Results 4,181-4,200 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State. The list of bodies, which everybody in the House agrees is distinguished and have played a major role, has another characteristic in common in that they were not included in the advisory council. Somebody has already decided that they are second class citizens.The people who make up these bodies and others in the scientific and environmental science...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 14:In page 15, to delete lines 12 to 19. During the debate in the Dáil, the argument was made that the climate change advisory council should have the same degree of independence as the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, which advises the Minister for Finance on economic matters. As I said on Committee Stage, the relationship between the Minister, Deputy Michael...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: That is a high-risk strategy in terms of capture and it is what is wrong with a lot of Irish public administration, namely, that independent agencies are captured by their parent bodies. If this is done in-house and it is reliant on the EPA's secretarial and administrative systems, the council will not have the independence we would like to see. Modern public administration should be...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 15:In page 16, line 20, to delete "Minister" and substitute "Oireachtas". The Minister of State has accommodated, by way of the amendments he accepted, an enhanced role for the Seanad and the Oireachtas as a whole in the debate on these issues. Will he also allow, as we propose in the amendments, for the Oireachtas to take advice from the advisory council? Why should...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: An exclusion is specified in the Bill, as it stands. If our amendments were accepted, the Minister, as a Member of the Oireachtas, would continue to receive all the reports. Long may that continue.Environmental matters are everyone's concern and not a private matter for the Minister. I hope he will share the information with all Members of the Oireachtas as widely and as generously as...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 17:In page 17, line 35, to delete “Not more than 30 days” and substitute “Simultaneously on”. This amendment refers to the publication of reports. The section provides that not more than 30 days after submitting an annual report to the Minister, the advisory council shall publish the annual report by such means as the agency may advise. If...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: Overwhelmed by the oratory of both the Minister of State and Senator Norris, I have to withdraw the amendment. No one could withstand such a combination.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 18:In page 17, lines 36 and 37, to delete “by such means as the Agency may advise”. The section provides that the advisory council shall publish the annual report by such means as the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, shall advise. As I recall the debate on the last occasion, there was mention that there might be advice to publish it in the two...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: We have not heard from the Minister of State yet on the amendment.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: The provision undermines the independence of the agency. Trying to get distance between regulatory bodies and the bodies they are supposed to be regulating has proven extremely difficult in Ireland. For example, CIE should have no say at all in the operations of the National Transport Authority, which administers the budget for transport in a wider context. Observations on how to publish...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 20:In page 18, line 2, after “day” to insert “and every 12 months thereafter”. Section 13 of the Act provides that the advisory council shall not later than 18 months after the establishment day conduct a review. I would like that to be 12 months. We asked for it to be six months on Committee Stage. We have to know if it is working. I am...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 22:In page 18, line 32, to delete “30 days” and substitute “10 days”. The purpose of this amendment is to speed up the completion of the report and its submission to the Minister. It could be done quicker.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 23:In page 18, line 36, to delete “as soon as may be” and substitute “not later than 10 days”. The purpose of this amendment is to quantify the time involved. I accept the Minister of State’s wish to have these matters dealt with speedily but the term “as soon as maybe” does not mean anything and is rather loose.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: “As soon as maybe” in this case means “30 days”. I have no problem with that. While my amendment provides for a better formulation, I hope that anyone who comes to refer to it will know it means 30 days.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: The Minister of State said it did.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 31:In page 21, line 8, to delete “may” and substitute “shall”. This has arisen in other legislation where the word "may" is used when the intention of the House is to use the word "shall". As drafted, section 14(6)(b) states, “the Minister may, in any year, present to Dáil Éireann an annual sectorial adaptation transition...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: If I was the Minister with responsibility for tackling the problem of smoky chimneys, I might think this measure was discretionary and that I did not have to answer anything the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, had requested because it is stated in the legislation that I "may" submit a report. However, a Minister with responsibility for tackling that problem should have to come - no...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: Professor John Sweeney, emeritus professor of geography in Maynooth, stated: "The most likely outcome from Paris is, therefore, an agreement that will be marketed as a political triumph, but falls short of the radical change of hearts and minds necessary to protect the world from 2oC warming over the next four decades." Therefore, no Minister should be able to take solace from the inclusion...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 33:In page 21, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following:"(7) If the Government do not accept an assessment of the Climate Change Advisory Council, the Minister shall, within 2 months of being given a copy of the assessment, prepare and lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a statement of the Government's reasons for not accepting it.". This amendment is to be...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (25 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I have to press the amendment. What is before the House is a most reasonable request.