the Seanad. I hope we will repay him for that confidence after Report Stage and in all future debates on the environment and climate change.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 24:In page 16, line 20, to delete "Minister" and substitute "Oireachtas". This relates to what the Minister of State said earlier. I propose that the function of the advisory council shall be to advise and make recommendations to the Oireachtas in regard to the matters listed. While I appreciate what the Minister of State said about invitations to Senators to become...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: Another factor in the background of all this relates to people who have been sitting down in the basement for months listening to how the banking collapse happened. Getting the advice to as many people as possible and not confining it to narrow circles must be considered. I acknowledge that the Minister has responsibility but it must be recognised that we all have a degree of...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: We have been over this ground with regard to the role of the Minister and the Oireachtas and there is no need to do it again.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 26:In page 17, line 35, to delete "Not more than 30 days after" and substitute "Simultaneously on". This amendment deals with the advisory reports. Why have a delay? If the advisory council submits a report it should be put out there simultaneously. Wishes were expressed in the other House that this advisory council should have parity of operations and esteem with the...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I am still an advocate of open government and doing things as quickly as possible. In general, delay is inherent in earlier parts of the Bill so by the time I got to the end of the Bill I was getting frustrated with the level of delay. There are two-year delays and 18-month delays but this is urgent. When the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, was in the House she did not rule out the...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 28:In page 17, lines 36 and 37, to delete "by such means as the Agency may advise". The advisory council is to advise in general on all environmental matters, including advising on the Environmental Protection Agency, so why does the Environmental Protection Agency get to say the means by which a report advising the Government on that agency itself shall be published?...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State for his response. Given that the chairman of the expert advisory council, Professor John FitzGerald, has been publishing reports on the economy for approximately 25 years, he does not need the advice of the Environmental Protection Agency on how to publish his reports. If there is nothing in the Bill that infringes on the rights of Professor Fitzgerald and his...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 29:In page 18, line 2, to delete "18 months" and substitute "6 months". This amendment relates to the start of the expert advisory council's work. The Minister of State indicated that the advisory council was set up in June and all of its members had been appointed. The process is, therefore, further ahead than the Oireachtas in that the legislation has not yet been...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 30:In page 18, line 32, to delete "30 days" and substitute "10 days". This amendment also addresses the issue of delays. The Bill provides that the expert advisory council shall, not later than 30 days after the completion of the periodic review, prepare and submit to the Minister a report on the review. Why would it take a month to do this? It is the same theme. The...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 32:In page 19, lines 21 and 22, to delete "by such means as the Agency may advise". Section 13(8) provides that "the Advisory Council shall publish the report by such means as the Agency may advise". I appreciate that the Minister of State has said that the EPA will be confined to giving advice on publication. While such advice would probably be redundant in the case...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 33:In page 19, line 25, to delete “Dáil Éireann” and substitute “the Oireachtas” These amendments relate to matters of substance that we have discussed. I think there is a wide measure of agreement on them. We should make a decision on Report Stage on how the Oireachtas, the Seanad and all of us can be involved. I do not think...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Members opposite and the Minister of State for his response to all the amendments that have been discussed today. It has been a most useful and interesting debate. I thank the Minister of State, the Leader of the House and the Members opposite. I hope the Bill will be improved, even at this late stage, on foot of the debates in this House.

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: After the controversies surrounding the telephone licence, the IBRC, Siteserv and the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, is it not time to establish at, as a general principle, we should sell assets openly? By taking the secret route behind closed doors, the insider dealings become tied up in knots and involve huge numbers of accountants and lawyers. Open auctions are superior. They...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I note the announcement by the speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Mitchel McLaughlin, that he intends to step down at the next election. He is very highly regarded by all parties in the Assembly, as indeed was his predecessor, William Hay. It is a practical example of power sharing, which is to be very much commended. Along with the Ceann Comhairle, Mitchel McLaughlin is also the...

Seanad: National Cultural Institutions (National Concert Hall) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: This section should be removed from the Bill because it completely contradicts what the arts are about, namely, being subversive. The arts have to critique the established view of the world and, if necessary, undermine same. Within the past ten days I attended the Wexford Festival Opera. This year's production of Hansel and Gretel featured the children sitting in cardboard boxes. The...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: We were unable to find out the name of the woman who was seriously injured in the crash on the M50 yesterday, but I am sure we will find it out later. We wish her a speedy recovery. I do not underestimate the impact on her and I extend my sympathy, but in the wider context the road was closed for seven hours. Perhaps the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe,...

Seanad: Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015: Second Stage (12 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I echo Senator D'Arcy's welcome to the Minister of State, Deputy Harris. I thank his officials for the speech which they supplied to us. The first segment, as the Minister of State has said, contains the measures to deal with the single revolution - I am sorry - the Single Resolution Mechanism. It nearly became a single revolution mechanism when we...