Results 8,381-8,400 of 34,780 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (14 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: I move amendment No. 14:In page 6, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following:(a) lobbies the Private Security Authority and such person shall be required to be a registered person pursuant to section 8,”.

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (14 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: I move amendment No. 15:In page 6, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following:(a) lobbies Tourism Ireland and such person shall be required to be a registered person pursuant to section 8,”.

Hospital Services: Motion [Private Members] (14 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' motion. I thank my colleague, Deputy Kelleher, for tabling this motion, which is very timely in view of the difficulties that are happening on a daily basis. The public at large is aware of the difficulties people experience when they have to interact with hospital services because it sees them on television screens and hears about...

Hospital Services: Motion [Private Members] (14 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: Yes, but the Oireachtas-----

Hospital Services: Motion [Private Members] (14 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: The Government could raise the cap. The Estimates have been published and will appear before the health committee in the coming weeks. I hope that the Minister will make a case to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for lifting the cap. Fewer public beds are available in what are called community hospitals. It would be remiss of me to speak on this issue without mentioning the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (14 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: 587. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons on the waiting list for kidney transplants; the number of transplants that were carried out here in 2014; the hospitals these transplants were carried out in; and the number in each hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49726/14]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointments Administration (14 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: 615. To ask the Minister for Health when an operation will be carried out in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Laois; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1161/15]

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Non-Principal Private Residence Charge Exemptions (14 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: 873. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if a house owned by a company which is used periodically by its employees to stay in overnight while working on contracts away from home considered a second home and subject to the non-principal private residence tax, or where such a property is included as an asset of a limited company in its balance sheet, if it is...

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: I move amendment No. 24:In page 7, to delete line 32.Deputy McDonald also tabled these amendments. We are dealing with areas that the Minister has listed as exempted communications. Amendments Nos. 24 to 26, inclusive, cover sections 5(4)(j), 5(4)(k) and 5(4)(l), respectively. Essentially these are exempting from the legislation communications by a designated public official in his...

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: We understand the points the Minister is making. I want to give specific examples of what I am referring to. A local authority which wants to develop a tourism trail can lobby Tourism Ireland for funding, and it is exempt. A private operator which wants to do the same-----

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: That is a new concept.

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: I understand what the Minister is saying, but the logic is that what is in the interests of the Government is in the interests of the people.

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: The point he made is that what is of interest to the people in power and the Government or local government of the day is in the interests of the citizen.

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: It is not necessarily the case, and that is why people change governments. That is why we have a democracy. The two are not always linked. After years of being in office, I can understand people in the Government thinking that as they are acting for the good of the Government, it is also good for the people.

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: As another example, an organisation seeking funding and lobbying Tourism Ireland could be doing so based on the exact same proposal as a local authority but it would not be exempt. I could return to public bodies with education and training boards. They may wish to lobby the Department of Education and Skills and education authorities for funding for a series of courses, but people in the...

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: What is the purpose of the legislation if the Minister is arguing that it comes under freedom of information legislation?

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: We all agree that lobbying needs to be regulated, but will that be the Minister's answer to everything - that we do not need this legislation because everything is captured by the freedom of information legislation?

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: I was giving a bit more credit to the legislation. Most of what we introduce is relevant to freedom of information legislation anyway. If a private company lobbies the National Transport Authority with regard to bus routes, there would be commercial sensitivity involved. Is the Minister aware of that? There is not a chance in hell of that information being released under the freedom of...

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: Perhaps the Minister has inadvertently or deliberately misinterpreted what I have said. At no stage in the discussion of this legislation have I made the example of communication between an assistant principal and a principal officer. Every example-----

Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)

Seán Fleming: Every example I gave involved one public body or another. They concerned local authorities and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, or education and training boards and the Higher Education Authority or the Department of Education and Skills. All the examples I quoted concerned communication between public bodies and not internal communications.