Results 821-840 of 1,020,892 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Jennifer Whitmore) in 'Committee meetings'

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Question again proposed: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Pat Gallagher: Following the publication of the 2002 census of population figures in July 2002, a constituency commission was established under Part II of the Electoral Act 1997 to make a report on the constituencies for the election of Members to the Dáil and European Parliament. To facilitate the holding of the European Parliament election next June, the commission dealt with European elections first and...

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Bernard Allen: I am happy to speak on the Bill because the ongoing guillotining of Bills is making it increasingly difficult for the Opposition to speak on anything the Government does. The Bill allows for the changes to the European election constituencies to be ratified. I fully accept the findings of the commission and fully support the elimination of the dual mandate with regard to membership of the...

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Eamon Gilmore: I wish to raise a number of issues which relate to the European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003, which gives effect to the report of the commission that reviews the constituencies used for European elections. The Bill makes a number of other changes in the conduct of elections to the European Parliament. I intend to address four aspects of this legislation, the first of which is...

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Rory O'Hanlon: It is not appropriate to attribute views to the Comptroller and Auditor General. As the Deputy is aware, it is not appropriate to attribute views to a constitutional officer which are confidential to the committee concerned, in this case the Committee of Public Accounts, but also as no other Member has seen a copy of the correspondence.

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Pádraic McCormack: On a point of information, this is not a matter confidential to the committee as it has already appeared in the public press.

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Rory O'Hanlon: The correspondence is confidential to the members of the committee.

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Pádraic McCormack: The matter appeared in the public press.

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Eamon Gilmore: Deputy McCormack is right.

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Rory O'Hanlon: Under a long-standing ruling in the House——

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Eamon Gilmore: This matter is already in the public arena.

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Rory O'Hanlon: It is before a committee of the House, which will deal with it.

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Eamon Gilmore: I will abide by your ruling, a Cheann Comhairle, because Deputy Allen has already put the appropriate paragraph ofthe Comptroller and Auditor General's correspondence on the record of the House, so it is not necessary for me to repeat it. There may be arguments about the merits or otherwise of the concerns raised about electronic voting — whether the testing has been adequate, whether there...

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Ciarán Cuffe: I propose to share my time with Deputies Morgan and Harkin, giving them ten minutes each.

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Rory O'Hanlon: Is that agreed? Agreed?

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Ciarán Cuffe: I welcome the legislation in broad terms. It is timely and proper that the constituencies are revised and it is important a transparent process was used to do so. I raised my eyebrows slightly at the parameters for population used to define the revised constituencies, as they went slightly beyond what we traditionally took as the relatively narrow bandwidth within which population numbers...

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Arthur Morgan: The Deputy is not conceding.

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Ciarán Cuffe: I am not conceding. Mary White will deliver a seat for the Green Party in the new East constituency very effectively. A significant concern about this Bill is the radical change in voting systems. Most of us have sat through hours of debate on electronic voting and my initial reaction to electronic voting was "Great, let us embrace future technology." However, the more I listened to those who...

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Arthur Morgan: The Deputy would not refuse them.

European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (3 Feb 2004)

Ciarán Cuffe: If they were for certain other candidates in the ward I was running in, I would be happy to see it happen. Electronic voting may be the way forward. We all use a great deal of electronics in our daily lives but we are rushing to implement this technology in the European elections and my party believes we should pause for thought before proceeding. If one bought a car in the morning one would...