Results 4,421-4,440 of 4,465 for speaker:Jim Walsh

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: I am far from assured.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Judicial Council (20 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I wish to preface my remarks by stating that, in general, the State has been well served by the Judiciary since its foundation. I am aware there are issues such as, for example, whether we would be better served by having the continental inquisitorial system rather than blindly following the very costly adversarial system we have, which is a throwback to...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Judicial Council (20 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: The Minister clearly signalled at the start that her response would be unsatisfactory. Obviously, it is. This Bill will fall with the fall of the Government and therefore will not be enacted in this term.That is an appalling situation, given the fact that we have been waiting for over ten years. The Minister of State was silent on whether it had been stalled by vested interests. That...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Judicial Council (20 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: I did not interrupt the Minister of State. She will get her chance to speak. It is obvious to any objective observer why she did not address that in her reply. She mentioned no timeframe. We know it is going to fall, so in fact it has been long-fingered. It is reminiscent of the dereliction of this and the last Government in failing to implement the recommendations of the report from the...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Judicial Council (20 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: I never said that. I certainly have not said that. That is a poor kind of sophistry in which the Minister of State is engaging.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Judicial Council (20 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: I acknowledged that at the start.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Judicial Council (20 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: I have not implied. I said clearly. The Minister of State should look at my introductory remarks.

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Judicial Council (20 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: I cannot allow that kind of thing to go on the record unchallenged. The Minister of State knows exactly what she is at. She is deflecting from the dereliction of duty of her ministerial colleagues in the Department of Justice and Equality.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: There is a real need for a new Government to tackle, honestly and upfront, all of these issues, not only housing but, indeed, the waiting lists in hospitals. It is interesting to hear Senators from the other side talk about issues surrounding homelessness and that type of thing. What did the Senators expect when the Government built no houses during its lifetime? I refer to five years...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Foreign Conflicts (21 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. In putting this Commencement matter to the Minister I wish to emphasise, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade has acknowledged this, the terrible persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Africa by Boko Haram, Daesh and various other bodies. There is a growing awareness that this is a systematic killing of minorities such as Yazidis and...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Foreign Conflicts (21 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: I thank the Minister of State for his fairly comprehensive reply. He dealt with the issue of genocide which, as he went on, I thought he would not. We need to be careful. There are radical ideological groups within the UN, in particular. It is not an organisation that is as kosher as it would like to pretend. If our blood brothers and sisters were being taken, raped, forced to convert...

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: Would the Senator agree that the Government accelerated it?

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: That is a village.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: I join my party's acting leader, Senator Mark Daly, in acknowledging that today is the 97th anniversary of the first Dáil, a body which embraced the Proclamation and the vision of our patriots of 1916. I refer to one of his comments. He said that Ireland is ranked the seventh best place to live according to the UN Human Development Index. As he said, such ranking is welcome. Ireland...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (21 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: I move amendment No. 4:In page 7, lines 12 and 13, to delete "to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or both" and substitute "to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years". Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. The explanatory memorandum states that Part 2 "contains provisions to enhance the protection of children from sexual exploitation, including exploitation...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (21 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: I thank the Minister for her response. I have found her concluding remarks very unsatisfactory and I would like to deal with some of the points that the Minister and Senator Norris made in this regard. Our knowledge now of paedophilia and of the effects it has on victims is far superior than it might have been some decades ago when some of this went on. Therefore, it is important that we...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (21 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: I could name many of them. In this specific instance, the Minister has said that there is a range and that judicial discretion should be over a range of particular sanctions. Depending on the gravity, on indictment, and on the assessment of the judge, when a person is found guilty the judge will still have a range because the amendment states clearly that it is "imprisonment for a term not...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (21 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: I would hate to think that such ideologies are influencing or being reflected here. I ask and appeal to the Minister to reflect upon what has been said and to put the best interests of the child in this legislation. That means clearly signalling that such behaviours are unacceptable, and that if a person is found guilty of such acts then he or she will face a term of imprisonment. The...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (21 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: Why did it happen?

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (21 Jan 2016)

Jim Walsh: Yes, absolutely.