Results 5,061-5,080 of 16,492 for speaker:Ciarán Lynch

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Under the legislation, the proposal process will accommodate such an individual.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: On a point of clarification, Standing Order 83 on the powers of select committees notes that the committee has the power to engage, subject to the consent of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, the services of persons with specialist or technical knowledge to assist it, or any of its sub-committees, in considering particular matters. Basically, therefore, we do not need legislation. We...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: The person can demand information on the committee's behalf. The Standing Order states that a select committee is empowered to send for persons, papers and records, and may report its opinions and observations together with the minutes of evidence taken before the Dáil and also make a special report on that. Therefore, the committee actually has that power. The person working for the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: I think he is drawing on his experience of that structure, but it does not apply in this case.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Amendments Nos. 30 and 31 are related and may be discussed together.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Amendment No. 31 has already been discussed with amendment No. 30.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Amendments Nos. 32 to 34, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: I want to get my head around this. Let us say there was a proposal to investigate an issue relating to a particular disability and to ask what the policy thinking was and what Cabinet consideration was given. What is the constitutional position with regard to calling in the Minister for health who was in office at the material time to discuss the Cabinet or departmental thinking? Does one...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Let us cleave this issue into two separate things. We are dealing with the nub of the referendum that was not passed last year. This is the type of issue that orbits around that. I return to the earlier hypothetical situation of the investigation of an issue concerning a particular disability by an Oireachtas committee, which would ask questions of the Minister of the day. Departmental...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: I am trying to tease out the detail, as this is going to be a very-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Is it the default position that a person ends up pleading the fifth and saying that he or she cannot answer a question as to do so would breach Cabinet confidentiality?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: That is not the question I am asking, with respect. If a Minister or former Minister were to come in here under an investigation or inquiry, is it within his or her discretion to answer a question with regard to what actually happened in Cabinet? While he or she can invoke Cabinet confidentiality, is the default position that even if he or she might like to tell the committee what happened,...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: It is a bit like "Countdown" at 3.30 p.m. on Channel Four. I get the advice and then I talk about proper English. It is not a conjunctive clause. It does not have two commas so the Minister can only engage in this with the permission of the House and cannot do it at his or her own instigation. If the Deputy reads it as a conjunctive clause, it will say that the Minister can do it on his...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: I propose that we take a break for five to ten minutes after we complete consideration of section 69.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: It is.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: We will take a ten minute break.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Amendments Nos. 37 to 39, inclusive, are related and will be discussed together.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: I will summarise and reinterpret this point. The responsibility for a decision is with the Government, and this section deals with the advice provided by senior civil servants and Secretaries General, as opposed to their opinions on the decision. It is about the advice they gave a Minister on an issue.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Amendments Nos. 40 and 43 are related and may be discussed together.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Ciarán Lynch: Amendments Nos. 41, 42 and 44 are related and may be discussed together.